Well, each time i make a post on hear i seem to be moaning, but each time im really worried. Have only left the house once in 2 weeks and that was to return to the doctor for more energy drinks, 2 of them and a belvita biscuit a day is all i can manage.
In fact, not only have i not left the house, i havnt left my bed, ive cut myself off from everybody, even replying to texts with snotty replies so im left alone, christmas was terrible, i didnt even answer my phone or texts at all that day. Im terrified what is happening to me, as i type this i cant catch my breath at all, not been able to cough, throat is dry and nose is blocked but dry also.
Ive put this down to my vape which ive been using to cut out my smoking and im vowing never to touch that again either.
I have been breathing into a paper bag on and off for the last 4 hours and i just feel weak continually.
I guess all im after is some moral support again from people who have gone through this, but i dont know if thats going to be enough to help me pull myself out of this rut ive gotten into.
Thanks for reading and hopefully not judging
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keith9876
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Reading yes but judging definitely NOT Keith. Most people with chronic illness go through these very dark times - I know I do and like you, rightly or wrongly I hide myself away and just can't be a**** with anyone or anything. The problem starts when you don't feel as if you are bouncing back, which is a must and I know you are strong enough to do that. We have lots to deal with and are made of strong stuff. You wil come through, maybe not at the moment, but you will.
I am wishing you well and hoping you feel in a better space very soon.
Great news Keith. Always remember we are al here for you and understanding what it's like living with lung conditions, we get completely where you are coming from.
Keith i think its the time of year remember we are all entitled to feel sorry for ourselves as we all go through a great deal mentaly as well as physical,i have spent all day today feeling sorry for myselfe and upsetting 2 people on the way.
Dear brother, no problem with the moaning. We all do at times. That is why we are here. Wouldn't be if we were doing grand. Great that you're reaching out to folks. Isolation is one of our escapes, but is a major sign of depression. We go through it, especially with the scary lung activity. Important to reach out, even if it's for a laugh or cry with us. This is my 1st go-to when anything is amiss. I would suggest, as others have, a counselor or spiritual adviser or therapist. It/They are all good. Hang in there and make a goal of 50 meters back and forth in the air. Breath in the nose, then 4 sharp exhales, 1 in, 4 out, etc. Maybe 50 more tomorrow. May the New Year bring better air, my friend.
I was house bound for over a year so weak I decided to push myself a little at a time and also done deep breathing exercises I can't believe the improvement I can walk a good distance without getting short of breath If you can try it you will be surprised good luck
Sorry you are feeling blue. I don't get out much either but have vowed to do better this year. I don't smoke anymore and have never Vaped. I do take antianxiety meds because I had to go to hospital nine times with panic attacks. Doing much better but have not given up meds yet as I am afraid of the panic attacks. Don't close yourself off from those who care about you. You would be amazed at how many people you touch. I was thinking about it when watching miracle on 34th Street. So many peoples life's would have been so much different if I wasn't around. Pray for strength. Work on what you can do not what you can't.
Hello Keith9876, sorry to hear you are low not surprising at this time of year with the illness you have. I can understand you staying in bed it is the warmest place in this freezing weather, not all of us can afford to turn up the heat either but you may need too and worry about the bill afterwards. Texting your freinds and coming on here can sometimes help you through the bad times. Don't know you well enough to make suggestions, but I play music, tell myself off, get up and at least make a cuppa, have a cheap landline package so I can ring at anytime to talk to someone. We all have bad times , and all feel life has dealt us a rough deal on occassions.My motto is their are always others worse off and you can get through this even if it is a rough passage. Seek help from your doctor or maybe a close freind . If spilling things out helps come on site talking to others can sometimes ease your own worries. Do you have any groups locally for illnesses like you have ? that meet regularly a problem shared is a problem halved so they say. Everyone on here is a proof of how to manage severe chronic illness to spite ups and downs in it's severity, you will do it too. So hope you continue to moan as you put it so we know you are alive and kicking. Speak again soon every best wish for improvements for you in the near future.
Keith, hope your feeling a wee bit better, I'm with you all the way and I'm concerned about your valley your going through, hang on Keith we are all with you
Hi Keith. I know where your coming from. It sounds to me that you also have a chest infection when you have to use paper bags to breathe. Steroids are needed and the only thing that helps me when I'm as bad. I too would be lying in bed moaning if I didnt have a wee dog who needs me to get up and get her out. I can't walk without stopping every couple of steps but then again so does she so this helps. Sometimes we just have to keep pushing ourselves through the pain or become vegetables. Hope your ageing better soon x.
