Never let your guard down or be fooled into thinking that you have this disease under total control. No matter how good the drugs are or how long you’ve been symptom free or at your baseline, asthma can lurk in the shadows for months, years, even decades, then WHAM! just when you think the tables have turned and you got this thing licked, you start exacerbating and end up in the intensive care unit again.
Ok, I’m just venting my frustration. But really, I’m so over this freakin disease.
As Ive written about previously, if and when we fully recover from a really bad exacerbation, we asthmatics tend develop a sense of amnesia around that particular event and all the suffering we went through because of it. When you’re finally breathing better again, you don’t dwell on the times when your breathing was super bad, you just go on with your life as if nothing ever happened and you forget about it. That’s the way it should be, and that’s why asthma can be so cruel and untrustworthy. Just when you start moving ahead and start focusing on the better aspects of life, asthma slaps you right in the face and says…. “Hello person, I’m still here. You can’t rid of me that easy. All the medications, treatments and specialists in the world are not going to make me disappear completely. I’ll always be around to haunt you and figure out ways to make your life miserable, or maybe even kill you”.
Having survived literally hundreds of severe asthma exacerbations, and knowing deep down that the next big one is always just around the corner, I too have been occasionally fooled into thinking that maybe this current attack will be the last. Ive just come off a 2 year long string of bad attacks that occurred pretty much back to back…It was a really tough period for me. Thankfully, that bad patch seemed to have come to a head about 3 months ago. After that that attack I eventually recovered and had even built my physical endurance back up to the point of walking 3 miles a day again. Then just two days ago, as random as can be, I noticed my breathing becoming more labored than usual. I cant express to you the feeling of dread I felt with that realization. It was like someone kicked me in the gut. Back to reality, here we go again. Sure enough, a new exacerbation and the inevitable 131st hospitalization and torture fest are underway. All I can do now is focus on getting through it, so that I can start getting better again.
Moral of the story, if you have breathing problems, don’t worry about the future. Live those precious “good” days like there’s no tomorrow.
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Steve, you have no idea how much I both love and hate to see you… but I’m glad I did the day you published this post. Here’s to a speedy recovery and more smiles!
Hi and thank you for the kind words. Judging from your name title Im guessing you’re a Respiratory Therapist? Do you have asthma as well?
gosh I’m so glad I found your site. I’m sitting here sick as can be for 3-4 weeks with asthmatic bronchitis and wondering if I should go to the hospital. Antibotics and predidsone is not working.
Sorry to hear that. While most people can handle an extended exacerbation on their own, the unpredictability of the disease makes it risky to do so. At the very least I would get checked out by your primary care doc or pulmo. They should be able to tell if you need inpatient treatment. You might even want to go the Urgent care or ER. Good luck!
Because of the article, i went to the immediate care center. I was diagnosed with pnemonia. Thank you!
Thank you. I hope you’re feeling better.
Stephen you an astute person of human nature. The past couple of weeks was excellent for me and I was thinking I am through the worst of summer in Arizona – heat, humidity and bad air quality then yesterday my dyspnea reappeared, I new once I went for coffee. Blood oxygen levels fropped and went for the albuterol. I had been thinking of cutting back on the breo but n longer. People want to believe that y are indestructible and immune from bad things that happen to other people. Perhaps that is the way it should be but then there is reality after all.