# Asthma Gone Bonkers



## acpeacemaker (Nov 5, 2012)

Growing up I almost died from it but, have had it from birth to my twenties. It went away till I hit 30. This fall it has been the outright worst after all those years. I don't know its the hot to cold back to hot or what. I ended up in the ER a couple of nights ago with my little girl. She had a severe ear infection, and I had small dose of pnuemonia. A couple of people have told me the mold count has been up. I work for 4-6 hours and then on a nebulizer as a routine.. I'm not gonna lie this sucks and is bringing back some bad memories. Anyone else have these problems spiking up?

Andrew


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## glondor (Nov 5, 2012)

Have you made any changes in your "diet" IE: food brands, things you drink. Have you increased your exposure to something you are not normally around? Places you go.. Did your neighbour get a cat? lol. My wife had asthma, and we weeded out everything that would trigger it, but it has been so long since we did, I can't remember what the triggers were. Chances are, something in your environment changed. Check your house for damp spots where mold can propagate and clean them up and run a fan to keep air moving in that area to keep it dry. Keep your puffers handy.


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## rusty (Nov 5, 2012)

if you have hidden mold in your house it's pretty hard to find, have someone scan your house with a FLIR infrared thermal camera. You maybe surprised at what you find.


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## Geo (Nov 5, 2012)

chlorine bleach kills mold but will not destroy the spores. if you find mold or if you have damp sheet rock, you have to stop the leak first. dry the area completely and apply a nice thick coat of Killz. its a white primer that locks any spores in the paints matrix. remove all the air filters and either use a duct brush or have a HVAC company come out and do it. use HEPA filters and replace every couple of weeks for the next 2 months.

many things can trigger asthma. for me, its cigarette smoke. i dont have to be around it, just smelling it on someones clothes. roach droppings. if you work on used electronics, even if you cant see any, the stuff is attracted to electro-magnetic fields i guess.


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 5, 2012)

Glondor, it's kind of funny you mentioned cats. Someone dropped three kittens at my door last night. I've never had asthma problems with them. When I was a kid though my eyes would swell almost shut. Also with rabbits. Then off to the hospital for a shot in the butt.

Rusty, while there's not visible mold I've actually wondered about the thermal cam. I was always told it is expensive, but don't know if that's necessarily true. I don't think my insurance covers any of it. Will it show under a blacklight?

Geo, I actually wondered how you been? Everyone's reactions behave differently. I know a girl that can be around everything and not have problems. But if she's around nail polish this girl will hit the floor. Faster than you can ask her what's wrong. I actually knew about the Killz. When I worked in a nursing home. There was a maintenance guy doing that more often than I think he should. He never sprayed it with bleach so a lot of people questioned him. Most of my problematics have been due to moisture in the air. Missouri is bad for it.

Thanks,
Andrew


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## etack (Nov 5, 2012)

Never had any asthma problems. But I hate swimming because of the fear of drowning. 

I would get unexplained hives at times and I will go to the Doc and they always want to give me steroids for it. I always ask if we can find out what I'm allergic too and they always tell me take the steroid and don't worry about it. I never take the steroid and always try to find out what is causing me to breakout.

Hope you get it under control.

Eric


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 5, 2012)

Thanks Eric,

I've actually had a couple of doctors try to put me on steroids for asthma growing up. Like you, I wouldn't ever take them either. They're thoughts were that the steroids would help before problems started. Even at an early age I realized that they couldn't be good for me. Basically trading one problem for another. I don't know the problems they leave behind, but nothing man made is good for your body. 

Andrew


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## patnor1011 (Nov 5, 2012)

I had terrible problems this summer, went thru 4 inhalers in one month and still felt bad. Then my gp gave me week long treatment of steroids, like 6 tablets first day, 5 next day, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1 and my problems disappeared now I have one inhaler for like 3 months. Steroids are bad for you but if used once or in need they do help.


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## glondor (Nov 5, 2012)

Excess chlorine in drinking water gives me hives.


