Back in November, I had a bad cough for over 2 weeks, and it wasn’t getting better. When I noticed I was wheezing and felt short of breath, I took my blood oxygen level with a pulse oximeter I bought during the corona period, and it showed my oxygen levels as about ninety or so. I went to the doctor within the hour, who tested my oxygen levels, which showed up a bit higher than what I had at home, but still lowish. He didn’t hear anything in my lungs, sent me for a chest X-ray anyhow (it came out negative for pneumonia), but he gave me a prescription for an inhaler, which I bought and used for the next few days until I felt better.
Then in early February, my cough came back, and it was worse than it had been the previous time. Every time I took a deep breath, I’d double over coughing. Again, my pulse oxygen at home was in the low 90s, so I went to the doctor on call, who checked my O2 levels and said it was 95, but because I was feeling short of breath, he told me to use the inhaler he’d given me last time and referred me to a pulmonologist.
Mama Called the Doctor and the Doctor Said…
I went to the pulmonologist 2 days later (the first one available, and apparently, I really lucked out because he was amazing, and other local ones have been less than stellar), and he took my medical history and family history.
When I was hiking at Bryce Canyon as a teenager, by the time we finished a 5-hour hike, I wasn’t able to breathe; every breath hurt me, and my father (who is a doctor) said that it appeared I had stress-induced asthma, which only came out in extreme situations. When I was pregnant with one of my kids, I was told by my doctor that I had pregnancy-induced asthma. My father and mother both have bad asthma, as does my brother.
The doctor was already leaning in that direction with a diagnosis, and after listening to me breathe, listening to my chest, and seeing that I couldn’t exhale without doubling over coughing, he said it was clear to him that I have asthma, on top of some other virus or bacteria, possibly even whooping cough. He gave me some blood tests to do and put me on azithromycin, which is how you’d treat whooping cough. The doctor put me on an inhaler called Relvar (sold as Breo in the US) to take every day for 2 months straight for maintenance, and told me to do a broad-spectrum lung functioning test in his clinic, and then see him again at the end of those 2 months.
Guess Who’s Back… Back Again
I had taken the inhaler every day pretty much, missing half a day here and there, but then last week I was feeling better and forgot for a few days in a row, and it came to bite me in the behind.
4 days ago, I started taking the inhaler again, but it wasn’t soon enough (the inhaler works by reducing inflammation in your lungs as well as relaxing the muscles around your lungs) since it takes a few days to get out of your system and then back in, because I started getting a cough and it got worse and worse.
2 days ago, I felt awful. I felt so lightheaded, dizzy, headachey, despite drinking enough, was wheezing, and then I took my oxygen when I was in bed for the night and it was fluctuating between 87 and 92. I started taking an emergency inhaler, the Ventolin/albuterol inhaler I’d had in my house from when a kid needed it, and it helped a bit. I wasn’t sure if it was just the asthma acting up because of forgetting to take the Relvar.
The next day, even taking the Ventolin, I had the same issue, but didn’t know what the doctor could do since I was already taking two different inhalers, but I went into the doctor anyhow when I saw it was between 87 and 92. I first asked my son to test what his O2 levels were, because I said maybe the machine just isn’t accurate, but his showed up as 99, so it wasn’t me. At the doctor’s office, my O2 went between 90 and 93, so the doctor sent me for a chest X-ray and told me to keep taking the Ventolin.
An Unwelcome Visitor
Today the doctor called me up and said the results were that I had pneumonia, and put me on 2 different antibiotics, azithromycin and cefuroxime. I just started those antibiotics, and now I have so many different meds to take, so many different types, it’ll be hard to keep track.
So now I just need to schedule the lung functioning test, but I need to wait until I’m no longer sick because the test won’t be accurate if I’m going in already sick.
Some detractors of mine think I’m looking for more diagnoses, always trying to find more things wrong with me, but that not only is so far from accurate, I’d love to not have this asthma diagnosis. I’d love to be able to breathe better. I’d love to not need to take these inhalers. I’d love to be able to go to the pool and swim- I’ve been hoping to go swimming because my back is killing me, but I’m absolutely forbidden from swimming, even mild low-stress stretches until I feel better.
So yay.
How’ve you been feeling lately? Dealing with any coughs? If you’ve dealt with asthma before, any advice?
