bronchitis- could it be chronic????? :(

[wrin]

I think getting a diagnosis for a lung problem would be starters right off the bat.

[memphisbelle]

Good luck at the doctor -- and stay on them until you feel comfortable and can breathe comfortably. you will get more control over your breathing problems if you are persistent and proactive. the only way i have been able to keep myself sane and breathing normally for the past 15 years is to stay on top of it myself. i think it was difficult for my doctors to understand that someone who is young, healthy, and active can really be bothered by the breathing difficulty and/or the medicines. i cannot use albuterol without experiencing severe palpitations, but i have had good results with the maxair -- after trying inhaler after inhaler and combination after combination. don't get freaked out, just stay on top of it. keep a journal of your symptoms and the reactions to your meds. make a note of your mucous -- i know that seems gross, but it will be helpful to your doctors to help treat you. and keep track of your activity -- when you experience symptoms and when you don't -- i.e, when you're dancing versus when you're walking down the hall at school. i was a ballerina and can remember only a few times when i really had trouble breathing while dancing. however, i could walk to the office from my locker and have to sit down to use my inhaler and catch my breath. most doctors don't realize that dancers breathe a bit differently when they're dancing than how they breathe normally. tracking your symptoms, activities, reactions, and what you eat or expose yourself to (like pollen or cats) will help him figure out your patterns and get you under control. i agree strongly with wrin that you need to get your allergies under control -- and sometimes that means making lifestyle changes -- but it sounds like that will be a big part of getting your breathing under control. good luck -- and keep us posted!

[rach923]

all your replies were very well inforomed. i went to the doc today, and i told him about some of the problems i've had (breathing and otherwise) and tried to tell him ideas where these problems might be coming from...i notice that with the albuterol i always shake, and i've been on that for atleast 2 monthes now...

i explained how the albuterol only works for a couple of minutes...and he gave me advair 100/50 to try, and though that this combined with singulair would help control the bronchospasms...which is what he thinks is my problem...he told me to keep the albuterol on hand in case...

i just read in another post that meds like pulmacort and singulair help short term dialators to work better...is this true??? i guess we'll see

now i'm just waiting, i took my first dose of advair tonight, it was weird, cause i thought it was going to be in a more "gasseous" state when i inhaled, but it was actually a powder, so that shocked me...at first i thought nothing was going in!!!!

i'll see how this goes, he is seeing me again in two weeks, and if this doesn't work, then he'll send me to a pulmonologist...i hope it works, though cause i already have a GI specialist...i don't want another one!!

thanks for your replies!! i'll keep you posted!

rach

[wrin]

for all intents and purposes, there are two ways your airways can become narrowed through asthma. One is immediately reversible, one takes more time.

The pulmicort and singulair can take care of the narrowing that is not immediately-immediately reversible, thereby making albuterol/etc work better because airways are then allowed to open more.

That's one answer.

Another answer is a little more complicated, is still partly in the process of being researched, etc... so I don't feel comfortable talking about it here for fear I don't know all the details.

Yes, no, advair is a powder. This means that you should not store the inhaler in the bathroom! Heh. It contains a long-acting bronchodilator (known colloquially as Serevent) and a corticosteroid (known more commonly as Flovent.)