Health- improved
Well, I found out why my pulse has been so erratic and I have been so short of breath... I have been having an asthma attack!
I know I have asthma... I have had it for a very long time and it never occurred to me that my increasing difficulty was from asthma because I was not wheezing and my blood oxygen levels were normal.
For those who have been following me, a couple of weeks ago I was attacked by a swarm of ground bees which triggered an asthma attack (with wheezing and the works) and I used my rescue inhaler that day but stopped using it that night because the wheezing had stopped. Unknown to me, the attack had not stopped and had in fact had continued... I was compensating (which is why my blood oxygen levels were okay) but was showing increasing signs of difficulty.
My pulse was erratic... all over the place... every time I breathed in my pulse would all but vanish on my pulse/oxygen meter then bound and jump when I breathed out (something called Paradoxical Pulse) and though I was not wheezing or coughing I just could not get an easy breath in. Take a deep breath... then try to take just a little bit more... you feel that 'over-full can't get any more in' feeling? That is how every breath was getting, especially when I would lay down.
I finally called my Aunt, who is a respiratory therapist and asked her if it was possible to have an asthma attack with a normal blood oxygen level... her answer "yep".
I used my rescue inhaler again (since I have no insurance I can't afford to get another inhaler or nebulizer medication so I rarely use it unless I have to) and the pain the moment I did it scared me silly... it felt like I was being stabbed in the chest and I thought I was going to pass out... then... breathing got easier. I used it again an hour later when the "I can't get more air in" feeling started to return and was soon breathing a lot easier.
I have only the one inhaler (it is expired, ooops) so I am wary of using it more than I have to (I ran out of Advair 10 months ago) and the inhaler I use is extremely expensive (I cannot use Albuterol, the 'normal' rescue inhaler because it causes my tachycardia to skyrocket and my Blood Pressure to soar into the 250/140 range) and there is no way I can pay for it.
I am just glad that I finally found the reason for my increasing exhaustion, heart rate issues and shortness of breath. I am not sure if it is connected to the concentration issues as well, but between the Pediasure and inhaler I am feeling 70% back to my 'normal'.
This is my 'today' with invisible illness... I have more than one of them... asthma is invisible as well and this attack was just as invisible to me, obviously. If I had insurance... if I had access to healthcare that I could afford to drive to I would have been seen weeks ago for what is going on and it would have been treated long before now.
I am lucky.... I am EXTREMELY lucky that my attack did not lead to a heart attack, stroke or respiratory arrest, I have no idea just how close I got to it and frankly I do not want to know. I know that yesterday I was so exhausted and weak that all I wanted to do was lay down, but I could not breathe laying down so had to prop up and this morning I was battling passing out constantly. I know that after using my inhaler every 1-2 hours today I have felt more energy and am able to lay down...
This is a wake-up call for me... and I hope for anyone reading this.
If you have a chronic illness, never assume that a flare will follow the usual path or have the usual symptoms. If you have more than one condition and you do not feel right do not instantly focus on the one that usually affects you the most but take all of your conditions into consideration.
I know I have malnutrition, this is documented and a known fact... it is a result of Gastroparesis, so I assumed that everything going on was connected to the malnutrition. Does it play a part? Probably... but the thing that was leading the charge stemmed from the stings from those ground bees... asthma, and that could have been a disaster had I not asked my Aunt a simple question.
Never assume.
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