HI Keith, bad news to hear that you are on a downer right now,but i promise you it does get better.Like many things in life as you probably know, you have to work at it. keep coming back to this sight and talk, we are all hear to help if we can, and pull you out of that dark hole that we all sometimes drop into. best wishes.
Thankyou all soooo much for the lovely replies, gave me a little smile when i logged in and saw them. Last night i vowed not to touch my vape again and after a couple of hours my wheezing had all but stopped, listened to an audio book til about 3 this morning wondering what the next day would bring and decided i would finally venture out, even if its just the 400 metres or so to the shop for a pint of milk.
Woke at around 11 quite cold completely under the duvet so grabbed another and chucked that over me, ten minutes i lay there contemplating my vape, but my breathing is the best its been in 4 weeks, so stuck to my guns, im tempted beyond words but i just think about every time ive gotten wheezy and out of breath was due mostly to that thing.
So, up i get, with plans for the shops, walk down the stairs and all i see is a blanket of white out of the front door windows. Well thats them plans scuppered, luckily im not desperate for milk but i really need to start getting outside, hopefully it will rain heavily and wash it away.
Im even actually hungry and i havnt been for weeks. Going to snack on some cheese and ham and maybe an after 8 or two, my poor tummy isnt going to know what hit it.
Thanks again everyone, you really are so thoughtful and i really think i would of cracked completely if it wasnt for reading everyones stories on here.
Make yourself a good pot of chicken broth Keith. Put it in portion size dishes in the freezer. One of these a day will soon put you on the mend. The stomach needs food.
Hi Keith, time to look after number one, get some food down, soup or something simple, sounds like you are really depressed, a visit to the docs seems to be in order, hopefully some steroids and antibiotics maybe. Try and avoid and anti depressants if possible.
We are always here to chat, so you are not alone!
Its always hard at this time of year to keep warm, sod the bills get yourself warm!
I know we don't feel like any exercise when ill, but you need to try and get mobile, it will help you feel less down.
Please try to eat and drink something, you have to keep your strength up to fight any infection you may have.
Take care of yourself, we are always here for you!
I'm so sorry you have been so sick and had a very bad Christmas. I don't know your condition but it sounds terrible. All I can do is tell you for myself with copd and asthma when I feel so bad I can't move because of feeling like I can't breath I move I make myself move. Even if it's a little at a time i move. This helps the lungs in return helps you. I pray to God thanking him for each day I wake up. I hope and pray you feel better soon please keep me updated. I know it's hard and sometimes I'm so scared of not just how I feel now but what's it going to be like in the furture. But trying not to think about the future and thinking about today helps me. I pray you have a wonderful day today
Oh Keith, not one person on this site is judging you, of this I'm sure!...we all have very bad days when we feel we'll never feel well again....I have had an ongoing virus that keeps going and coming back over the last 7 weeks...... started up again Christmas day evening and has really pulled me down this time, feel very weepy and anxious about everything but I keep telling myself it will pass eventually....you are in a downward spiral and it's so hard to keep trying every day, but you will rise above it, making contact with friends and family is a great start, don't cut yourself off because they care and worry about you as do everyone on this site....moan as much as you need to, it's cathartic sometimes. Hang in there because there's light at the end of the tunnel....take care x
I have gone through some pretty dark times but always come out the other side wiser and stronger, see GP and ask for some anti depressants, insist, there must be something he can give you to help, it can make a difference, meanwhile keep trying to get out of the anxiety state, try some meditation, practice slower breathing, I'm sure all will be ok.
It sounds like you are depressed. No wonder, with everything you are dealing with. Call your family dr and get a referral to get some support. There is so little said on the emotional tole, it takes. Hang in there, it will get better but only if u choose it🙏💕
Thankyou for even more replies, always good to read some encouragement, i havnt touched my vape all day but my breathing is still shallow, just cant catch it at all, seemed fine this morning, ive been onto youtube and trying out the different breathing exercises. It doesnt feel like phlegm stuck like i thought it was, my nose is blocked though. Going to try to get into the doctors tomorrow, see what he/she comes up with. Im trying not to panic as i know this will just set me off on a bad night, signed up for twitter and im sat reading everything there is to take my mind off it, seems to work in short bursts, which is better than nothing.
Hi Keith, when I'm having an anxious moment distraction is the thing that works the best for me. It can be incredibly hard, do gentle pursed lip breathing to gain control of your breathing and then do as you are doing and it will work and as time goes by it will be for longer periods. I know only too well what you are feeling and I get very down when one minute you feel like you've got a handle on this condition and the next you just feel like you've achieved nothing. We do have good days and bad days.
