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Trying not to freak out...
First, a little backstory: I'm pretty asthmatic, am overweight, and have polycystic ovarian syndrome. I've been on treatment for the PCOS for many years now (more than 10), and in the past year, I've lost 20 pounds, which was an awesome ego boost for someone with that PCOS. My diet has changed, my activity level has changed, and I've been feeling pretty okay, with one exception: my asthma.
In the last two years, I've had to go to the ER or urgent care clinic at least six times for troubles with my asthma that my inhaler couldn't solve. Every single time, they've told me nothing was wrong. One ER doctor actually told me that I was crazy, and to stop going to the ER and just take some Valium!
In order to better control my asthma, my physician has tried a few different twice-a-day inhalers, like symbicort. They have all worked for a while, only for me to have an adverse reaction to them within two or so months.
Fast forward to last month: I was taking Asmanex (another twice-a-day), and we had to go out of state to visit my mother-in-law in hospital. We were in the hospital for three days, four hours each, and then drove home for two days, and then back up and spent two more four hour days in the hospital. Whilst we were in the hospital, I started having trouble breathing again. I had to constantly take deep breaths and was yawning frequently. I stopped the Asmanex in the hope I would just return to normal.
Two weeks later, I got sick. It seemed like a bad cold, and I took some cold medicine and carried on. It was a stubborn one that stayed for two and a half weeks, but I finally got better. Or so I thought?
It's now been a month since the breathing troubles started, and my physician could only just see me (I couldn't afford the clinic or hospital visit). She's asked me to see a pulmonologist, who cannot see me until December, but when I told her my symptoms and she listened to my lungs, she agreed with my suspicion: it's not my asthma giving me trouble.
Today, she's ordered an emergency CT of my chest. Her theories are: Severe fungal/bacterial/viral infection, or a pulmonary embolism. She also ordered a stress test echocardiogram to evaluate my heart.
I'm trying not to freak out, but it's pretty hard. I have mild anxiety, and it's hard not to torture myself with worst case scenarios.
Sorry for the rant. I just needed to write this out somewhere...
Re: Trying not to freak out...