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asthma?!
SO APPARENTLY I HAVE ASTHMA which seems to be mostly weight-induced and probably explains being unable to breathe well for the past 18 months.
I’ve had these kinds of asthmatic problems in the past when I weighed this much, but never really actually thought I was asthmatic. But my night time breathing has been so bad I finally went in to the pharmacist next door and she said (to paraphrase) “jesus i can hear you wheezing now, get yourself to a doctor before that asthma turns into a chest infection”, so, uh, I did. And the nice doctor lady listened to my descripton of the symptoms (worst at far at night, who knew that was an asthma thing?, somewhat exercise-induced, etc) and then my breathing, and said “yeah, almost certainly asthma, have a prescription and call back around in a couple weeks.”
She also had me blow into a breath-measurer thing, which I topped out easily because ironically, of course, yesterday I was having a perfectly fine breathing day, and she was obviously very pleased that I was able to do that and pretty sure I didn’t need an exciting steroidal inhaler, just a regular one. Use it 4-5 times a day as needed, she said, although she also said if I needed it that much I needed a higher level one anyway.
I am actually feeling weirdly positive about this, because I’ve gone to the doctor and gotten a prescription for an inhaler, and if I can BREATHE I’ll be able to SLEEP BETTER, and if I sleep better I’ll be more able to EXERCISE (and you know, not get winded/wheezy/light-headed (oh shit that’s probably what the weird moments of light-headedness have been!) WHEN i exercise) and if I exercise I find it easier to EAT WELL which will help me knock off all this weight I’ve piled on and then THE ASTHMA WILL GO AWAY AGAIN.
So I tried the thing last night and IT WORKED. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THIS THING CALLED BREATHING, GUYS, IT’S AMAZING YOU SHOULD TRY IT! I slept well and then when I had to pee in the small hours of the morning I had a faint wheeze and I thought “eh well that’s not so bad” and then I thought “BUT WHY SHOULD I SUFFER” and had another dose, AND BREATHING IS GREAT, GUYS!
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to the dentist I went!
So I’ve had this vague awareness of a sensitive place in one of my teeth for a while, and in the past week it’s gotten quite sharp when something cold encounters it, so, grimly irritated about the prospect of a cavity (not so much the dentist; I don’t mind dentists, but I only have 2 cavities and that’s from drinking too much soda 25 years ago and I’m still pissed off about it), I called a local dentist and made an appointment. The sharpness of the pain seemed to fade a bit in the past couple days, but having made the appointment, off I went.
I have no cavities!
In fact, the dentist was basically like “okay so we’ll do x-rays because I can’t see any obvious holes,” did the x-rays, “er, so, no, there’s really no cavities here, your teeth are in *great* condition.” (and for an Irish person to say ‘great’ instead of ‘grand’ is like an American going for ‘superlative’ instead of ‘great’)
She quizzed me on whether I grind or clench my teeth (not to the best of my knowledge), and whether I was in consistent pain (I’m really not), and put something HORRIBLY COLD on my teeth to see if it hurt and it fucking well did. Then she did it again on the top to see if there was a dead tooth that might possibly be referring the pain, but there wasn’t and it still fucking well hurt. That, however, was the only unpleasant part of the whole thing.
I have a little bit of gum…thingy…you know, where it’s been abraded too much and has shrunk (that’s not the right word) so there’s a little bit of nerve exposure, she said, and that’s her best guess for what’s causing the pain. Receded. Slight recession of the gums. Don’t brush your teeth too hard, people! Just brush them gently for a long time! And floss! She admired my flossing habits.
She prescribed Sensodyne toothpaste and mouthwash (blick), and basically said “come back in 3 months, tell us how you’re doing, & we’ll clean your teeth and see if anything looks different.” So. There we are.
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horrible horrible tea
Oh, god. My eyes have been hideously dry, and having had some luck with Chinese herbal tea in remedying this in the past, I went to a Chinese doctor yesterday to see if I could get some tea.
I was subjected to a beating (which some might have called vigorous acupressure, but my gawd) and given, instead of packeted dried components already ground up to make a tea, seven (well, seven pairs of) substantial bags of dried herbs and the following instructions:
1. Steep the first bag’s contents in cold water for 20+ minutes.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add the second bag’s contents.
4. Breathe the steam for 20 minutes.
5. Strain. Drink half the tea in the morning, and half at night.I could tell from the smell of the herbs that it was going to taste just like the utterly awful pre-prepared stuff I’d had before, and I was right. The breathing the steam part wasn’t so bad, but OH MY GOD THAT’S HORRIBLE. I choked down most of the cup before concluding if I drank any more I was going to vomit. It’ll just have to do. I can’t do better. Oh my god. And I have to get through 13 more cups of this stuff, AND of course I was told not to expect any dramatic improvements in merely a week and that NEXT week she’d give me different herbs and I should have acupuncture. Which wouldn’t hurt as much as the
beatingvigorous acupressure, so, y’know.*shudder* god that’s awful. maybe i’ll take pictures next time. o.o