Confessions of a Part-Time Asthmatic
So about every other time I've gotten allergy shots this year, I've had an asthma attack. I am now calling myself in public with this message:
Take the medicine.
I will "wait and see if it calms down" after getting out of the pollen-infested car and into the house, and the continued wheezing tends to alarm Brad. It *should* alarm me. I think, "Well, the shots work better if I don't take medicine and damp down the reaction." I need to take the darn medicine before I have to have a date with Mr. Epi-Pen followed by a hasty visit to the ER. Having now experienced the joys and wonders of epinephrine... I have no desire to do that again.
This public service message brought to you by me.
Now, unpacking this a bit, for some reason no one thought my inability to breathe for regular periods of time was very alarming, back when I first got asthma. I didn't even make a big fuss of it myself; if you asked me when I was fifteen what I hated most about asthma, it would have been 'that I can't dive deep in the swimming pool anymore because it makes my sinuses sound like I'm a submarine hitting crush depth.' I totally ignored the bouts of time wondering if my lungs would clear enough for me to take in a breath. My mother took me to see the allergist because my constant coughing was annoying her; I'd never pointed out to her that sometimes I *couldn't breathe*. I was kind of dumb, yeah.
So I tend to think it's normal and wait for the attacks to clear. My current doctors take it more seriously, to the point where I am now getting vaccinated for pneumonia even though I'm not in the normal age group for risk, because apparently pneumonia is *very* bad if you also have asthma. I've also been wheeze-free for years, other than a few shot-related incidents, so I'd gotten used to counting on that. I still just can't take it very seriously. "Oh, I can breathe a little bit, every now and then. This one isn't very bad."
/facepalm
Anyhow, I am now promising to take the darn medicine. Also I am going to tell them I had to at my next shot, even though this is supposed to be my Last Year of Shots (for the third year running!) because every single year I have anaphylaxis in the last month or so and it resets the clock for another year. *shakes fist at immune system* I really, really, really want this to be the last year.
Take the medicine.
I will "wait and see if it calms down" after getting out of the pollen-infested car and into the house, and the continued wheezing tends to alarm Brad. It *should* alarm me. I think, "Well, the shots work better if I don't take medicine and damp down the reaction." I need to take the darn medicine before I have to have a date with Mr. Epi-Pen followed by a hasty visit to the ER. Having now experienced the joys and wonders of epinephrine... I have no desire to do that again.
This public service message brought to you by me.
Now, unpacking this a bit, for some reason no one thought my inability to breathe for regular periods of time was very alarming, back when I first got asthma. I didn't even make a big fuss of it myself; if you asked me when I was fifteen what I hated most about asthma, it would have been 'that I can't dive deep in the swimming pool anymore because it makes my sinuses sound like I'm a submarine hitting crush depth.' I totally ignored the bouts of time wondering if my lungs would clear enough for me to take in a breath. My mother took me to see the allergist because my constant coughing was annoying her; I'd never pointed out to her that sometimes I *couldn't breathe*. I was kind of dumb, yeah.
So I tend to think it's normal and wait for the attacks to clear. My current doctors take it more seriously, to the point where I am now getting vaccinated for pneumonia even though I'm not in the normal age group for risk, because apparently pneumonia is *very* bad if you also have asthma. I've also been wheeze-free for years, other than a few shot-related incidents, so I'd gotten used to counting on that. I still just can't take it very seriously. "Oh, I can breathe a little bit, every now and then. This one isn't very bad."
/facepalm
Anyhow, I am now promising to take the darn medicine. Also I am going to tell them I had to at my next shot, even though this is supposed to be my Last Year of Shots (for the third year running!) because every single year I have anaphylaxis in the last month or so and it resets the clock for another year. *shakes fist at immune system* I really, really, really want this to be the last year.