Personal " MOT " results

[greatauntali]

Sorry but this might be a bit long-winded I went to get the results of my annual check up yesterday and came out a bit shell-shocked.

Bloods all fine. Breathing very soft - don't know what that means.

Given oramorph to " relax my lungs " so that I don't cough at night. Not sure I want my lungs to relax. I want them to work not lounge about.

Told that if I have a really bad turn to call out of hours services and not 999 because they would just try to revive me and as my quality of life is rubbish anyway ......

Regards my previously mentioned low pulse rate, she gave me some physiological reason for it which went completely over my head.

Told that my constant belching and bloating is not indigestion because none of the remedies work and that it is because I breathe through my mouth.

Was surprised that there was no mention of oxygen therapy.

On a brighter note, I was prescribed Trimbow which they will get for me for next week.

I have to say that all this has left me feeling more than a little sorry for myself and has left me having to re-evaluate what I am going to do with whatever time I have left.

Thanks for listening/reading.

[knitter]

Hi, greatauntali.......just to say that I read your post earlier this morning and I have been thinking about it ever since, and been looking at your previous posts and replies.

Thank goodness you are being tried on a different medication, Trimbow, and I hope that helps. Are you still relying on the Ventolin as much as you were a year ago?

I suffered from urine retention , as you did with one of my medications.

About the matter of knowing what to do if you have a bad turn......it was suggested that you ring the out of hours service. I wonder what they would suggest if you were breathless and maybe found it difficult to speak?

Your low pulse rate.....did they suggest a ECG or heart monitor to wear at home for a while. A few of my friends have been checked like that at rest and on the move? Mine is the opposite it goes sky high especially when I go to the GP!

Can you try and breathe through your nose to see if that helps with the belching......I know it can be very difficult if you are struggling to breathe, your nose can get blocked up and make it harder to gently nose breathe . But try for a while .

Thinking of you still, and good luck with the Trimbow

[greatauntali in reply to knitter]

Hi knitter,

Re: urine retention. I was given furosemide to try because she poked at my swollen ankles and thought it might help. Early days but I now have 2 swollen ankles instead of one. Not sure if that means they are balancing themselves out or what.

No mention was made of medication possibly causing the problem.

No suggestion of ECG or heart monitor. I would have expected my pulse rate to rise under stress but what do I know?

Re emergency services. I did ask some time ago about how I would communicate when I am so breathless that I cannot speak and the suggestion was to get a home alert system or something of the sort. I live in a rural area and always feel that I would be wasting the time of the emergency services if I called them out because I would a) have recovered by the time they reached me or b) be beyond help.

The suggestion that out of hours service be called rather than 999 was for my husband to do on my behalf. This is so that they do not attempt to revive me but I am not altogether sure how he is meant to know if I need oxygen or CPR.

Re belching. This is a long-standing problem which has got worse lately. Indigestion? seems to run in my family because both my mother and her mother suffered from it.

I used to sing so I was not really in the habit of mouth breathing but I am extremely sensitive to smell and may have developed the habit due to working with animals and some extremely unpleasant odours related to this.

I did discover that although I have not seen any respiratory specialists for a good few years, my case is discussed on a regular basis. Again I am not sure how that works when no one is seeing me but I think she was trying to reassure me that I have not been forgotten about.

Re Salbutamol consumption. It is about halved from what it was. I use about 4 a month now which is still a lot but better than it was.

Hopefully the Trimbow will work wonders once I get it.

Thank you for your response. I appreciate it.