Wow, am I really 70 years old? Who woulda thought. The hour glass is emptying fast now, so I better not take anything for granite going forward.
Seriously though, not one of my doctors thought I would live this long. In fact, many of them thought Id never reach my 50’s. Personally, I never really thought much about it. Perhaps that’s why Im still around? Considering everything I’ve been through, I think I look pretty good for my physical age and am getting along just fine. I don’t always “feel” so good, but who does? Anyway, enough of this I’m getting old stuff. Time to get on with whatever is next.
So after living nearly 70 years with this disease, I find myself still exploring different treatment avenues in hopes of stabilizing my asthma and helping me breath better for longer periods of time. To that end I’ve recently been experimenting with combo or triple action inhalers, namely, Breztri and Trelegy. Most people do well on these type of combination inhalers, but apparently Im not most people. After giving these drugs equal tryouts lasting about 3 months each, I found that I don’t tolerate either one of them. Trelegy, which comes in a dry-powder inhaler (DPI), irritates my airways and causes my mucus to get too thick, which in turn makes my air-trapping worse. Though a rare side effect, I’ve also developed urinary retention problems caused by the anticholinergic component in these drugs. In the end, these drugs are way too expensive anyway, so not a huge disappoint on my part.
For the time being I’ve decided that until something totally new comes out, Im going to stick with the tried and true basics. Ones that have been around for decades. Bronchodilators and steroids. In addition to Fasenra injections, I’ve started doing nebulized Budesonide twice a day, along with Albuterol nebs and Albuterol MDI as needed. Inhaled steroids are much easier on your body and Albuterol Ive inhaled by the bucket loads since its inception. I was also doing nebulized Formoterol as well, but found that I was unable to reduce the amount of Albuterol I needed, which was giving me heart palpitations. Using too much Albuterol while on long acting beta agonists can be dangerous, so I stopped using the Formoterol.
On the fitness and adventure side of things, at age 70, with a current FEV1 of 32%, I continue to pound the pavement with at least a couple miles every day, though I have to admit that since my last exacerbation its been much harder to do.
I don’t really have any walking or travel adventures events planned at the moment, but I do have a journey of a different sort in works. I hope it comes to full fruition before I get too old. Ill share more about that in my next post. Until then, here’s to the next chapter and whatever it might bring. Take care all, and breath well.
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