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 5, 2012)

Pat, sorry to hear about the troubles. 4 inhalers in one month is not good. I'm going to contradict myself a little bit. I can see steroids being good for a small time. My doctors, the way they wanted it was to keep me on steroids for the rest of my life, as everyday use. Then eventually I grew out most of it, at least I thought I did. 

One thing that has always bothered me is seeing an asthmatic smoker. I watched someone die very close to me. Always had a cigarette in one hand and an inhaler in the other.

Andrew


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## Geo (Nov 5, 2012)

pat, thats a "medrol dose pak". i take those steroids on a daily basis. thats the final medication the doctors can give you for last stage COPD. i use a rescue inhaler 4X a day and nebulizer twice a day. 

steroids mask infection. it stops the body from making the chemicals that cause inflammation. inflammation is the bodies reaction to injury or illness. its a self diagnostic that is suppose to tell you something is wrong.
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/prednisolone.html predisolone or prednisone is a anti-inflammatory steroid thats used to treat asthma, allergies, breathing disorders and even shrink tumors in cancer patients. it is a great drug for the last line of defense type of thing but it weakens your immune system. notice when you take a medrol dose pak, you have an outbreak of acne. long term use can contribute to infection.

on a side note, this is the drug that will save your life should you over expose yourself to nitric acid fumes. it is the drug of choice when treating pulmonary edema.


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## rusty (Nov 5, 2012)

I doubt that blacklight would reveal mold or mouse droppings and urine hidden behind drywall.

Agreed the FLIR is expensive to purchase, you could hire a contractor or possibly rent one to inspect your home.

Camera rentals from Flir: http://www.flir.com/thermography/americas/us/view/?id=55685

The photo, mouse droppings behind the vapor barrier inside a million dollar home.


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 5, 2012)

Man I bet those people weren't happy. It started raining this evening and some pressure has lifted off my chest. Still in and out of being wheezy though. Temp. dropped pretty rapidly when it started getting dark.

Andrew


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## artart47 (Nov 6, 2012)

Hi friends!
My mom had very bad asthma as a child but like outgrew it. She said it was from the sulfur in the smoke from the coal-fired locomotives in the railyard behind her house in Chicago. She would start to wheez if she got a wiff of a road flare when we'de go past an accident. I would cwonder about those of us with latent asthma taking care when using smb.
Then, when I was in my twnties, mom got a really bad case of the flu! After the flu, she began having horrible asthma attacks. She would be admitted to the hospital and in a few day would come home and in a week she'd be turning blue and the recue squad would be on the wad again.
Finally she was examined by an allergist. skin tests revealed that she had allergies to about sixty foods, almost everything that we normaly ate before she had the flu!
That was in the late 1960'-early 70's. Mom died in 75. 
Throughout my life I've noticed many people that seem to experience the same thing. They have a bad respitory infection and then asthma comes back with a vengence. They also have severe food allergies that they diden't have before.
Over time, I kind of came to a hypothesis to explain what may be happening. per-haps while mom had open lesions in her lung tissue from her battle with the viruses, she was consuming food and micro protien dust from the food were inhaled and found their way into and healed in the open sores in her lungs causing a prolonged battle with her immune-system and the forein protiens. Thus the immune-system get hyper-seneitized and over reacts to those foods for the rest of her life.
It's just how my mind puts ideas together, usually when I'm sleeping and I wake with an idea. I don't have any data but I think it warrents further study.
As a precaution though, anytime I am sick or my kids are, we don't eat anything. Just water!
Just in case!
artart47


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 11, 2012)

Got out of the hospital. Since I've been fighting this all week. I finally decided to man up or cave and go in again. (I hate doctors) 
Tell him what he's won Johnny! Strep, with a side of pneumonia! Woo-hoo!  

Andrew


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## Harold_V (Nov 11, 2012)

acpeacemaker said:


> Got out of the hospital. Since I've been fighting this all week. I finally decided to man up or cave and go in again. (I hate doctors)
> Tell him what he's won Johnny! Strep, with a side of pneumonia! Woo-hoo!
> 
> Andrew


A wise move. 

