Anxiety and Asthma - Asthma Message Board

shannonkg · 06-05-2003, 08:59 AM

I have seasonl Asthma which really has only gotten bad this year with pollen as high as it is. The DR put me on prednisone, advair and a combivent inhailer.

Right up from the prednisone and/or advair has me feeling really sick to my stomach and panicky. I know these are the side effects of this medication but I can hardly function without feeling ill, shakey and near tears. I went back to urgent care to tell them about this and they gave me xanax but that makes me so tired that I can't take care of my kids.

Honestly I'm scared to death about all this. I know if I don't treat the asthma that it'll just get worse but I can't stand this panic. The DR in urgent care practically laughed at me saying I'm on full treatment and there was nothing he could do.

I can't live like this, I don't know what my options are and I don't have medical inusurance so everytime I go into the DR to talk to them about this it's costing me so serious money.

Please help if you have any answers.

Shannon

AngeInBoston · 06-05-2003, 11:46 AM

Hi Shannon, this sounds alot like what I have been going through for the past 6 wks or so. I had a bad asthma attack, and they put me on Prednisone, Flovent, Serevent and Albuterol. I turned into an absolute raving lunatic of Hot Flashes, trembling, and such severe mood swings that I would have Raving Temper Tantrums over the STUPIDEST little things, especially at my little girls, I thought I was losing my mind!! I naturally started taking Benadryl at night to try to calm me down because I was speeding like a bullet....and finally my husband told me to ask for Valium! It was a Saturday evening, and I called the after hours urgent care phone and DEMANDED that I was PSYCHOTIC with anxiety and demanded them to call in something to the late night pharmacy! After much discussion back and forth, I had to really convince them I guess, but I WAS very frantic and weepy...the Dr. on call DID call me in Valium...and it has been a Godsend!!! They took me off of the Prednisone much faster than the original taper schedule, but I'm still messed up...the effects stay with you for at least weeks....I can't get a straight answer....I fear I may be changed forever because of this! It was my third time taking Prednisone but the first time I'd ever conciously noticed the Psychoticness! And it IS a WELL KNOWN side effect....I just wish I had known about the wonders of Valium a week earlier and not had to suffer through those days of Hell that I did!

Now they have me seeing a Psychiatrist to try to get my chemical levels back down to C-A-L-M.....I take Clonazapam several times a day, and if I go without it too long the raging and weeping comes back....it's like my emotions are all turned up full volume and I can be pushed over the edge so easily!

I absolutely HATE Prednisone and hope I never have to take it again, but I understand I might have to next time my Asthma flares up. For now they have me as "Allergic" to Prednisone on my chart to raise the red flag. They say I was an extreme case....and thankfully not as extreme as the really psychotic people who go out and murder people...but still, it's rather frightening to realize your peace of mind is just really a delicate chemical balance that can be thrown out of whack so easily!

Call your Dr. on the phone and tell him you don't like the Xanax and would like something else called into your pharmacy.....that way you don't have to keep paying all those damn copayments for Office Visits.....just stay aggressive....remember, it's the SQUEAKY WHEEL THAT GETS THE GREASE!!!

