From: "Steve Harris" <SBHarris123@ix.netcom.com>
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Suddenly have difficulty breathing..
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 20:05:44 -0600
Message-ID: <aeu333$70q$1@slb0.atl.mindspring.net>

"Marianne Eagan" <swimgiraffe@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3D126334.6E731AF@yahoo.com...
> I also grew up in a humid climate and was fine for years. Then I started
> having problems, most noticed during swimming. When I tried to breathe,
> the air felt as though it was not reaching deep enough in my lungs and
> this made me feel thirsty for air. It got quite bad and it finally
> dawned on me that it might be asthma. I had a full series of pulmonary
> tests and this was confirmed (quite bad astham, infact, though I have
> never had a real asthma attack and may never). I am now using Advair
> which is a combination beta agonist (like albuterol) + a steriod for the
> inflammation. This has helped me tremendously, though is not a cure
> since I still get some of the symptoms sometimes. I am on the lowest
> dose and intend to keep it that way if possible. I only notice it when I
> exercise, though I am told I have real asthma and not just EIA. Like
> you, I must be active about 3 hours/day so I understand your fear and
> concern. Has the albuterol helped? With my son who has EIA, it gave him
> instant results when having a coughing fit after running (and unlike me,
> he has no problems in the pool!).


The combination of sudden asthma when you'd never had it before makes me
wonder if you're not one of those cases of mycoplasma-induced asthma which
are just now being uncovered. You probably owe yourself a good long course
of a macrolyde antibiotic to see if it helps. Erythromycin, Clarithromycin,
and Azithromycin are antiinflammatories on their own, and may help airways
even when not killing bugs. Also, why are you not using a leukotriene
blocker (Singulair, etc) to spare yourself use of the nastier steroid
(nastier than blockers, even if inhaled).

--
Steve Harris
You can email me at sbharris123@ix.netcom.com
But remove the numerals in the address first.

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