My father's health was destroyed by a vet missing the fact that he had a strep infection. His heart was damaged and he began retaining water in his lung cavity, which had to be tapped regularly. The vet confided in my mother, after the fact, that they expected him to die. It took years for a recovery, at which time it was discovered that he had cancer of the colon. That proved to be fatal after just more than two years. The last fourteen years of his life were nothing but misery. 

Glad to see you've survived. 

Harold


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 11, 2012)

Harold, that's aweful I'm sorry to hear that kind of story. I, to have a story like that about my father in-law. The doctors had somehow missed he had staph. Before they could get to it, it went septic. Meaning it went into his bloodstream. He layed on that bed in tears for days in the hospital, before he died. You could tell he was in horrible pain. 
Working in a hospital I've seen a great deal of things. Two of the worst things I've never liked hearing or seeing was colon or stomach cancer. Some of those I've been told you can literally smell the cancer. I got to work in the morgue and that was actually quite interesting. Also got to see John Gotti twice.

Ps It's good to hear from you.


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 17, 2012)

Just an update, I've had a very severe reaction to meds and a small percentage of a misdiagnosis. Been in the hospital since Wed/Thursday and don't get to go home until Tuesday or Wed. I woke in severe hives. Nose, throat, eyes, pretty much completely swollen shut. My entire mouth looks like someone threw in a box of razorblades. My lips and face look like bad third degree burns. Today I finally really got my eyes open. I wish this on no one. This has not been my month. I can't imagine the med bill I'm going to be getting.  

Andrew


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## Geo (Nov 17, 2012)

Andrew, thats horrible. god bless you, you certainly sound like you need a break.


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## butcher (Nov 17, 2012)

Andrew,
Hope you get over this soon, this sounds like a case were the cure is worse than the disease.


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 17, 2012)

Thanks guys, 

Its somewhat hard to stay awake, they have me on some type of heavy knock out drug. Today they made me start using some type of mouth wash that is oh so horrible. Like I'm not in enough pain. Feels like scrubbing iodine into fresh wounds. I finally ate earlier from three days ago from what i remember. Ice cream. They also, have told me my lungs sound a lot more clear.

Thanks
Andrew


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## Geo (Nov 18, 2012)

my 15 year old developed a horrid case of mono a few months ago (i cant imagine how he got it) and oral herpes at the same time. he was in terrible pain with open sores on his lips and in his mouth and throat. they gave him something they called "magic mouthwash". it was an antibiotic and analgesic all-in-one. your suppose to swish and spit, but he could not swallow water so the doctor said he could swallow small doses of the mouth wash before trying to drink water or before he tried to swallow food. it numbs the mouth and throat. he was able to drink and eat a few bites at a time after a little dose. ask about magic mouth wash.


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## acpeacemaker (Nov 18, 2012)

Oh man mono, I hadn't ever been through it myself. Maybe I was to much of a prude  
Yeah they gave me some of the good mouthwash with the strep. It had helped somewhat. This other mouthwash they gave was to kill surfacing infection. My eyes still are really itchy this morning. It is has really been scaring my wife. My lips have looked somewhat like her mom's when she had found out she had luekemia. They look a bit worse than yesterday, but I think its because they are starting to heal. Skin coming off and making a new. They've been dark purple, today they are a light red to pink, and starting to scab. 

Andrew


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## mls26cwru (Jun 19, 2013)

A couple years back I had a severe case of pnemonia that nearly took me out perminantly... I went from totally healthy one day to incapacitated in two days. The family doctor sent me to the hospital for x-rays immediatly. When I got there, they were actaully waiting for me, and took me in immediatly. The x-rays of my chest showed about 75% of my lungs had filled with fluid... figured i had 24-36 hours left before I had asphixiated on my on mucus.

Needless to say, i can relate... Make sure you take care. Most importantly, make sure someone is close by to watch out for you as well. Get well soon!


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