Good Luck,
~Ange

kellie2 · 06-05-2003, 11:47 AM

Hi Shannon - Are you sure it's the medication that's making you so panicky and not the feeling of not being able to breathe? I ask because when I was diagnosed with asthma, I also was on Advair, Combivent and Prednisone, and I started feeling like you not from the medication but from the intense anxiety and scared feelings I was having from not being able to breathe right. And then it started going into panic attacks, which may be what you're starting to feel, and what I didn't realize is that I was going in a circle and one feeling was just feeding the other - I couldn't breathe, I started to panic, when I panicked I had a panic attack, when I had the panic attack it caused an asthma attack.....I actually ended up in the hospital because I got so bad and was just about where you're at now - scared, shakey, crying, convinced I was going to die if they didn't 'fix' me. And they did - they gave me Xanax, and Shannon, within 3 days of taking it, those feeling started to go away. Now, the prednisone was given to me right at the beginning of my symptoms, and it was for 5 days, so that didn't really figure into everything else that started later on. And Advair I wouldn't think woulkd cause this but the combivent might cause you to be shakey because it has albuterol in it, which makes me shake and my heart rate shoot up. Try not using the combivent as it's a rescue inhaler and is only meant to be used for an actual asthma attack, but the Advair should be keeping you from having the attacks in the first place because it's a controller. Gosh, you sound so much like me in the beginning, same exact feelings because you don't know what's going on. It takes awhile to get all of it under control but your feelings of being scared is what you need to control first. How much zanax did they start you on? My doctor gave me .25 mg, which is I think the lowest dose, and he told me to take one a day at night in case it made me sleepy. Which it did a little at first, not much though because it was only one at night, but your body gets used to it once you start it and that drowsy feeling goes away after 2 or 3 days. Anyway, he started me on one a day taken at night, and then I did start taking it twice a day for a couple of weeks when I started feeling better. And then I dropped down to a half a pill a day, which is really nothing but it did help. Sometimes it says to take 3 a day but my gosh, I would have been sleeping all day if I did that. That's why my doctor started me on only one a day to see how I felt, and that way it was helping me but I could still function during the day because I was taking it at night. And I'm going to guess that that's why they prescribed it for you, because your anxiety is getting out of control, just like mine did but you don't realize it, and it was making all my other symptoms worse. And also, talking to someone who had felt the same way helped me tremendously because I didn't feel so alone and lost through it all.
Believe me, your feelings are normal but the anxiety you're feeling is probably making the asthma so much worse, and making you feel terrible all over. If you can take the zanax, it will help you, it really will. And if your doctor maybe has you on too high of a dose, ask him to lower it so it doesn't affect you that bad, because you really shouldn't be feeling anything from it.
Let us know how you are, ok?

[This message has been edited by kellie2 (edited 06-14-2003).]

shannonkg · 06-05-2003, 01:22 PM

Well I went into an allergist today and am hoping I have a few things under control now. She did say that that Advair did have several side effects and put me on Singulair instead. I'm hoping this helps the problems. I also am not on Prednisone anymore but Pulicort (SP?) as well. Now it's just time to cross the fingers and hope that I can stop feeling so panicky. I have only been on adviar for a week so I'm hoping that the side effects I was experiencing will go away quickly since it hasn't been in my system very long.

I think you are right when you say that the panic attacks bring on the asthma. That is completly true, but I don't think the panic attacks were just happening I really think it was drug related. I say this because I went off the advair on Tuesday because I was also trying to wean from the prednisone cause I thought that was what was making me sick. Anyway the next day I felt pretty good, my chest was a bit tight but no panic attacks and no nausous feeling. Then wednesday I took the Advair all day and it was this morning at 2AM that I had that panic attack again. So it really makes me think it was the adviar. I wasn't having panic attacks prior to this medicine so it really makes you question.

I know the combivent makes your heart racy but that doesn't seem to effect me that bad. I can handle a racing heart but heartburn, nausea and shaky panic I don't deal well with. I'll let you know in the next couple days how these new things seem to be helping.

Thanks for your comments. I'm ready to nip this thing in the butt and feel better!

Shannon

inya · 06-06-2003, 12:20 AM

Reading all your comments have had quite a calming affect on me. I want to the hospital today because my "broncitis" was not improving. I was diagnosed with Bronchial Spasms. I have been suffering from alergies all my life, diagnosed with "allergy induced asthma 15 years ago. I use albuteral only. In the hospital I was given a breathing treatment, 60mg of prednizone, and a new script for antibiotics. I took the antibiotic when I got home. I have been sick ever since. Upset stomach, sweats, chest tightness, fear, panic. I too use xanax for panic disorder. .5mg at least. I am way past the sleepy stage. What are some opinions on a at home nebulizer?
Jack