On Jul 15, 10:10 pm, valarief...@gmail.com wrote:

Hello there, I'm Dragonfly.  I've had mild asthma all my life,
undiagnosed thanks to stupid parents, but its gotten frightningly
worse in the past year.  I'm currently on qvar and advair, plus a home
nebulizer and it seems like that combination has, if not solved my
asthma, at least thus far prevented another of those utterly
terrifying attacks that seem to come so close to actually killing
me :/  ugh.  Really scary stuff, huh?

Like you, it just has kept getting worse and worse.  Now my doctor has
vanished (literally! no idea what happened or where she went), so I
guess you could say well, its not getting worse now because there's no
one to monitor it!

Its not allergies for me either, though my psychologist still insists
I at least get checked out by an allergist to be 100% sure.  But we're
pretty sure its that other type of asthma that isn't allergies.  You
know, the one no one really knows the cause of...

What made the most difference to me was the nebulizer I have.  Even
when I can barely even gasp, much less breathe, my partner gets the
mask and liquid albuterol and plugs it all in and then I know even if
I can only get one tiny molecule of air in to my lungs, the machine
will gradually get my lungs opened up enough for me to breath.
Inhalers are worth about as much as sh.t with a major attack, hm?
Anyways, my doctor was SO absolutely an angel, and found a nebuliser
donation for me, normally they seem to run about $60-75 (US
currency).  But, it is a medical device, so your insurance (if you
have some) may cover part or all of that for you.  ASk your doctor if
you don't already have one of these machines.  Not real useful when
you're away from home, but for me at least, most of my attacks came in
the evening, so it has made a huge difference.

I can't think of any other suggestion er oh!  Yes!  One more thing.
Learn meditation.  Seriously.  There's a few free tapes online, if you
look, and any decently large bookstore will have some on sale.  If you
practice deep breathing meditation, it will teach you to breath, to
concentrate on your breathing as a form of relaxation.  This will take
a while to work, but if you practice dilligently every day (or as
often as you can), then you can use the techniques you learned while
meditating to help you avoid that panicky "omygod I'm going to die"
fear when you have an asthma attack.  I noticed for me at least, I'd
start having a panic attack when I would have trouble breathing, and
that made the asthma ever so much worse...

Hope this helps.  Feel free to email me directly, or IM me (all ym IDs
are on my livejournal profile), if you need someone to talk to.  I may
not know all that much about asthma, but if I don't know how to answer
a question, I have very close people who will for certain know!

Hang in there, I know it feels awful and panicky and terrifying, but
it can and very likely WILL get better.  Try to stay calm (yes, I
know, that's a rediculous suggestion... but if you can, it will help)

*Dragonfly*

http://dragonflychaos.deviantart.com/
http://glitterychaos.livejournal.com/

Hi Valerie,
I'm Julie.  I developed asthma as a baby after a viral infection.  I pretty
much didn't realize I still had it (I was lucky that it was mild and I think
I just coped well... slowed down when I was running and such...)

Anyway, in my late 30's or so, my asthma returned.  It was mild at first and
then it has been getting worse as I age.

I like Dragonfly's idea of having a nebulizer at home.  This really helps me
when my asthma is really acting up.

I tried Advair, too.  At first it felt like it gave me my life back.. but
then it stopped being effective.  I went on a short strong cycle of
prednisone several months ago after trying a lot of different inhalers that
weren't working.  Then I went on Flovent and that seems to be keeping me
rather stable (except when I get a cold -- then I just get through it, use
the nebulizer and wait for things to improve).

I, too, have allergy-like symptoms but an allergy only to ragweed.  I think
I'm just very sensitive to irritants and my lungs object loudly!
I also think that the medical community hasn't fully embraced the idea of
the different immunoglobulins (sp?) that we produce to allergens... most
docs just check for the classic allergy type.  (Sorry this isn't very
clear -- need my daughter, the med lab technologist to explain it better!)

It helps my asthma when I stay clear of things that I am "allergic" or
"sensitive" to.  Some of those things are food (milk, eggs, cashews)...
Others are dust, molds, fragrances, cleaning supplies, cigarette smoke... It
also helps to cut back on mucous producing foods, dairy, wheat; try to cut
back on salt and avoid food colorings (esp. yellow dye #5) and other
additives; it's always a good idea to cut back on foods that are high in
pro-inflammatory omega-6: sugar red meat and refined carbs.

Foods that can help lessen symptoms of asthma are salmon, tuna, walnuts,
canola oil (high in omega-3); spinach, almonds, cashews (magnesium); red
peppers, peaches strawberries, papayas,oranges, grapefruits (those high in
vitamin C).  I think these foods are the ones that support our immune
system.

All that said, I understand the struggle!  I've been quite frustrated in
trying to get a handle on my asthma, too.

It seems to me that I just have to get the right combination:
*I've switched to cleaning with natural cleaners or special cloths with
water
*I've bought a vacuum that doesn't spew dust everywhere
*I treat my mattress and pillow with a spray the eats the dust mites
*I adjust my diet (avoid trigger foods, additives; eat natural/organic when
I can afford it; try to eat more of those foods that help asthma)
*Then I take my rescue inhaler (albuterol) at the very beginning of symptoms
or before I do things like go for a walk or do other things that trigger my
asthma
* I got a handicap sticker for my car so I do not have to walk long
distances in very cold or very hot weather.

LOL... OK, well, sounds like I've made a few adjustments??? Doing all of
that (not all at once... but gradually over time) has helped me to keep a
fairly even keel...

Hope some of this helps... sorry to be so long-winded!

Good luck
Julie