jbajema

marydarlyne...

I have been there. Gradually sapped my energy over several years. Chronic bronchial congestion, with couphing up phlem, made it hard to continue teaching.

Started about five years ago. Something was wrong, was considering early retirement. But had good insurance, so started with family doctor, asking for whatever necessary referral. He sent me first to an allergy specialist, whose people did the checkerboard test set on my back. Mine was not allergy related, so they sent me on to an ENT.

To shorten the story, I definitely had bad sinuses, the infection of which could be causing my problems. The CAT scans showed them clogged most of the way. So I had their surgery. After that the sinuses drained better. But my problems continued, although not as bad on the congestion side. They made my empoyer acquire a sound system to support my teaching, easing the load on my vocal chords. They gave me a formula for a salt water lavage (not sure about sp) that really helped. I use that now whenever I feel a cold coming on. Now I cannot understand why people put up with colds. I think that formula might have made the sinus surgery unnecessary, but I am not sorry they drain better these days.

But my problems with congestion continued. And I gradually had problems with staying awake to read papers and prep lessons. So this time, about a year later, my doctor sent me to the sleep clinic. They suspected narcolepsy. But it turned out I had a silent kind of apnea that was depriving me of sleep. When I went on the CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine and started sleeping well, my life turned around. I have energy again. And I only need 50 to 60 percent of what I was getting in sleep time before. That machine is my friend.

It turned out I also had narcolepsy. Probably had it all my life, but controlled it with energy and will power, until I ran out of those. Now I am on Provigil which is also a great help.

So, to sum up, part of the problem was age, part sinuses, part apnea, and maybe part narcolepsy. For now the bronchitis is gone, except when I pull too many all nighters, but I may still go back to suffering the bronchial and lung problems again as I age, given all the dust I was exposed to on the farm and working in construction while in college, et cetera. Some of it may even have been related to some vitamin problems. I have recently gone on B 12 shots which relieve some neuropathy symptoms which came on subsequently (the nerves complain when they do not get enough nutrients). I have had to learn a lot more about body chemistry, etc, than I ever wanted to know.

So the causes may be more complex than you think. Read, work with the specialists, get a good internist, et cetera. Exercise also helps. Losing weight helps. I didn't smoke, but stopping that would have also helped. Your body is complaining, because infection or other nutritional factors are sapping your body's ability to maintain itself in the bronchial areas. Read the literature on people suffering with black lung disease to see other versions of your problem.

Good luck