The other important thing here and correct me if I'm wrong but nobody seems to have noticed you are indeed suffering withdrawal symptoms from quitting smoking. This is an awful time to go through and lots of the physical and emotional trauma you seem to be going through and have gone through can be attributed to that on top of your diagnosis. The symptoms can be endless, my advice for you would be to go to the Quit Support forum here on Healthunlocked where you will get so much support and knowledge for this part of your journey. I quit co!d turkey two years ago and I knew it was the only way for me but it was horrendous because of the many side effects both physical and emotional and it isn't something that goes overnight. You have to work at this and so far, given your circumstances, you are doing incredibly well, you're a month into this so remember this can only get better. I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was but reading other experiences I knew I wasn't alone in suffering. The professionals do say that it is harder to quit smoking than quit using heroin! That is how powerful nicotine is.
Keep doing what you're doing, get out of bed, did the 'staying in bed'- it doesn't help believe me. Just try to move about for a bit. Try little tasks and take joy in achieving even the smallest of them each day, it will push you on. This was info I found on here and I have made some great strides even though I still have bad days from time to time. I'm beginning to find out that this is when I try to do too much for a few days so be gentle on yourself.
I'm happy to talk with you as are others on here are, so don't be afraid to moan! Ann
Yes Annie, I too think the withdrawal from the ciggies is affecting me, but the good thing is I don't want one, I have a full unopened pouch of tobacco and my vape here and I'm not interested. Now and again I'll get a little urge but I just start watching a video or read something. I've secured myself a little outing to the shops tomorrow with a lift from a friend, its a start and I have to pick up a prescription so shall see about getting some patches in case I'm not strong enough.
It is not my place to tell you what to do and by all means get the patches if you think they will be useful as a backup, but please remember you have survived a month without tobacco even though having a pouch in the house. Excuse me but that sounds to me like a very strong mindset not to smoke. The problem with nicotine replacements is that you still have to go through the withdrawal symptoms at a later date and I wouldn't like to think of you prolonging that. I purposefully left my clean! Ashtray and pouch of tobacco and stuff on the side where I could see it to taunt me and it just made me all the more determined not to give in and in the end I just calmly chucked the whole lot out!
I've been using the vape for when I get the urge for a smoke, but I decided last night it wasn't doing my poor chest any good. This is the first full day of nothing and I think I'm feeling it. Where's the chocolate cake when you need it lol
When you go shopping tomorrow buy lots of sweeties and chocolate cake if that is what rocks your boat!! Lol! It will do you no harm for a while.
I don't think you realise how well you are doing! Eat whatever takes your fancy, this is how I picked my appetite up and I was lucky because my husband went along with it and we had some odd things to eat for a while, but it worked for me, not too sure about him though!! Lol!
I have had times like you have same as many others some of my problems like extreme tiredness were caused by not eating much, we burn about 2,000 calories a day breathing with lung conditions so that explains a lot. You need more advice on eating etc is there a nurse/doctor at your surgery you can chat to? Also i believe you are suffering with Depression which is making your Lung condition worse as I have already said you need medical help ASAP. I find this time of year I have to force myself to go out but have Town Rider minibus which takes me shopping twice a week & is a God send as I force myself to walk round shops. Trouble with any lung conditions because of severe breathlessness we do not walk but we have to walk otherwise our breathlessness gets worse until we cannot walk at all.
You must also try to stop smoking ASAP as that is not helping I was a heavy smoker who gave up over 20 yrs ago but got COPD 8 years after I gave up as it is a family disease but doctor said I would have died if I had not giving up. Keep sending messages on here as someone is always reading your words & a lot will answer.
I feel for you as I’ve recently gone through similar. It’s difficult to know sometimes, what your symptoms are relating to and anxiety can often take over and display the symptoms you’re currently experiencing. It then becomes a hamster wheel of breathlessness followed by anxiety followed by more breathlessness and feelings of not coping. I’m not someone who has ever believed in talking therapies however I myself have found them very useful recently, whilst battling a range of conditions overlapped with anxiety over said conditions. I have had some cognitive behavioural therapy which was useful however a really simple introduction is by utilising an app called headspace which teaches you mindfulness. It can take a little while to get your head into it, however it’s really worth it. It works to give you pardon the pun a bit of head space which helps to calm an anxious mind and teaches you coping strategies. This in turns helps to reduce the breathless. Just remember everyone goes through bad times, you’re not alone, really hope you get some relief.
Keith you are not moaning your saying how you feel ,think we have all had some black moods & weepy with it, share your emotions to, know you are not alone , you will start to lift slowly , when I stopped smoking because of my heart , it was one of the hardest things I ever did ,I to had to have a pack of cigarettes in the draw sealed with tape ,because for me if they had been none there ,I would have craved to smoke , so we all do it different , & your also very anxious ,people on here are your friends to help ,if they can , takecare x
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