Asthma Community

You will find many people on this board in a similar situation. Iwas in a situation where the only that would help was a high level of pred at age 28, and so I moved away from the pollution of that city. This helped a lot, though the pred level is still higher than what is ideal. Once I moved, I felt like I was in heaven as the peak flows went up 20% in the first month-they were higher without pred and theophylline in the small town I moved to than they were with both meds in the polluted city. However, I still have to take bursts of pred 4-5 times a year and am trying to accept that.

hi, i know exactly how u feel, within the last 3 years i have been in the hospital close to 30 times, just like you 5-7 days each time. I have been on all the meds it seems, the only difference i read is that i have a cough variant asthma, where i start to cough and can't stop, that puts me in hospital, i have been on prednisone for the whole time on and off, just like you when i get down to a real low dose ,usually between 3mg and below, is when i start having problems , unfortunatly i have been to 2 specialist throughout the country and can't seem to come up with a reason, i went to the national jewish registry out in denver they are the number 1 pulminology clinic in the country, they found a few things but nothing that can explain why i can't control my asthma. I am now on pulmicort and atrovent mixture in a nebulizer that i do twice a day. that seems to help ,but not always, when i get real bad with the cough i use a liquid lidocaine mixed in with my pulmicort and atrovent. Now unfortunatly i was told that i had a complete adrenal failure, in other words my body doesn't produce cortisol, so now i am on hyrdocortisone pills instead of prednisone. I know it's tough but sometimes you just have to deal with it, what else can u do. I was just in the hospital the beginning of jan, this year. I guess the only good thing , if you want to call it that, is that i am now retired, (disabled) from my job, i was a mailman, i would work 3 days and than end up in the hospital. Oh well, i really just wanted to let you know that there are those of us out there who know exactly what u are going through, i wish you all the luck, and don't be a stranger to the site , sometimes it's just
good to rant a little . Oh about the sleeping, i don't know if you snore , but one thing i do have that seems to help at night is that i have sleep apnea, so i have to use a bipap machine, or cpap, maybe if u can get checked for sleep apnea maybe it will help. Just a thought, sleep apnea isn't good , but the machine does help somewhat.

god bless and hope everything works out

cwille

Thank you for your post. Right after my first post to the site, I was hospitalized. I also suffer with the cough as well. The cough is so bad it is nothing for me to lose 10lbs in a week. To only put it back on again with the high dosage of steroids. I have scheduled an appointment with a new allergist with hopes of getting an alternative method of treating the asthma. While I was in the hospital, I was told that my phosphorus level was high. I'm so afraid that the steroids are now affecting my kidneys. The reason that I cannot sleep is that I have to sit-up. This is not a comfortable position for me. In addition, I have to get up throughout the night for breathing treatments (every 4 hours).

Again, I really appreciate your posting because it makes a difference communicating with someone that understands.

Sleepless

sorry to hear you were in hospital, the cough is a problem, i sometimes will sleep on my recliner, if you have one it does help me. i also know about gaining the weight in the hospital. usually my doc has to give me a diauretic, when i get out , because i swell up so bad. normally for me my white blood cell count is real high , but lately it's been both potassium real low and white blood cell high. well , good luck i hope you can get it figured out. it is real tough,

cwille