They come in all forms. For many years I never understood the word - till I had one. Yes I had SOB incidents, {wondering in the back of my mind, was that an exasperation?},but nothing like an exasperation - they are serious breathing issues.
Just got home from ER Sunday, from an unusual exasperation
incident.
All week I was
getting weaker, and more lackluster. Just no ambition, then my pulse
went wacko! Along with SOB, yet O2 > 97%. Go figure. So Fri
{naturally when weekend is about upon us} feeling listless, I tried
my nap routine - couldn't sleep. I had tried everything I can do at
home, none of which worked.
This was my second
exasperation caused by an erratic pulse. My first was a result an
inability to breathe. Neither felt good. Both required an
intervention.
Called my Dr -
not in, but suggested going to Urgent Care {tip a good place to start
if going to ER, they kind of per-admit you}. By now my pulse is
ranging erratically between 100 to 155, BP reached 160 {I'm normally
around 120} pulse was still going wild, SOB high and O2 high. They
dismissed me, and sent me to ER. ER did the usual initial tests {ekg
etc}. Once in a room they used a portable X-ray, Dr comes in to tell
me the X-ray showed I have COPD - duh!
Because I had been
taking excessive Ibuprofen, had stomach issues earlier, and Debbie
Dingles perforated ulcer, that was on my mind too {translated more
anxiety etc.}. Dr ruled that out immediately, because stomach would
be very tender, one down and several to go. Off to CT scans - they
did Chest, stomach and pelvis. Talked to my Dr's, and decided to
admit me, next I needed a bed. Around 11:30pm said they had a bed, it
just needed to cleaned up. So around 3am I once again grab my O2
bottle for a frequent potty run, finish up and the respiratory tech
is there to administer a "breathing treatment" {nebulized
Combivent} and transport is ready to move me to the room. So off I
go. My room mate was an old man with advanced combative dementia -
frequently hitting the nurses. He was probably why it took so long to
get the room ready.
At least the night
nurses set me up with enough tube to get from bed to toilet. But if
the tube could catch on anything it would! Every time I went potty
when I came back I would be very stressed. Stress leads to anxiety
leads to SOB.
On my second night,
around midnight, a routine BP check ia 189/88! They recheck – same.
Normally I’m at 120/60. Later it came down to 139/66, and I’m
feeling a little better. I called this my day from hell. At any
rate, I managed to get abut 3 hours sleep, only to get awoken for a
routine BP check, which is now closer to normal.
Now it’s Sunday
morning, I ordered breakfast, managed to eat most. Around that time
my daughter arrives, then the Dr comes in for rounds. The first thing
he says is are you ready to go home. Without hesitation, we both said
yes! They gave me a beta-blocker, which eliminated the rapid shifts
in pulse. Knowing I was now going home, got me excited – and of
course another SOB incident.
My daughter and Dr’s
feel I rely on my oximeter too much. They say I feel SOB coming on,
stare at it and that causes my symptoms to increase. I don’t agree.
What I have learned about SOB, especially when O2% is high is caused
by rapid shallow breathing. So I need to concentrate on slow long PLB
process. You feel like you’re suffocating, and breath quickly which
just worsens the SOB! Lesson learned, when feeling that
SOB/Suffocating feeling, visualize something calming, and breathe
slowly – it will pass.
Once home, I
showered, had a light lunch and slept for a couple hours. That felt
good. Then at bed time slept 9 hours straight thru. Feeling much
better today. //ed