Colds and asthma do NOT mix well

[CaptainMattJ.]

Yes thats right i have athsma. I rarely ever, EVER have to use my inhaler (maybe once every 6 months) but getting a COLD and having asthma is a match made in hell. even though i have sort of come and go once in a while type asthma, when im sick it gets BAD.

You see, it always starts out with a sore throat and/or runny nose. The next day, the sore throat is gone but now i got a CLOGGED up nose. And after that it goes WAAAAY downhill.

Having asthma sucks intensely. but, since i rarely ever have breathing problems once in a blue moon i dont care. but getting sick is whe asthma shows its razor sharp fangs.

Asthma makes you more prone for mucus. you see by the third night, the clogged up snot travels down, down,down until its in the recesses of my lungs. now this is just inconvenient for anyone else, but its HELL for me.

Simply put, i cant breath. I have to do TREATMENTS (20 minutes of inhaling albuterol through a mask. a machine pumps air through a tube up in the mask/medicine container causing the albuterol to form into mist which is inhaled, opening up your lungs). its such a pain in the ass, those treatments. its SO tedious. 20 minutes might not sound bad, but trust me it is.

The machine thrums the entire time (making a helluva lot of noise), plus theres the HISSSSSSSSS of the mist, and combined its like nails on a chalkboard to me. Not to mention you have to actually concentrate on taking deeeeep breaths, and all the while looking like a luekemia patient.

and these treatments dont help for long (3 hours). so in 3 hours im back to wheeeezing and hacking trying to get it out of my lungs.

But i cant take another treatment, i have to wait 5 hours between treatments. so 2 hours of more wheezing and hacking just to get another 20 minute tedious treatment. not to mention the clogged nose, who in your sleep piles in more mucus into my lungs, so any progress youve made with hacking any of t up is futile.

so here i am. day 6 of my misery, and im almost free of this damn cold.

[ReFaN]

Sounds Horrible, im very lucky i dont have breathing problems, almost choked once and it was scary as hell. Cant imagine how you are feeling.

Be well wishes from Sweden!

[CaptainMattJ.]

Sounds Horrible, im very lucky i dont have breathing problems, almost choked once and it was scary as hell. Cant imagine how you are feeling.

Be well wishes from Sweden!
Danke!

Choking IS scary as hell.

[Weiss Pinguin]

Ouch :nope: I used to have asthma when I was little, but I haven't had to use an inhaler for a looong time. I guess I didn't have it as bad as some people (can't ever remember having an attack), but I still had to use the inhaler every so often.

[frau kaleun]

Ouch :nope: I used to have asthma when I was little, but I haven't had to use an inhaler for a looong time. I guess I didn't have it as bad as some people (can't ever remember having an attack), but I still had to use the inhaler every so often.

Asthma is a funny thing - it can come and go, manifest early or late, and be set off by so many different things at different times. Some people struggle with it most of their lives and for others it's a "childhood" thing that seems to disappear with age.

One of the things that makes it so potentially catastrophic is the way in which it can be exacerbated by and complicate the effects of something that would not be a big deal otherwise, like a cold or flu or reactions to common environmental allergens or respiratory irritants. Nothing to play around with, so take good care of yourself, Matt! I presume you've seen a doc for the asthma since you've got the albuterol and neb gear on hand.

[Betonov]

oooooh, another asthma sufferer, welcome to the club.
I had it since I was 5
And I agree, having a cold can be a b***, I can go trough an inhaler in a week when I have a cold or angina (or how do you call that disease when you have an extremly sore throat and fever)

One more question, how do you handle weather changes, If I wake up every half an hour during the night I know what kind a weather will be the next day

[Task Force]

I hate those damn machines... yea, I know the feeling, Im stuck in the asthma boat. Its not bad for me till Spring. Then its hell on earth.:damn:

Had it since I was five, seems after I started school it kicked in.

[d@rk51d3]

All the Doc's I've been to insist that I have athsma aswell. Funny thing is, it only comes out when I get a cold, and then it's virtually a guranteed lung infection that hangs on for a good month.

I hate that feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night and no matter how hard you try, you can't draw breath, and you cough and hack till you puke.:dead:

[FIREWALL]

Hope you get well soon. :up:

It's hard to explain to anyone what it feels like to be smothered and be one gasp of air away.

