Ups and Downs

[ladysprite]

Well, the good news is that I don't have pneumonia. The bad news is that you can't tell that based on circumstantial evidence such as listening to me cough or watching me try to breathe.

I get bronchitis every year, usually right about now. And I go to the doctor, and I tell them this, and they shrug their shoulders and give me antibiotics that don't work, and I suck it up and deal for about a month, give or take. I'm used to it. This year, however, it hit me worse than I can ever remember, and after watching me gasp, wheeze, choke, and fall for the past week, my coworkers put their foot down and insisted I call out sick to go to the emergency room.

Luckily, spiritdance is not merely a wonderful boss and amazing friend, she is also far more organized and dedicated than any one human being has a right to be. She picked me up and hustled me off to the doctor, where (as always) my chest x-rays were disturbingly normal. Unlike my other experiences, though, the staff of this place actually paid attention to the fact that I was coughing until I turned blue and started seeing black spots, and persisted in pumping me full of various drugs until the Respiratory tech could prove that I was actually breathing again.

Apparently the mid-Ohio valley is toxic to humans. And apparently this took my annual fight with bronchitis, magnified it to Godzilla-like levels, and added in a hearty dose of asthma, leaving me in a rather unpleasant state. Luckily, it's something the doctors here are familiar enough with to treat it effectively.

So now I'm on a fairly impressive list of medications, including enough steroids to choke a horse, some fun and colorful antibiotics, and a cough suppressant that is, in fact, merely a Giant Sledgehammer of Unconsciousness disguised as a pretty pink syrup. I spent most of last night in a happy, coughing-free drug-induced coma, which is more or less the plan for the next 24 hours - if nothing else, when I wake up and try to exert myself I apparently get quite shaky quite quickly. But I can take a deep breath for the first time in two weeks, which is worth the shakes and semiconsciousness. And hopefully by tomorrow my body will have acclimated itself enough to the situation that I'll be able to work again.

Meanwhile, I hear a sofa and a videotape full of Veronica Mars episodes calling my name....

Comments

[deborah_c]

enough steroids to choke a horse

Of course, we can't argue with this. If anyone would know...

pretty pink syrup

Ah! Seanan-medicine :-)

[tpau]

whee. every winter i get bronchitus, with my usual asthma. and my lungs go down to 40% or less. and i can't climb stairs, or walk or anything. i feel your pain...

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Eek! I hope this regime makes it go away faster than usual - I can't imagine your having to put up with this for a month!

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

That just sounds yucky! *hugs* Hope you feel better, soon.

[knightofpholtus.livejournal.com]

hope you feel better soon -

[braider.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose they went so far as to figure out *why* you get so horribly sick every year? Is it a matter of allergies and asthma, misdiagnosed as a virus?

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

My thoughts, exactly. Dry air, dust mites on the radiators, or something else? This doesn't mean that you don't treat it, of course!

[johnprester.livejournal.com]

Hugs and well-wishes!

[tafkad.livejournal.com]

Maybe curing the overwhelming version of the illness will take care of the regular version that you've been getting every prior year, so you'll never have to put up with it again. I hope.

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

Ironically, I get bronchitis pretty much every year, too. Mine triggered my "excercise induced asthma" into regular ol' daily asthma. So, when I start wheezing, if a shot or two from the inhaler (and a boost in vit C) doesn't do the trick in a few days, it's time to go fill the zithromax pack script I keep in reserve. Thankfully that does the trick, although I definitely move slow until it kicks in. As for pneumonia, I now get the pneumonia vaccine every 3-5 years, which so far means the bronchitis hasn't turned into that, at least *knock on wood*. If you haven't had that yet, get it. I don't bother with a flue shot, but I keep that pneumonia vaccine up to date.

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

This sounds like exactly the lovely thing that I have, which is allergy induced asthma. Every year I would go to the doc and they would try various things then give up and give me steriods, which depending on the dosage would actually do something. Up until a few years ago that is when I was on prednizone for more than six months. What finally kicked it was a combination of Advair 500/50 and change of season.

This year I've been okay so far. I'm very much afraid that is because I didn't go to Pennsic this year. I'll test the theory by going next year and seeing what happens.

[siderea]

Wow, sounds like me, only I know it's Pennsic in my case. I'm allergic, it turns out, to smoke. Not very allergic, mind you; years in which there was enough rain, I didn't have a problem. But other years, and that's most of them for over a decade, I'd wind up with a 3-week-long asthma attack starting on about my seventh day at the War. Since I had no history of asthma or other repiratory illnesses, I kept thinking, "Man, I always pick up the worst colds at the War!" until the light dawned.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Sorry you're feeling so awful! I hope it goes away soon.

[warinbear.livejournal.com]

. . . and a cough suppressant that is, in fact, merely a Giant Sledgehammer of Unconsciousness disguised as a pretty pink syrup.

Ah. A Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster. (I was gonna comment on the 'enough steroids to choke a horse,' but someone beat me to it. 'S'what I get for only checking LJ once every 24 hours.)