25 stone to 19 stone in 8 months.
- Thread starter 366to266
- Start date
ladyfelsham
Back to SW again
Great news on the scales Helena - and only 2lbs to go to hit your next mini goal 
366to266
Wanna lose 100lb
Hello ladies and thank you once again for the messages of support.
Relieved to report that I am feeling SO much better! Actually got from bedroom to kitchen then to office without panting or getting completely winded. In a day or so I might even be able to leave the house! How exciting.
It feels depressing, frightening and frustrating to be panting and breathless from walking 20 paces at normal speed within ones own house, or from climbing ~ SLOWLY ~ just one flight of stairs to the bedroom and loo.
I'm going to continue with the antibiotics now for another 45 days in the hope that taking them not for a week but longer term will clear this damnable infection for good.
For those who don't know my back-story, I picked up a lung infection in Tunisia exactly 3 years ago this month and it's almost ruined my life. What happens is, I get random, terrifying asthma attacks during which I struggle to breathe and am plunged into a severe panic attack at the same time. Sometimes they don't even respond to Ventolin (if I have any with me) and I, or someone, calls an ambulance, so I have ended up in A&E on multiple occasions. Then I am told my lungs are full of infection and I'm given a week of antibiotics. By the end, the "asthma attacks" are gone, and don't return for weeks, sometimes months. Then the same sequence repeats. Daily asthma attacks > antibiotics > no more asthma.
I accepted my GP's diagnosis that I have developed asthma late in life. However, my pattern does not fit any description of asthma that I have read in my online researches. Once the ABs have cured it, I have gone 3 to 5 months with not a single attack.
I don't know what triggers the onset of this "occasional asthma". Suspects are: house dust, and the smoke from cigarettes, cooking, and bonfires. Exercise, even when it gets me completely out of breath, has never brought on an attack. Contracting a cold plunges me into full asthma 24 hours a day and I am puffing on Ventolin multiple times a day just to stay alive. Unfortunately, Ventolin causes palpitations, and if I take too much in one day I get terrifying cardiac arrhythmia, which has also entailed a 999 call three times! I am sick and tired of having to carry Ventolin everywhere I go, of living in constant anxiety about when the next attack will come, and really had enough of calling emergency services, having paramedics in the house, and sitting in A&E for hours time and time again. I have had to cancel many professional speaking engagements, social outings and holidays. Last week I was supposed to be in Switzerland and instead I was unable to leave the house for a week and was confined to bed most of the time, with my travelling companion forced into the role of nurse/dogsbody.
I don't want to live what little is left of my life like this, and am desperate for a cure.
Recently, a friend doing online research found a webpage by an individual, and a book by one American MD, describing a long term low level lung infection which can occasionally flare up and cause asthma attacks. A few days later, by coincidence, an A&E doctor pointed out that asthma cannot possibly be cured or affected by antibiotics, and declared that I am not an asthmatic after all. The advice in the MD's book was, instead of taking a week of AB, take them for three months in the hope that they will reach the underlying infection.
Luckily I have a young and open minded GP who listened to me, read the MD's theory and prescribed me AB for a continuous 50 days. So, we shall see! I have an appt with a lung specialist this Thursday. I hope he can help me.
Helena
Relieved to report that I am feeling SO much better! Actually got from bedroom to kitchen then to office without panting or getting completely winded. In a day or so I might even be able to leave the house! How exciting.
It feels depressing, frightening and frustrating to be panting and breathless from walking 20 paces at normal speed within ones own house, or from climbing ~ SLOWLY ~ just one flight of stairs to the bedroom and loo.
I'm going to continue with the antibiotics now for another 45 days in the hope that taking them not for a week but longer term will clear this damnable infection for good.
For those who don't know my back-story, I picked up a lung infection in Tunisia exactly 3 years ago this month and it's almost ruined my life. What happens is, I get random, terrifying asthma attacks during which I struggle to breathe and am plunged into a severe panic attack at the same time. Sometimes they don't even respond to Ventolin (if I have any with me) and I, or someone, calls an ambulance, so I have ended up in A&E on multiple occasions. Then I am told my lungs are full of infection and I'm given a week of antibiotics. By the end, the "asthma attacks" are gone, and don't return for weeks, sometimes months. Then the same sequence repeats. Daily asthma attacks > antibiotics > no more asthma.
I accepted my GP's diagnosis that I have developed asthma late in life. However, my pattern does not fit any description of asthma that I have read in my online researches. Once the ABs have cured it, I have gone 3 to 5 months with not a single attack.
I don't know what triggers the onset of this "occasional asthma". Suspects are: house dust, and the smoke from cigarettes, cooking, and bonfires. Exercise, even when it gets me completely out of breath, has never brought on an attack. Contracting a cold plunges me into full asthma 24 hours a day and I am puffing on Ventolin multiple times a day just to stay alive. Unfortunately, Ventolin causes palpitations, and if I take too much in one day I get terrifying cardiac arrhythmia, which has also entailed a 999 call three times! I am sick and tired of having to carry Ventolin everywhere I go, of living in constant anxiety about when the next attack will come, and really had enough of calling emergency services, having paramedics in the house, and sitting in A&E for hours time and time again. I have had to cancel many professional speaking engagements, social outings and holidays. Last week I was supposed to be in Switzerland and instead I was unable to leave the house for a week and was confined to bed most of the time, with my travelling companion forced into the role of nurse/dogsbody.