[Penguin]

Also the best wishes from the Penguin who also sits at home with a cold! Luckily I have no asthma but also some temporary breathing probs.

[Castout]

I used to have asthma myself when I was a small kid.

From time to time I'd go to the doctor because of my asthma. I didn't need any inhaler though as the doctor never gave me one ever.

But I remember on one occasion the doctor told me that my asthma will be gone when I get older . . . .

And it's true as I grew older it diminishes to the point of now I'm no longer asthmatic at all! I think it was gone by the time I reach my teenage years.

I'd suggest an active life for you Matt, Get a lot of sun when you can that UV light works wonder!. EXERCISE to hasten the metabolism a bit and help reduce its occurrence and I hope sooner or later it will be gone too like mine.

So anyway what Frau wrote is true.

[papa_smurf]

I too had asthma when I was younger, but it cleared up when I reached 12-13 yrs old. Used to hate my inhaler, taking it every day and this was one the old capsule ones not the gas ones used now, so it made me cough every time I used it:damn:.

Never really got that bad, or had to use a nebulizer so was pretty lucky.

[Weiss Pinguin]

Never really got that bad, or had to use a nebulizer so was pretty lucky.
I remember that thing, can't remember if I ever had to use it or not. I still remember breaking it out and wondering what the deuce it was for.

But I guess asthma still left a bit of a mark on me, first time I caught pneumonia I was down for 3-4 weeks at least. Boring as crap :shifty:

[frau kaleun]

A lot of inhalers are prescribed and carried for "emergency" type situations, where you have an asthma attack and literally can't breathe and need the meds in your respiratory system immediately. So if you never had a severe enough attack to need it, you might never have used it. Better than having the attack and not having the inhaler.

Our patients that get allergy injections carry epinephrine in auto-injectors for the same reason... the chances that they will go into anaphylactic shock after a shot are slim, but if they do and don't get something in their system to fight it quick enough, the results could be fatal. A lot of patients don't like carrying them but it's better to have it if you need it than the other way around.

[Betonov]

I always carry an inhaler with me (Ventolin). Got used to having the holly trinity always with me: phone, wallet, inhaler. I never have or had those severe attacks that could threaten my life, but having an attack without the inhaler means I'm literaly out of action since I can hardly talk

[CaptainMattJ.]

oooooh, another asthma sufferer, welcome to the club.
I had it since I was 5
And I agree, having a cold can be a b***, I can go trough an inhaler in a week when I have a cold or angina (or how do you call that disease when you have an extremly sore throat and fever)

One more question, how do you handle weather changes, If I wake up every half an hour during the night I know what kind a weather will be the next day
well, honestly i handle weather changes pretty well. But radical environment changes ? :doh:

i remember going from my school (in a town right next to azusa, California) to Catalina island in 7th grade.

We slept in these bunk-beds, but the first night i was struggling to breath, i was wheezing and i couldnt sleep.

same happened in my 6th grade trip to arrowhead, wheeeeeezing and struggling. Catalina was very dusty and pretty hot, and arrowhead was freezing cold winter. and both were very different from my towns conditions, so i has trouble adapting the first 2 nights


and "treatment" was using a nebulizer. its a nickname that stuck. Like when i was little and ate top ramen noodles me and my sister called them "curly noodles" and it stuck and i still call them that today.

im not sure what counts for a full blown attack. ive has times where i had pretty bad breathing problems but nothing like an "attack".

[Weiss Pinguin]

Wow, I wouldn't have thought that so many of us had asthma. :hmmm:

[Betonov]

We slept in these bunk-beds, but the first night i was struggling to breath, i was wheezing and i couldnt sleep.
bunkbeds are a death trap for asthma sufferers, the dust levels are skyhigh

[JU_88]

I used to have asthma as a kid - not nice, luckly it cleared up by the time I was 13. :woot:
And yet now I smoke :doh:

[Betonov]

you know, they say marihuana is actualy medicinal when it comes to asthma. Explains why many loose the disease when they reach puberty :hmmm:

[CaptainMattJ.]

you know, they say marihuana is actualy medicinal when it comes to asthma. Explains why many loose the disease when they reach puberty :hmmm:
:haha:

[Weiss Pinguin]

you know, they say marihuana is actualy medicinal when it comes to asthma. Explains why many loose the disease when they reach puberty :hmmm:
You'd think we'd also see a lot more cases around that time :smug: