Yellow zone again

Back in the yellow zone this morning, peak flow dropped to about 60%, so taking a neb treatment and it's already opening me up and some congestion is loosening...ugh!!!

Back in the Green Zone Again

Well, sorry for the delayed update, but the good news is.....I'm finally OVER the flare and cold and back in the green zone at 88%...haven't seen that peak flow in a good month or so. Off all prednisone and back down to my maintainance medicine requirements...yippee! I'm glad to be breathing easier, and NOT coughing all of the time. I know my husband is glad I'm not coughing all of the time and feeling better. Over the last several years he has gotten a crash course in dealing with a severe asthmatic and in reading me better. I can be a very stubborn asthmatic sometimes! I'm one of those poor perceivers, but doing my peak flow several times a day has helped me out tremendously.

I've got the stories from college that scared my roomates have to death, although I didn't know it until afterwards, when they told me. I was that asthmatic that slept with their inhaler by their pillow, never left home without it...because I didn't take my maintenance meds like I should have and thought they didn't work on me...go figure! Now that I have a child and understand the stressors, I can't imagine what my Mom felt when I was away at college and she could audibly hear me wheezing on the other end of the phone and then asking me "did you take your meds"...to which my answer sometimes was "yes, I think so"...obviously NOT. It took me a severe asthma attack during Christmas break and having doctors get in my face and lecture me about the consequences of not taking care of my asthma, which had landed me in that state, before I took it seriously.

Status Quo

Well, I feel better than the other days as far as the head congestion goes. Although, it's been harder for me to get an accurate peak flow because everytime I blow into the meter, I start coughing and can't get an accurate reading. The readings I have gotten are in my 70% range, even on prednisone. So, taking a treatment now, hopefully that will pop my numbers back up. I think I just got hit with a whammy of a respiratory infection that my daughter had several weeks back and the extremely high pollen levels, windy and lower humidity we have been having here in Texas (yes, i'm an asthmatic that actually does better in humidity). Overall though, my energy level is improving and I have been able to sleep better at night, not coughing all hours of the night...and now my cough is more of a productive cough instead of the tight, wheezy cough. So all in all, I know I'm on the upward track. Probably dealing with another week or so of coughing, oh well, pretty use to it by now. Takes a month or so to fully get over an attack, if you don't end up in a rebound attack. Anybody else take as long?? or longer??

Doing Better -- Peak flows on upper trend

Well, doing better I've tapered down to 30 mg prednisone and my peak flows are trending to upper yellow zone and lower green zone; so, back on the upward path. Still have a lot of head congestion and more of a cough from post nasal drip, but I can totally handle that!! I at least feel MUCH, MUCH better. I'm SO, SO glad I got started on the meds and caught the flare before it got really bad. My peak flows for me are a big key in how I'm doing. I don't always perceive how bad my breathing is. So, I check them frequently. Took me many years of stubborness, but finally figured that part out!!

Having another Flare

Just got back from my pulmo and my asthma's flaring up a little from weather (allergens) and minor viral repiratory illness. So, I'm back on prednisone (40 mg taper to 10 over a week) to keep my peak flows from nose diving too much. They've been down in the 60% range and having to take neb treatments to keep them up into the 70% range; but last night and this morning neb treatments weren't popping my numbers up enough, so he's being aggressive and giving me the prednisone. It's pretty much the way I have to be treated when having flare's. My asthma doesn't seem to respond to just added nebs or upping my symbicort. I for whatever reason don't wheeze that much (although I did a lot as a kid), mine is more of chest tightness, short of breath, a TON of tight coughing and sometimes difficulty speaking. My doc is super great...I can get into him really quickly if needed (like today) and he's really aggressive in treating me...we've been down the "not treated aggressively" route times before only for me to end up in the local ER over the weekends or back in his office sicker than before. So he knows now how to handle me. It's great to have a good patient relationship with a doctor!! Anybody else feel the same way??

Back to Reality

I knew the ride of great asthma was not going to last too long......I'm really hoping I'm NOT coming down with the same cold my daughter had/still has. I was out of town when she had a fever while she was with her grandparents. By the time my husband and I got back, she had been fever free for over a day; but, started the typical post nasal drip cough. She thankfully has a great set of lungs and has the typical cough that produces normal amounts of congestion and mostly just a cough from post nasal drip. However, today I've noticed that my peak flow's are slightly down and they had been awesome over the last 2 weeks. That and I've had an "occasional" cough here and there and overall just a sense that my asthma is trying to act up. Any of ya'll get that "feeling"?? Where you know you are not feeling at best, but it's not quite that bad yet. So, we'll see where it goes from here. I'm REALLY hoping it's just allergies and I've avoided her cold, we'll see. It is hard to keep from getting germs when you do have a toddler in the house. It's inevitable!!! Wouldn't trade it in the world though...my daughter is worth all the colds and breathing problems I have!!!!

Back from Vacation

Just got back from a long vacation. Had a blast and my asthma did really well...thankfully. Even better, no hassles from security about my nebulizer....they usually have asked me a bunch of questions, but none this time. We'll see how I hold out now that I'm back because while my husband and I were gone my daughter developed a slight cold. She's feeling much better (my parents watched her while we were gone..they are awesome grandparents for doing that even while she had a fever and all...she was in great hands!)...hopefully I won't develop the same thing and neither will they.