I don't want to live what little is left of my life like this, and am desperate for a cure.
Recently, a friend doing online research found a webpage by an individual, and a book by one American MD, describing a long term low level lung infection which can occasionally flare up and cause asthma attacks. A few days later, by coincidence, an A&E doctor pointed out that asthma cannot possibly be cured or affected by antibiotics, and declared that I am not an asthmatic after all. The advice in the MD's book was, instead of taking a week of AB, take them for three months in the hope that they will reach the underlying infection.
Luckily I have a young and open minded GP who listened to me, read the MD's theory and prescribed me AB for a continuous 50 days. So, we shall see! I have an appt with a lung specialist this Thursday. I hope he can help me.
Helena
TracyGWill
Gold Member
I really hope you get some help from your appointment on Thursday, Helena. Take care. xx
xx
ladyfelsham
Back to SW again
Oh that is awful Helena - i do get asthma, had it as a kid, then it went away - the doc thinks it was masked by smoking (and when I googled this seems a common comment) - so now I've given up smoking the asthma is back - and i now have 6 ventolin inhalers around the place, in my bag, car and at work.
But I do think i agree re maybe its the fault of this terrible lung infection you haven't managed to shake, especially if you don't get an attack when you're exercising (whereas any sort of exercise, even walking 10 minutes or doing Leslie sets me off these days).
Cross fingers this mega antibiotic run will fix it once and for all - and make sure you take supplements to keep your immune system up - and eat lots of probiotic yog xxx
But I do think i agree re maybe its the fault of this terrible lung infection you haven't managed to shake, especially if you don't get an attack when you're exercising (whereas any sort of exercise, even walking 10 minutes or doing Leslie sets me off these days).
Cross fingers this mega antibiotic run will fix it once and for all - and make sure you take supplements to keep your immune system up - and eat lots of probiotic yog xxx
366to266
Wanna lose 100lb
Oh gawd Susie, I know the Ventolin everywhere syndrome! Poor you!
Scientists show that there isn't any point in buying anything to boost the immune system. Avoiding stress seems to be a proven cure, but it's being ill that causes the stress, ironically!
How to boost your immune system - Harvard Health
ALSO:
Probiotics (variable dosing) are friendly bacteria that usually inhabit the gut and are a very well documented optimizer of the immune system. Seventy percent or more of our immune system is controlled by what happens in the gut, and friendly bacteria are the most important component of that immune system. These bacteria modulate the immune system by increasing the numbers of certain while blood cells (T lymphocytes). Probiotics also help improve digestion and protect the body from harmful pathogens such as candida albicans.
Scientists show that there isn't any point in buying anything to boost the immune system. Avoiding stress seems to be a proven cure, but it's being ill that causes the stress, ironically!
How to boost your immune system - Harvard Health
ALSO:
Probiotics (variable dosing) are friendly bacteria that usually inhabit the gut and are a very well documented optimizer of the immune system. Seventy percent or more of our immune system is controlled by what happens in the gut, and friendly bacteria are the most important component of that immune system. These bacteria modulate the immune system by increasing the numbers of certain while blood cells (T lymphocytes). Probiotics also help improve digestion and protect the body from harmful pathogens such as candida albicans.
broadsbean
Gold Member
pro biotic yog and brewers yeast may help combat any bowel infections caused by the prolonged course of antibiotics. The antibiotics kill off the good bacteria in the bowel which can result in the bowel being colonized by the more resistant ' bad ' bacteria such as CDT.
Hope it works for you, there can be no worse feeling than being unable to breath xxx
Hope it works for you, there can be no worse feeling than being unable to breath xxx
Letzes
Full Member
Hello Helena, I'd like to read everything, but it's a looong thread, so I'm here to subscribe to your news and wish you all the best!
I've started changing my eating / exercises habits in September 2014, almost like you
It's not easy and sometimes I think I spend a great deal of my time thinking about food and planning my days food-wise. I end up neglecting some important things :/
I've started changing my eating / exercises habits in September 2014, almost like you
It's not easy and sometimes I think I spend a great deal of my time thinking about food and planning my days food-wise. I end up neglecting some important things :/
ladyfelsham
Back to SW again
WOOHOOOO that is fabulous Helena - and I'm so pleased you're feeling better, illness can really stop everything in its tracks x
TracyGWill
Gold Member
That's great news, Helena! xx
xx
broadsbean
Gold Member
:bliss::bliss::bliss: well done xxxx
glad you are feeling better x
glad you are feeling better x
366to266
Wanna lose 100lb
Hi ladies and thanks for your messages.
I've hardly been on the PC because, soon as I felt better I had a backlog of house-improving stuff to do; not least, a lodger left so I am repairing and fixing the room for the next one, whoever that might be!
I must be the unluckiest person on earth as, after just 4 days of great health, I caught a blasted cold and am now all snot and sore throat! And right in the middle of gardening and decorating, too!
Helena
I've hardly been on the PC because, soon as I felt better I had a backlog of house-improving stuff to do; not least, a lodger left so I am repairing and fixing the room for the next one, whoever that might be!
I must be the unluckiest person on earth as, after just 4 days of great health, I caught a blasted cold and am now all snot and sore throat! And right in the middle of gardening and decorating, too!
Helena
