Healthy up until 4/2000 when I was hospitalized for an Asthma attack due to exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke. After being pumped full of drugs I flew like a kite but it really didn't help me. The doctor that released me in 2000 and again in 2004, not remembering 2000, said I I was "polluted/over saturated" and my body was fighting back and just needed to get "cleaned out". I made the mistake against my current doctors advice of going to National Jewish Hospital where things got worse when I was "pumped and dumped" and soon they just dropped me to fend for myself. Since I have been seeing various doctors and they all just want to treat me for asthma, more pump and dump and leave me.
My only real symptom is pressure and irritation at a spot below the larynx right above the collar bone. When I have a breathing attack my throat tightens, gets irritated, eyes water, nose runs, no tightness in the chest, and no phlegm until I cough for a long while. Then the second that I cough something up and it hits that spot in my throat the attack is instantly over. I am addicted to Prednisone, from the pump and dump, of which I can not find anywhere to get help to get off it. All the doctors I have seen make in my problem to deal with, which I know is a good portion of my problem now that it has compromised my immune system and my body isn't making the basic hormones or chemistry to fight off my now mild episodes. The cold, smoke, humidity, grass dust nor anything like that bothers me. But being under a great deal of stress does. My main trigger seems to be anxiety. When things happen that makes a normal person get "upset" or mild complications that use to never bother me, the throat gets tight, I get annoyed and that is the start of when I have breathing problems/an attack. I take Alprazolam for the anxiety that the Prednisone causes and sometimes that's all I need to make things go away. And it's so really strange how they just all go away as if I never had them.
I have been seeing a doctor for 8 years now, he says he's at whits end and has no idea where to go with this. I'm trying to wean off the Prednisone to get my body working on its own as it should. My hopes are that its natural chemistry will take care of most of the problem. I have read many threads here of people having violent coughing attacks and or something feels like it's caught in the spot where I have my problems and we're all treated for asthma. The asthma drugs do nothing for me. But that spot in my throat feels like someone has their hands wrapped around my throat and are pushing me down. Holding me back from being able to function properly. I am constantly tired, to the point of needing to sleep almost constantly. I can't focus, when I get below the Prednisone threshold (7.5mg/day) I get flu like symptoms and collapse. If I take a moderate dose of Prednisone, everything is good. I use to be able to function nicely and the more energy I expended the better I felt and the more energy I got. Now it's I just use up what I have and have to wait for more before I can move on. A good portion of my breathing problems is that I have become severely out of shape from all this and have to catch my breath as anyone would in this condition. I have the strangest reaction to pain killers and Lidocain (when have dentistry done). I feel normal if not better than. Not in a manic way, but no breathing or energy problems. I feel like it did before I got sick. I can perform as a normal human and more so sometimes. As it wears off I resume the condition that I am in now. When I get a cold or the flu, the breathing and the rest goes away and I really do not feel the ailment as "normal" people do. I have my own version of it and with it the lack of my everyday breathing problems. Once the bug is gone, I'm right back to this. Matter of fact I look forward to "getting sick".
In the past I have had Laryngeal Spasm attacks that only time, a cool head and breathing as deeply as I could for 20-30 minutes would get me through it. No inhalers or nebs or anything would help. Haven't had an attack in over a year, thank God. It is the most insanely scary thing in the world.
After the cold and flu season at the beginning of 2013 when I got my own versions of the bugs, I have been severely fatigued, no ambition, short of breath from breathing through a straw like opening in my tense throat. Basically I'm just really tired and don't care about anything anymore. This thing is so completely bizarre and no one can seem to help. I fear that the medical profession is so locked in their ways that looking out side the box has not been possible. Thus 13 years of this. Lately I have seen a couple of medical shows, Royal Pains, that covered a subject just about like this and hope that info from that can send me in a new direction. But I wanted to post here to get some feedback that might augment my efforts. I know that if I can get this current batch of maladies dealt with I just might have a stab a real life. With a little energy and ambition, I know I could rehab nicely. I have in the past.
Also if anyone knows of any doctors or ways to "forcefully" wean from Prednisone, that would help too. I have spent 9 years trying various ways of weaning and nothing has worked. Amazingly the makers of the drug have no clue what to do for people like me. One thing, if I am in a situation where I get a jolt of adrenalin, take a pain killer or have dental work done, I have no need for Prednisone until the additive/natural chemistry wears off. And if can be a simple phone call with good or bad news that sends me one way or another.
Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.