Guest guest Posted July 24, 2002 Report Share Posted July 24, 2002 Lesley That must have been frightening. Have you since been diagnosed with asthma? The reason I ask is that shortly after my mother died I suddenly couldn't breathe and was coughing etc. I was like it all night, and Colin (who used to have asthma) thought it was asthma. When I went to the doctor in the morning he said it was a panic attack, and it can give the impression of asthma. I know you have been suffering from depression, and just wondered if that might be the answer. Jo I was hospitalised overnight in my last pregnancy because I was having breathing problems caused by exposure to a smoking taxi driver, and I am angry still that the hospital staff were useless! They seemed to have no idea what to do, I was getting more and more congested and struggling to get my breath and they didn't even give me oxygen or ventolin or do anything useful. I was left to struggle all night, sitting up to breathe, but was a lot better by the morning when I was finally seen by a doctor. I had coughed up phlegm all night and cleared my chest a lot, somehow fought my way through it. If I had given up and lay down and died only then they might have accepted I was asthmatic, but because I had got through this somehow, the doctor said I was not showing any sign of asthma! I said to her, "you would not say that if you saw me when I was at my worst". I told her I thought she was wrong. It was a very traumatic experience and I really thought I would die. ---Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).Version: 6.0.375 / Virus Database: 210 - Release 10/07/02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2002 Report Share Posted July 25, 2002 Considering that I was constantly very ill as a child with breathing problems and coughs, yes I think I am and always was asthmatic. I made the effort to not miss much school because it was my mum's smoke at home that made me ill, and I always would make as much effort as possible to keep myself away from it, so school was a much healthier place for me. My mother is asthmatic, I don't understand how an asthmatic can smoke, but we have different triggers that set us off I suppose, and smoke is the worst thing for me. I've no problem around animal hair. Nothing to do with me being depressed, I was happy because just before the attack happened I was just about to go home from the hospital because I had felt unwell and had some monitoring which showed that the baby was fine. I am quite sure a panic attack would not have lasted that long (maybe in your case it did because your mother dying is a far greater trauma than being exposed to some smoke). I always get breathing trouble, phlegm and feel very sick when I am exposed to cigarette smoke, it's definitely an allergic reaction. I was furious at the hospital when they would not let me have an inhaler to go home with, and I told them if I died it would be their fault. One doctor had said that I could have one, so he lied to me! Maybe someone overruled him, so they obviously prefer pregnant women to have severe, possibly life-threatening asthma attacks than risk treating them. What kind of priorities are these? I didn't make a complaint but I soon afterwards persuaded my own doctor to let me have one. He was a bit reluctant because I was pregnant, but if asthmatics who are already on inhalers can still have them, they can't be that dangerous. I used to use my mum's ventolin as a child when I was feeling very bad with wheeziness and breathlessness, and it did help a bit. She never knew I was borrowing it of course, I know it's not right for anyone to use someone else's medication, but I was desperate and the doctor was no use whatsoever. When my mum took me to the doctor with my coughs after colds he just said it was a chest infection and put me on antibiotics which did no good at all. I have since discovered that many asthmatics have a persistent cough after a cold and get misdiagnosed as suffering from chest infections. Also the doctor never advised my mother that her smoking could be the cause of my problems, that is how useless he was. I believe I should have been taken into foster care in a smoke-free household for my own protection, and only been returned once my mum had quit smoking, or at least accepted that she must not do it indoors. I feel I was let down by the system. No-one protected me, so I underachieved in school in some ways, I was especially hopeless at games, too breathless to do much, and socially I did not get on too well, because I felt awful all the time. I got bullied for coughing so much, it got on the other kids' nerves, and they did not understand that I couldn't help it. Most smoking parents if they are honest will see how they wreck their kids' lives, but they choose to ignore it. It's called denial. Things improved a lot for me when I left home, I was like a different person once I was able to avoid the toxic air. I notice I get a bit phlegmy around car fumes too, but not as much as around cigarette smoke. Being vegan makes no difference in my experience. I do it for ethical reasons, not for my chest. Lesley Heartwork [Heartwork]24 July 2002 21:23 Subject: Re: Re: other old vegetarians ... Lesley That must have been frightening. Have you since been diagnosed with asthma? The reason I ask is that shortly after my mother died I suddenly couldn't breathe and was coughing etc. I was like it all night, and Colin (who used to have asthma) thought it was asthma. When I went to the doctor in the morning he said it was a panic attack, and it can give the impression of asthma. I know you have been suffering from depression, and just wondered if that might be the answer. Jo I was hospitalised overnight in my last pregnancy because I was having breathing problems caused by exposure to a smoking taxi driver, and I am angry still that the hospital staff were useless! They seemed to have no idea what to do, I was getting more and more congested and struggling to get my breath and they didn't even give me oxygen or ventolin or do anything useful. I was left to struggle all night, sitting up to breathe, but was a lot better by the morning when I was finally seen by a doctor. I had coughed up phlegm all night and cleared my chest a lot, somehow fought my way through it. If I had given up and lay down and died only then they might have accepted I was asthmatic, but because I had got through this somehow, the doctor said I was not showing any sign of asthma! I said to her, "you would not say that if you saw me when I was at my worst". I told her I thought she was wrong. It was a very traumatic experience and I really thought I would die. ---Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).Version: 6.0.375 / Virus Database: 210 - Release 10/07/02To send an email to - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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