I don't say too much about my reactive airway or asthma....whatever you care to call it.  For almost 20 years I've been trying to manage.  For 8-10 years I did allergy shots with one doc and then quit when it wasn't doing anything.  I gave it a long try, don't you think?  Then, I woke up holding my breath at night...scared the bejezious out of me.  He said I didn't fit the profile for sleep apnea, so he swore (this new allergy doc) that he could help me.  So, for 3 years I did them with him.  I'm just not seeing a big change.  As much as I want to, I can't say I did.  I was still on daily meds.  At one point I was doing flonase, allegra and singulair daily.  Didn't really notice a difference.  I still had to use my albuterol several times a week because of the panicky feeling I'd get when I couldn't catch a deep breath...or sometimes just a breath.  Talk about being a big grouch.  It's hard NOT to be really edgy when you can't breath all day long!

So when the Advair was working I thought I had it made.  Nope...dang Advair made me have more problems...giving me lovely pneumonia and losing my voice.  Not to mention all the weight gain corticosteroids cause.  I went to our health foods store a couple of weeks ago to get some local honey as a last ditch effort and he recommended trying an MD he knows that now specializes in alternative therapy for allergies and asthma.  He went to training in eastern medicine.  So, I'm going there in 2 weeks.  I guess I'm just hoping he can give me some advice on some natural remedies I can take to come close to the Advair without the other side effects.  I did try the honey with cinnamon tonight and I'll keep trying that to see if it helps.  I've been researching and found vitamin C, quercetin and bromelain are supposed to help some with asthma as natural anti-histamines and anti inflammatories.  Apparently, you're not supposed to take NSAIDS when you have asthma, so I wonder if my naproxen is what really set it off worse today?  I was kind of having a 2 puff (inhalder) day anyways, but then I had to take one of those for something else.  I rarely take them, so I'll have to pay attention to what kind of affect it has next time.  All I know is that just walking into the house I was puffing so hard and could not catch my breath tonight.  It scares me and agitates me all at the same time. 

I think I just needed to vent and I'm so hoping this new guy can do something for me.  I'm losing hope in so many doctors after the last guy wanted me to do all these expensive tests as to why I was losing my voice without even realizing it was the Advair he put me on the whole time.  2 weeks off and poof, my voice is fine.  I'm just sitting here, slowly breathing as much air as I can get in, trying to get over a very light cold that is totally adding to the problem and praying that tomorrow is better and that, honestly, 2012 is better.  As much as I'm happy most of the time, when I'm having these severe attacks, I can just sit here and cry because it feels like it will never get better and I wonder what it's like to breath normal.  I want to breath and not think about breathing.  I want it to be an automatic response instead of one I have to concentrate so hard to do.  Please, 2012, bring me an answer to my asthma.