hello, i am 29 years old with 2 young children and a husband with a very chronic back condition to take care of. i have been told i have very severe chronic life threating asmtha with phemunia on top of it know just recetly. my meds are barely working. the meds i'm on are advair once in morning and once at night,60 mgs predizone, convient every 6 hours and albutrol every 4 hours and know they added albtutrol nebizer treatments on friday.my asmtha just feels so out of controll and i have never felt so depentdant on my meds if i dont take them right on schedule i go into really severe attacks. even 10 mintues late. as i write this i cant breathe very good. this morning as i was getting my son ready for school i feel down my stairs due to having a attack my son said my lips turned blue and had just used my machine 10 minutes before and so i used another one which helped but thats 2 treatments in a hours which i know its good. i don't like using the machine gives me the scakes really bad i know that side affect will disappear but why are the meds not working that well i feel hopeless. is there anything that i can do to improve my condition.i'm sorry i know i have posted all over this board but am just really scared. know my husband doesnt even want me on the stairs anymore. says he will get my son up before he leaves for work in morning and down stairs dressed before he leaves i feel like i'm losing the battle on asmtha and its winning i'm not a quiter if anything i fight harder than anyone i've had a hard life and fight hard i dont give up on anything but seem to be losing this one is there anything i can do ?????????????????????.
any help or things to try would be helpfull. yes i'm doing everything my doctors tell me to do bye the book like clock work and yes i am letting them know whats going on. but nothing seems to help that much. this one helps a little and that one the same but nothings seems to control it. i trust my doctor he knows my mothers history and my doctor even addmitted i'm following in my mothers footsteps and thats what scares him.he is calling a asmtha specialist to have me go see him because they ran some tests and he says that i have damged my lungs over 25 percent which what does that mean??????? i understand i damaged them but how do they get the percent of damage??? any replies would be great thanks for listening......
upset and scare
sherry kern

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I've had severe asthma and allergic rhinitis for several years. I was on serevent, flovent, and claritin-d, and nasacortQ, plus albuterol several times a day. Nine months ago, I changed my whole way of eating. Plenty of protein, whole grains, and veggies. Added omega 3's, in the form of fish oils and flax oil, and b vitamins, vitamin c and zinc. Cut out wheat and cow dairy products, and sugars, and refined foods, and lo and behold, I was able to come off all the meds, except using the albuterol inhaler occasionally, when I'm triggered by smoke or something like that. I couldn't even walk up stairs without feeling that I was going to pass out, and now I am able to run up 27 steps several times a day in the library where I work.

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MM

hello, thanks will try that i just got back from emercency room because i got really bad this afternoon and the phemunia is know gone but still are calling that i have a infection still brontchis that is making my asmtha life treating told me to be very carefull and use my meds right bye the book or i'll be in trouble incressed my neuibezer albutrol solution treatments to every 2 hours.has anyone every been treated rudely in the emercency room for asmtha they said i should have waited for a opening in my doctor's office cause i'm on everything i can be on its a waste of there time coulnt belive they said that to me???? but will try the diet change hope it works for me this is so scary going through this every day my husband says he understand but he doesnt can tell because all he does is complain about the house.wish i could let him go through it just once he has a serve back condition so he understands helplessness but has been fair but he could lay off some does anyones husband understand there asmtha struggles in daily life to get through a day.
well thats for the help and will defintly try it.
sincerlly
sherry

you sound like a dead-on xolair candidate for me. xolair is the brand new human monoclonal ige antibody inhibitor released by novartis/genentech. it is supposed to be amazing stuff. i am starting it as soon as i get cleared. here is some info. good luck.
copy and paste this link.
http://www.thedoctorslounge.net/pharmalounge/articles/xolair/

oh yeah, and you should try xopenex inhalation solution for your nebulizer instead of albuterol. xopenex is levalbuterol, so it is more pure. you wont get the shakes nearly as bad or the racy heart, but it works just as well if not better than albuterol for bronchodilation. i switched to it and like it a lot better.

Sherry,

How are you feeling? Your post was the one with which I identified most. I know what you're going through. Have you gotten better? If you have, any advice?

Sherry,
I have read a great book called "Reversing Asthma" by Richard Firshein. He is a doctor out of NYC and has helped a lot of people with severe asthma. It contains info on lifestyle changes you must make. The earlier post that talks about certain vitamins and nutrients was right on target. Dr. Firshein talks about regular IVs of magnesium which is a great for acute cases. In your critical situation, I would call him and set up at least a phone call appointment. This book can give you hope. Also about your lung damage. It is possible to have scar tissue resulting in severe asthma. However, we can lose a considerable amount of lung capacity and still live normally. I believe you can have hope. You are too young for this. I will pray for you.

Have you had a methacholine challenge? How about allergy testing? Have you had a laryngoscopy to rule out VCD (Vocal Cord Dysfunction)? Have you had a pH probe or a barium swallow to rule out acid reflux? All of these things, and more, can drive your asthma. If you have not had these things checked out, I would suggest you do so. The leaders in asthma care find if they FIGURE out WHY the asthma is so severe (can revolve around one of the things I have mentioned here) then it is easier to control and treat. How do your spirometries look?

hello, thank you for all the valueable information i will ask about those test on my next visit. my phemunia is finally gone know i have devolped a large mass of flem in my throat that has moved my thonthis over to the side of my throat. not fun and very very painfull. its getting better but is taking forever. my asmtha is still very out of control have increased my advair to 250/50 2 times a day. on the albtrol treatments 4-5 times a day know and on inhaler every 2-4 hours. still have attacks about 4 times a day which is reduced to the 10-15 times a day i was having but would like to have none. my husband has went to understaning and loving to rude, understaning is a joke, and all he does is complain about the house work. wish he would understand that this is a illness thats not going away atleast not anytime soon. he figured when my phemunia left so would the asmtha attacks. this morning told me he was sick of hearing about it. well how does he think i feel i'm the one going though it . how do i get him to understand and not hate me for being sick all the time. well thanks for all the info and will ask my doctor next week i have to go in every week or sooner depending on how i'm doing.
sincerly
sherry kern

I am so sorry about your asthma. It is horrible when it is so bad that nothing is helping, I have totally been there.
This is going to sound strange, but you may want to try taking a Magnesium supplement. Take around 6-800 mg of it daily. Also,a B vit.stress formula may help, also
There are a lot of new studies about magnesium deficiency and asthma, and I just started taking it it seems to be really helping.
I used to be totally not into vitamins and supplements bc I tried so many and they didnt work. I am just starting to find some that actually help.
Its worth a shot, no?

This may sound stupid, but have you tried taking prednisone pills to stop the inflammation in your lungs. My 16 year old has asthma and when it is really bad she takes prednisone for three days and she is better fast. Her life has been saved because of prednisone.

I'm surprised that you are only on Advair 250/50 for these symptoms. Talk to your doctor about raising to 500/50 with these problems, and maybe even supplementing some addition Flovent in there. Also, I agree about trying an oral corticosteroid, if just for a burst. If you are having this much trouble breathing you DO need to inform the doc. I would give him/her a call.