25 stone to 19 stone in 8 months.

[ladyfelsham]

Oh that's rotten luck re the cold, there are so many insidious little bugs going around!

Hope you get rid of it quickly hun x

 

[Bigbear]

hi Helena,
glad to hear you have been keeping yourself busy. Sorry to hear you're all snotty now though x

 

[chezz]

hi helena
bless you love it seems to be 1 step forward 10 steps back but lets hope you get better soon and on the road to a better health xx x

 

[lilili]

Hope the cold shifts for you asap Helena x

 

[upndown]

Hello ladies and thank you once again for the messages of support.

Relieved to report that I am feeling SO much better! Actually got from bedroom to kitchen then to office without panting or getting completely winded. In a day or so I might even be able to leave the house! How exciting.

It feels depressing, frightening and frustrating to be panting and breathless from walking 20 paces at normal speed within ones own house, or from climbing ~ SLOWLY ~ just one flight of stairs to the bedroom and loo.

I'm going to continue with the antibiotics now for another 45 days in the hope that taking them not for a week but longer term will clear this damnable infection for good.

For those who don't know my back-story, I picked up a lung infection in Tunisia exactly 3 years ago this month and it's almost ruined my life. What happens is, I get random, terrifying asthma attacks during which I struggle to breathe and am plunged into a severe panic attack at the same time. Sometimes they don't even respond to Ventolin (if I have any with me) and I, or someone, calls an ambulance, so I have ended up in A&E on multiple occasions. Then I am told my lungs are full of infection and I'm given a week of antibiotics. By the end, the "asthma attacks" are gone, and don't return for weeks, sometimes months. Then the same sequence repeats. Daily asthma attacks > antibiotics > no more asthma.

I accepted my GP's diagnosis that I have developed asthma late in life. However, my pattern does not fit any description of asthma that I have read in my online researches. Once the ABs have cured it, I have gone 3 to 5 months with not a single attack.

I don't know what triggers the onset of this "occasional asthma". Suspects are: house dust, and the smoke from cigarettes, cooking, and bonfires. Exercise, even when it gets me completely out of breath, has never brought on an attack. Contracting a cold plunges me into full asthma 24 hours a day and I am puffing on Ventolin multiple times a day just to stay alive. Unfortunately, Ventolin causes palpitations, and if I take too much in one day I get terrifying cardiac arrhythmia, which has also entailed a 999 call three times! I am sick and tired of having to carry Ventolin everywhere I go, of living in constant anxiety about when the next attack will come, and really had enough of calling emergency services, having paramedics in the house, and sitting in A&E for hours time and time again. I have had to cancel many professional speaking engagements, social outings and holidays. Last week I was supposed to be in Switzerland and instead I was unable to leave the house for a week and was confined to bed most of the time, with my travelling companion forced into the role of nurse/dogsbody.

I don't want to live what little is left of my life like this, and am desperate for a cure.

Recently, a friend doing online research found a webpage by an individual, and a book by one American MD, describing a long term low level lung infection which can occasionally flare up and cause asthma attacks. A few days later, by coincidence, an A&E doctor pointed out that asthma cannot possibly be cured or affected by antibiotics, and declared that I am not an asthmatic after all. The advice in the MD's book was, instead of taking a week of AB, take them for three months in the hope that they will reach the underlying infection.

Luckily I have a young and open minded GP who listened to me, read the MD's theory and prescribed me AB for a continuous 50 days. So, we shall see! I have an appt with a lung specialist this Thursday. I hope he can help me.

Helena

Sorry to hear you've been suffering so badly - and really hope that the long term anti b's work for you - as you say you're fortunate to have a GP who was prepared to listen and open to your suggestions xx

 

[krupskaya]

Hi Helena, how are you doing lovely? I really hope you're feeling better. (((hugs)))

 

[366to266]

Hi ladies and thanks for all the messages. I have barely been on the net at all! This is because I felt extremely well for a while and so took the opportunity to catch up with all the household maintenance and improvements chores that get backlogged each time I am ill. Have been busy rearranging, cleaning, clearing and chucking out; and sanding, repainting, re-purposing and repositioning furniture and nick knacks.

Have not kept count of calories; however, being so busy I am not eating all that much. Even with the chocolate I'm eating every day I think I am on about 2,000, but burning off more than 2,500 from being on my feet many hours a day and also all the bending, stretching and carrying I'm doing. Haven't weighed for a week or two, either.

I hope you are all well and keeping to your diets better than me

Helena xxx

 

[TracyGWill]

Good to here from you, Helena, and I'm very happy to hear you've been feeling well. xx

 

[ladyfelsham]

Sounds really busy but great, Helena, focusing on all good things and not driving yourself mad with stuff - I bet you see a great loss as/when you do come to weigh in

 

[lilili]

Great to hear you're feeling well Helena
Hope you are having a great bank holiday x

 

[chezz]

hi helena
glad you are feeling good love and keeping busy x x x

 

[lilili]

Hi Helena hope you're having a good weekend.