Health Update

[sparkindarkness]

Well there are pros and cons and a heavy dose of “huh?”

On the pro side - I’m CURED. Seriously cured. In fact, I feel better than I have since I can remember in all but one way (which I will get to). I returned to Dr. K (unfortunately it was Dr. K now not his extra sexy registrar *cries* though Dr. K is cute and male - and I thought the opposite on both counts) who was most pleased and told me to finish my pills and let him know what the result is (because apparently my symptoms COULD have gone because either a) they were going to disappear anyway or b) because of the pills he gave me, and he’s kind of curious to see which it is since he belongs to the “guess and treat it” school of medicine rather than the “find out what it is and treat it” school). But I feel great great great. I’m looking better, I’m feeling better I have energy and enthusiasm and life and body feels good again! Soooo euphoric after months of feeling like crap.

And then he says “hmmm this breath chart is interesting.” Which is bad. Doctors never find good things interesting. This is known. Healthy people bore doctors. For the last month I’ve been reporting my “peak flow” readings - which apparently means blowing into a tube and looking at the little number on the side. We did another test at the hospital on a biiiiiig machine with a tube and a piece of paper with a lie detector pencil skittering across it. The plus side? Apparently I have the lungs of a baby elephant. Which is odd for someone of my height apparently, but one of my breath into the tubey type thing went off the chart entirely and the peak flow graph had problems because it only goes up to 550 and I went over that sometimes.

So, more good news? Well apparently not because my chart is SPIKY. And SPIKY is a BAAAD thing. Apparently. It means I breathe better at different times of day or something like that. Me? I’m not seeing a problem with this. I feeeeel great, who cares if my breathing is only super-normal in a morning and super-duper normal in an evening?

Dr. K cares. Git.

And he’s given me an inhaler. As in an asthma inhaler. Cue freak out - I’ve said before I hate taking any kind of medication. I won’t even touch aspirin unless I’m held down and I’m the world’s BIGGEST wimp when it comes to needles - not because it hurts but because it’s CHEMICALS GOING INTO MY VEINS!!!! *panic panic* the only way I cope with any kind of medication is because I know it’s TEMPORARY. A chronic ailment of any kind? This I cannot handle! Nope nope nope.

It doesn’t make any sense to me either. How can someone have uber-breathing of DOOOM and be able to push the needles off the chart with his might breath AND be asthmatic? Does not compute!

*rides off to denial land*

Comments

[cally7.livejournal.com]

That is ... odd.

[logophilos.livejournal.com]

The point about the inhaler is that you take the drugs to *prepare* for an athmatic attack - which, with your history, is a definite risk.

Denial made you sick as a dog for months, Sparky. Listen to the nice doctors this time, will you? We want you around for evah!

[amynnah.livejournal.com]

Strange... :(

Spark, I hope things come back normal, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take your meds! We need you for stuff! :D

[elrohana.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...what inhaler has he given you? I had two of the buggers for years, then I took up running and insisting on 'breathing' my way out of attacks, and now I use my one remaining 'just in case of emergencies' inhaler about once every 3 months. Unless your guy is an serious asthma expert, I'd be very dubious - GP's seem to diagnose asthma at the drop of a hat these days, and I personally can attest that you become addicted to the fucking inhalers and weaken your lungs by using them, if you are not of the serious 'I am going to die in a second' brand of asthmatic (which are very very rare).

[jocelyncs.livejournal.com]

*patpat* I feel your wheezing.

I too can push the needle to normal range with little effort--my lungs frequently clear up when I have a doctor's appointment. They do it for spite, I'm sure.

Not sure if you had asthma as a kid or not, but Adult Onset Asthma, as I have (crops up in childhood, goes away in early adulthood, comes back with a vengeance during the late 20's), is erratic and aggressive. If your doc gave you a preventative inhaler, take it as often as he says, even if your lungs feel okay. The trouble with ANY asthma is that it's hard to predict what will set you off, and you don't want your only defense to be the rescue inhaler.

[gnarlycranium.livejournal.com]

This.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

See, that was my verdict too

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I will liiive forever!

Well I'm going to see a GP about it soon because it seems excessive the amount I'm on considering that if I DO have Asthma is must be a mild form of it. A preventative inhaler to use twice a day AND an emergency one? It's a bit much

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

:) I'#ll take 'em but I will glare at doctor too until he explains himself

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I have 2. One I take twice a day for preventative reasons no matter what and another for emergencies. The guy is a chest and respiratory expert, so pretty high up but asthma isn't his specialty I think.

I'm going to have it out with my GP, it seems like we're going a bit ott for a suspected case of what must be mild asthma

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Never had asthma before. I just want to grab my gp and have this out because very little of it is making sense. I don't mind carrying my emergency inhaler just in case, it's these twice daily preventers- preventing something that has never been an issue, that concerns me

[elrohana.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm...how fit are you normally? Cos, well, I ain't a doc, but common sense tells me that after someone has been very weak and ill, their lungs might suffer a bit, but return to normal once fitness is restored, and diagnosing asthma off the back of that and giving steroid inhalers sounds like an over-reaction. I gave up using the preventatives years ago, as while I used them, I had more attacks. But I am cussed awkward so feel free to ignore me.