Still sicker
So here's the story. After experiencing extra allergy sensitivity all last week, I woke up to an asthma attack on Sunday. I have not had asthma since I was a very small child, but this was it: wheezing, congestion, labored breathing, exhaustion, but no fever or nasal involvement. Assuming it was allergies yet again, I took two Benadryls.
The Benadryls had no effect. That was my first clue that this was something different. After doing a little research on the Internet, I came up with asthma caused by acid reflux. Did you know that this existed? I did, but only because my mother suffers from it. What happens is that sometimes, when you have acid reflux, the stomach acid can travel all the way up your esophagus while you are lying down at night, and you can actually aspirate microparticles of it. Your bronchial passages react as they would to any corrosive chemical: they swell up from the irritation and produce lots of mucus to try to eliminate the invasive molecules. Voila, asthma attack.
As it happens, I had been planning to go to the doctor anyway, because I suspected I might have some acid reflux. I don't have heartburn that often, but lately I've noticed a little bit of focused pain after meals, about where I think the stomach valve is. Also, even though I don't have much heartburn, I routinely feel a sort of rising in my esophagus after meals. It's exactly like watching mercury rise in a thermometer - slow, steady rising of liquid. It doesn't nauseate me, and I can even remember this happening when I was a kid, but combined with the occasional heartburn or other pain, and my mom's problems with acid reflux, I'd decided it was time to check things out. High stress levels aggravate acid reflux symptoms, and Lord knows I have enough of that lately.
Back to the asthma: it was painful enough that I went in late to work on Monday, and scheduled an appointment just as soon as I could to see the doctor, on Tuesday morning. Based on my symptoms, she agreed with my diagnosis, and put me on an acid reflux medication. She also gave me a prescription for an inhaler, in case the asthma happens again, and a just-in-case prescription for antibiotics, since I was coughing up ominous green gunk from my lungs (but remember, no fever). Now I'm left trying to figure out how to manage my diet. How am I going to function without caffeine, when I average six hours of sleep a night? How am I going to eat dinner at least three hours before bedtime, when I don't even get home until 8:00 a lot of nights? I'm pretty unhappy right now, not aided by the fact that I still feel pretty miserable from the asthma. I have to hope that I can find a pharmacy that will fill my prescriptions today, on the holiday, since I had not one single minute to do it yesterday (rushed from the doctor's to work, worked through lunch hour to make up the time from the doctor's appointment, went straight from work to school, and got home at 10:00 p.m.). If not, I guess I won't get them until tomorrow. I do have the acid reflux pills, because the doc gave me samples. I would feel better if I had the inhaler and antibiotics, though.
I know there is some psychosomatic component to this. It can't be coincidence that this happened on Sunday, the day before I headed back to work, where I am now juggling two full-time jobs. The docket person informed me on Wednesday that she was going to be out for the entire month of July, and that the firm knew it when they hired her at the beginning of June. No, I'm not kidding. She said, "You know about this, right?" Well...no, actually. No one bothered to tell me. I'm mystified as to why. If they aren't happy with me, I wish they'd say so instead of waging guerilla warfare on me.
The Benadryls had no effect. That was my first clue that this was something different. After doing a little research on the Internet, I came up with asthma caused by acid reflux. Did you know that this existed? I did, but only because my mother suffers from it. What happens is that sometimes, when you have acid reflux, the stomach acid can travel all the way up your esophagus while you are lying down at night, and you can actually aspirate microparticles of it. Your bronchial passages react as they would to any corrosive chemical: they swell up from the irritation and produce lots of mucus to try to eliminate the invasive molecules. Voila, asthma attack.
As it happens, I had been planning to go to the doctor anyway, because I suspected I might have some acid reflux. I don't have heartburn that often, but lately I've noticed a little bit of focused pain after meals, about where I think the stomach valve is. Also, even though I don't have much heartburn, I routinely feel a sort of rising in my esophagus after meals. It's exactly like watching mercury rise in a thermometer - slow, steady rising of liquid. It doesn't nauseate me, and I can even remember this happening when I was a kid, but combined with the occasional heartburn or other pain, and my mom's problems with acid reflux, I'd decided it was time to check things out. High stress levels aggravate acid reflux symptoms, and Lord knows I have enough of that lately.
Back to the asthma: it was painful enough that I went in late to work on Monday, and scheduled an appointment just as soon as I could to see the doctor, on Tuesday morning. Based on my symptoms, she agreed with my diagnosis, and put me on an acid reflux medication. She also gave me a prescription for an inhaler, in case the asthma happens again, and a just-in-case prescription for antibiotics, since I was coughing up ominous green gunk from my lungs (but remember, no fever). Now I'm left trying to figure out how to manage my diet. How am I going to function without caffeine, when I average six hours of sleep a night? How am I going to eat dinner at least three hours before bedtime, when I don't even get home until 8:00 a lot of nights? I'm pretty unhappy right now, not aided by the fact that I still feel pretty miserable from the asthma. I have to hope that I can find a pharmacy that will fill my prescriptions today, on the holiday, since I had not one single minute to do it yesterday (rushed from the doctor's to work, worked through lunch hour to make up the time from the doctor's appointment, went straight from work to school, and got home at 10:00 p.m.). If not, I guess I won't get them until tomorrow. I do have the acid reflux pills, because the doc gave me samples. I would feel better if I had the inhaler and antibiotics, though.
I know there is some psychosomatic component to this. It can't be coincidence that this happened on Sunday, the day before I headed back to work, where I am now juggling two full-time jobs. The docket person informed me on Wednesday that she was going to be out for the entire month of July, and that the firm knew it when they hired her at the beginning of June. No, I'm not kidding. She said, "You know about this, right?" Well...no, actually. No one bothered to tell me. I'm mystified as to why. If they aren't happy with me, I wish they'd say so instead of waging guerilla warfare on me.