Aa
felt better before meds
what is the lowest that your 02 stats can go before you faint or go hypoxic? at times mine has been as low as 77 I am supposed to use 02 at night but I feel worse in the morning when I take it off. I have a hard time catching my breath after using the 02 all night.........also yes stupid as it is I still smoke :(
I see that I have been censored. I will try to write the missing words another way. Take out the stars. D*o*n*g*.
I am happy to reply. And, yes, I am allergic (or intolerant) to some of them. But I should start with what is wrong with me and what I use so we can see if we have the same problems.
I have moderately severe COPD. The only prescription medication I use now is Duoneb (albuterol and ipratropium) in a nebulizer. I use about two ampules a day. I do not use a rescue inhaler. Instead I have a small, portable nebulizer. It is so small that it fits into my purse. The advantage is that I can take as little as I need, sometimes just a few puffs. It is made by Omron and costs about $200. It is worth every cent. I go abroad frequently (I write foreign travel articles) and don't have to drag along that heavy thing that I keep in the house.
Without treatment my biggest problem is congestion. The mucus is thick and difficult to expel, and sometimes can be frightening. To top it all I developed a post-nasal drip. To overcome this problem, in addition to reducing inflammation, the lungs need moistening. The Chinese would call me yin-deficient. Yin is moistening and yang is drying. (I will get to that later).
One of the most important anti-inflammatories is plain old vitamin B5. It is also a mucolytic, or mucus thinner. I started taking it two years ago when I developed andrenal fatigue (caused by years of using Advair) because it is a specific for that ailment. But it also helped my lung condition. I took 1,000 mg daily. There appear to be no side effects, even though the dosage is huge.
In August 2009 I nearly choked to death from that lousy Advair and stopped taking it. I was still on the B5 and added 500 mg of vitamin C. There is no point in taking larger doses of C because the body can't utilize it. I went internet hunting and added mullein (in liquid form). I also tried marshmallow, but feel the mullein is more effective. My severe chronic bronchitis abated, and I realized it was the Advair that had made it worse.
So I was doing well, much better than when on the steroid poison, but wanted still more improvement. By the way my HMO pulmonologist was totally worthless and didn't even try to treat the adrenal fatigue. On the internet I found Wei Laboratories that had a Chinese treatment for COPD. I ran this by my family physician. He is an MD out of Yale who practices both a traditional and alternative medicine. I should have gone to him long ago about my lungs, but I knew that was not his speciality. I was wrong. My doctor said that the Wei preparation looked good and I should try it. (He has studied Chinese medicine, along with a dozen other things.)
So I bought the Wei product and began using it cautiously, in smaller than recommended amounts. After the second dose I had trouble breathing for three days. I went to my doctor. He tested me and said there was an ingredient that caused inflammation in my digestive system and that would also mean it caused inflammation in my lungs. So we decided on a strategy that involved eliminating all combination formulas and trying only one herb at a time. He prescribed four individual Chinese herbs.
The first one I started using was Tian Men ****. This was really good because it evened out the highs and lows and I no longer went rushing my my nebulizer. I stayed on that and after one week added Sha Shen (Bei). That was a week ago. After a couple of days on that I slept for 10 and a half hours straight, no doubt making up for lost sleep. Next Monday I will start on American genseng and then Mai Men ****. Hopefully I will not react badly to any of them.
All of these Chinese herbs are specific to the lung and are yin nourishing. With the addition of the second herb my post nasal drip seems to be almost gone. If all four work well, then I will se what else I can add.
By the way I am trying out Spiriva. Since this is drying I take it only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If it doesn't do much of anything, I will quit it. It is not dangerous and is related to ipratropium.
A note on the quantity of Duoneb that I am using. When I quit the Advair I was increasing its usage, probably to three ampules a day. I am now using somewhat less than two. It has never affected me at all on the lower dosage, possibly because I have low blood pressure.
Please contact me with any and all questions. That is what this forum is for. Best regards.
I have moderately severe COPD. The only prescription medication I use now is Duoneb (albuterol and ipratropium) in a nebulizer. I use about two ampules a day. I do not use a rescue inhaler. Instead I have a small, portable nebulizer. It is so small that it fits into my purse. The advantage is that I can take as little as I need, sometimes just a few puffs. It is made by Omron and costs about $200. It is worth every cent. I go abroad frequently (I write foreign travel articles) and don't have to drag along that heavy thing that I keep in the house.
Without treatment my biggest problem is congestion. The mucus is thick and difficult to expel, and sometimes can be frightening. To top it all I developed a post-nasal drip. To overcome this problem, in addition to reducing inflammation, the lungs need moistening. The Chinese would call me yin-deficient. Yin is moistening and yang is drying. (I will get to that later).
