Here’s to Breathing Easier, Eventually
LOL.
Some days all you can do is laugh out loud.
In January I got very sick with COVID-19. As I mentioned in a February column, it took a lot out of me, but at the time I was slowly beginning to recover. It’s now the end of March, and I’ve been added to the long COVID-19 crew.
I’ve been wheezing and struggling with shortness of breath (SOB) that is unrelated to the SOB I experience with myasthenia gravis (MG). The lingering cough finally ceased about two weeks ago, but the wheezing with exertion has continued. I’ve only been able to be out of the recliner in 10-minute increments before I begin wheezing.
As I’m preparing to move from Maine to Wisconsin, this condition has been a huge inconvenience, putting much of the moving preparations on my husband’s shoulders.
I finally called my pulmonary doctor at the Veterans Affairs clinic. After a discussion of ongoing symptoms and the remedies that help the wheezing and SOB, the conclusion was that I’ve developed COVID-19-induced asthma.
Yay! Another diagnosis with yet another medication!
But you know what? It’s OK. As frustrating as it can be to keep adding to the alphabet soup of diagnoses, it still provides an answer and a solution to a problem. The treatment will allow me more active time, which means a better quality of life.
Maybe more active time will help with all this drastic weight gain from the high-dose prednisone I’m on, too. That would be delightful.
And seeing as how we leave for Wisconsin in less than a week, the more I can do without jeopardizing my health, the better. So I shall add this new inhaler to my daily routine, and I shall breathe easier — literally and figuratively.
It’s easy to get frustrated and aggravated when it seems like the hits just keep coming. It’s OK to feel these things, and I allow myself the time to feel them. But I also don’t allow myself to stay there. Instead, I just laugh. And hope the laughing doesn’t lead to a bulbar symptom flare and I lose my voice or get that other MG kind of SOB.
LOL, sort of. Ha-ha.
Note: Myasthenia Gravis News is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Myasthenia Gravis News or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to myasthenia gravis.
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Roy Mieszkowski
Don't feel it only you. I had a crisis about two and a half years ago and was on a vent for 5 days, Every since breathing has been my problem. Days I can only walk 60 feet my o2 level drops to 85. Some day getting out of breath gerting out of chair. Tried everything nothing works. Started VXVgard ler see how it wworks
Shawna Barnes
I hope the vxvgard works for you. I've been lucky and not required intubation for my crisis, we were able to maintain my breathing with positive pressure ventilation through a bipap.