celtic_mom
03-16-2005, 05:23 AM
Hi! I posted this on the asthma board too because I'm not sure if what just happened to me was an allergic reaction and/or an asthma attack.
I went to the hospital two months ago after having an infection induced asthma attack. I started having asthma like symptoms that seemed allergy induced for a month or two prior to the attack. Since then, after two rounds of Levaquin and a course of prednisone, things seemed to be returning to normal. I was also put on singular. I have been fighting off another cold and seemed to be at the tail end of that. I hardly coughed at all yesterday and then it was mostly due to PND in the a.m.
Then tonight, after dinner, my DH said I looked flushed. I had noticed that I had been breathing harder and went to look in a mirror and sure enough, my cheeks were blood red. I had just finished eating a lot of strawberries, so now I'm wondering if it was that. I also realized that my right hand seemed very cold, much more so than my left.
The strange thing about my breathing though was that it wasn't like it was when I had the asthma attack. It's the opposite. I have no problem breathing out, but in. It felt harder to inhale deeply. When I coughed real hard I loosened things up and seemed to be able to breathe a bit better, but it didn't last long.
So I got up and used my inhaler (which I haven't had to use since coming home from the hospital). That actually did seem to help some, so I went to bed. About 3 hours later, I woke up and started coughing. I felt that tightness again, so I used the inhaler again. I also realized that my sinuses were blocked, so I used some saline to clear them. That did the trick, so I went back to bed.
Now it is another 3 hours later and I'm up again. Same thing, hard to inhale, not exhale. I feel stuff in my chest and can cough it out for temp relief, but it seems that unless I use the inhaler, it just immediately "fills" back up. Does that make sense? So this time I took a decongestant and some expectorant in addition to using the inhaler. I don't want to take an antihistamine because I'm having allergy testing on Monday and they said no antihistamines 10 days prior.
So now what? Do I need to call the doctor or is this a normal post "attack" occurrence that I just treat with the inhaler until it goes away? Does this sound like an asthmatic episode or an allergic one? And what is the difference? Does it sound like I could be getting another infection? I'm not coughing any colored phlegm up, but I wasn't before I went to the hospital either. But then again, I wasn't coughing much at all before this incident tonight.
Anyone with experience, please post, because I'm really uncertain as to how I should deal in these situations. I think my anxiety isn't helping matters either. I just want to make it to my allergy testing this time. I was three days shy of testing before the attack that put me in the hospital. Thanks.
I went to the hospital two months ago after having an infection induced asthma attack. I started having asthma like symptoms that seemed allergy induced for a month or two prior to the attack. Since then, after two rounds of Levaquin and a course of prednisone, things seemed to be returning to normal. I was also put on singular. I have been fighting off another cold and seemed to be at the tail end of that. I hardly coughed at all yesterday and then it was mostly due to PND in the a.m.
Then tonight, after dinner, my DH said I looked flushed. I had noticed that I had been breathing harder and went to look in a mirror and sure enough, my cheeks were blood red. I had just finished eating a lot of strawberries, so now I'm wondering if it was that. I also realized that my right hand seemed very cold, much more so than my left.
The strange thing about my breathing though was that it wasn't like it was when I had the asthma attack. It's the opposite. I have no problem breathing out, but in. It felt harder to inhale deeply. When I coughed real hard I loosened things up and seemed to be able to breathe a bit better, but it didn't last long.
So I got up and used my inhaler (which I haven't had to use since coming home from the hospital). That actually did seem to help some, so I went to bed. About 3 hours later, I woke up and started coughing. I felt that tightness again, so I used the inhaler again. I also realized that my sinuses were blocked, so I used some saline to clear them. That did the trick, so I went back to bed.
Now it is another 3 hours later and I'm up again. Same thing, hard to inhale, not exhale. I feel stuff in my chest and can cough it out for temp relief, but it seems that unless I use the inhaler, it just immediately "fills" back up. Does that make sense? So this time I took a decongestant and some expectorant in addition to using the inhaler. I don't want to take an antihistamine because I'm having allergy testing on Monday and they said no antihistamines 10 days prior.
So now what? Do I need to call the doctor or is this a normal post "attack" occurrence that I just treat with the inhaler until it goes away? Does this sound like an asthmatic episode or an allergic one? And what is the difference? Does it sound like I could be getting another infection? I'm not coughing any colored phlegm up, but I wasn't before I went to the hospital either. But then again, I wasn't coughing much at all before this incident tonight.
Anyone with experience, please post, because I'm really uncertain as to how I should deal in these situations. I think my anxiety isn't helping matters either. I just want to make it to my allergy testing this time. I was three days shy of testing before the attack that put me in the hospital. Thanks.