One of the most important anti-inflammatories is plain old vitamin B5. It is also a mucolytic, or mucus thinner. I started taking it two years ago when I developed andrenal fatigue (caused by years of using Advair) because it is a specific for that ailment. But it also helped my lung condition. I took 1,000 mg daily. There appear to be no side effects, even though the dosage is huge.
In August 2009 I nearly choked to death from that lousy Advair and stopped taking it. I was still on the B5 and added 500 mg of vitamin C. There is no point in taking larger doses of C because the body can't utilize it. I went internet hunting and added mullein (in liquid form). I also tried marshmallow, but feel the mullein is more effective. My severe chronic bronchitis abated, and I realized it was the Advair that had made it worse.
So I was doing well, much better than when on the steroid poison, but wanted still more improvement. By the way my HMO pulmonologist was totally worthless and didn't even try to treat the adrenal fatigue. On the internet I found Wei Laboratories that had a Chinese treatment for COPD. I ran this by my family physician. He is an MD out of Yale who practices both a traditional and alternative medicine. I should have gone to him long ago about my lungs, but I knew that was not his speciality. I was wrong. My doctor said that the Wei preparation looked good and I should try it. (He has studied Chinese medicine, along with a dozen other things.)
So I bought the Wei product and began using it cautiously, in smaller than recommended amounts. After the second dose I had trouble breathing for three days. I went to my doctor. He tested me and said there was an ingredient that caused inflammation in my digestive system and that would also mean it caused inflammation in my lungs. So we decided on a strategy that involved eliminating all combination formulas and trying only one herb at a time. He prescribed four individual Chinese herbs.
The first one I started using was Tian Men ****. This was really good because it evened out the highs and lows and I no longer went rushing my my nebulizer. I stayed on that and after one week added Sha Shen (Bei). That was a week ago. After a couple of days on that I slept for 10 and a half hours straight, no doubt making up for lost sleep. Next Monday I will start on American genseng and then Mai Men ****. Hopefully I will not react badly to any of them.
All of these Chinese herbs are specific to the lung and are yin nourishing. With the addition of the second herb my post nasal drip seems to be almost gone. If all four work well, then I will se what else I can add.
By the way I am trying out Spiriva. Since this is drying I take it only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. If it doesn't do much of anything, I will quit it. It is not dangerous and is related to ipratropium.
A note on the quantity of Duoneb that I am using. When I quit the Advair I was increasing its usage, probably to three ampules a day. I am now using somewhat less than two. It has never affected me at all on the lower dosage, possibly because I have low blood pressure.
Please contact me with any and all questions. That is what this forum is for. Best regards.
Please share you natural anti-inflamatories. I know a few possible ones and I am allergic to them.
I switched from corticosteroids to natural anti-inflammatories and my lung health is all better for it. No side effects fro one thing, whereas the steroids had caused serious bronchitis, which I thought was a worsening of my condition. Never mind that my eyes were affected, I developed adrenal fatigue, and almost choked to death. I hope I have not developed bone loss. I will have to check that out. I still us a nebulizer with Duoneb. A big help and no side effects that I can see, as long as I keep the mist out of my eyes.
The others are added only if the O2 is lower and/or PFT indicates it is necessary. When given with albuterol, the pulmacort gets deeper into the lungs where it can do more good. If the lungs are inflamed, the normal ICS may not have been getting deep enough into the lung to be effective. I have been given a breathing treatment of albuterol alone when my O2 was fine but my PFT was bad. My allergist is at the top of the field and agressive.
The albuterol I understand. Pulmacort is not short acting, so that I have trouble understanding. And as for giving O2 for someone at 96 per cent I don't understand at all. At higher altitudes 96 would be completely normal, and is only slightly below normal at sea level.
after you bring up the posting from the archives just copy and paste....(ie left click the address it will turn blue, than right click and scroll down and clk on COPY. than go to where you want to insert the link, right click and scroll down to PASTE)...hope that helps..♥
I start getting dizzy in the low 90's. Anything below 90 needs medical attention immediately. My allergist has standing orders with her nurses for breathing treatments if O2 is below 96%. I would be more concerned about the heart damage that can occur in the 80's% than the possibility of fainting. I would say that you feel bad when you take the O2 off because you need it.
Follow opus88's advice and see your doctor about these issues this week.
opus88 - How did you get that page to show up as a link? I have wanted to do that so many times, but I obviously don't know the tricks.
Follow opus88's advice and see your doctor about these issues this week.
opus88 - How did you get that page to show up as a link? I have wanted to do that so many times, but I obviously don't know the tricks.
hi, 77% is very very low and you need to be on continuous O2 therapy with those sats.
I will give you a link to some good reading on that subject..you really need to discuss this with your doctor asap..
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Respiratory-Disorders/Low-Oxygen-Saturation-Level/show/14529
I will give you a link to some good reading on that subject..you really need to discuss this with your doctor asap..
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Respiratory-Disorders/Low-Oxygen-Saturation-Level/show/14529
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