Still feeling Awful !!!

[oakhouse2]

Hi there everyone, I`m feeling very down at the moment. Had two lots of anti-biotics and two lots of steroids and am still feeling awful, very out of breathe when ever I move about. When I saw my doctor two weeks ago he told me he could`nt hear the pluritic rub that one of the other doctors had said she could hear and proceded to give me some carbocisteine capsules. I understand there to thin mucus but I don`t have a cough and have never ever had a cough but I am taking them although there not making me feel any better

I have a dilema, although I`ve had this condition for a while now I still don`t know if I should be trying to do a little exercise even though I`m breathless or should I rest?

I am booked in to see the nurse practiononer tomorrow evening but to be honest I think it will be a waste of time, that is the first time I have ever said that.

Sorry to sound so negative but it`s the way I`m feeling. I hope the rest of you are well and are in the throws of preparing for Christmas.

[tanyamarie]

So sorry to read how down you are feeling. I think it is good timing that you are to see the nurse practitioner tomorrow, even more so now. You must talk to them and explain how down you are feeling and give them the opportunity to help you.

As for the exercise, I think that is a question for your respiratory nurse but you will know if you are able to do some and many people have said that after partaking in pulmonary rehab, even though they too feel breathless, they say that it was very beneficial and helped greatly.

If you really don't feel you get anywhere tomorrow, make an appointmnet with your GP, emergency one if you have to and talk about how you are feeling. They are there to help you but if you don't ask you wont get if you know what I mean.

Chin up, and please please try to find some positivity amongst all this, you are not alone here ok and we do understand how you are feeling. And as for Christmas, I am well on the way to having all my shopping finished by December so maybe this year by Christmas Eve I will be able to sit down relax and enjoy instead of running around like a mad hatter!

Take care and good luck tomorrow x

[reggie]

when my dose of steroids was increased it made me very down thank fully am back to my normal dose now and feeling a lot better be strong and come and chat when you need to and xmas well just organising it but alas my car has chosen to fall ill as well and may need major surgery at the garage so may have to buy a temporary one till I get a new one in january oh well chin up !!!

[Hidden]

The steroids and antibiotics can make you feel really down - my sister is bloody dreadful after one day on antibiotics!! I would certainly ask the nurse about the carbosteine - I thought the same as you it was to thin mucous to help you cough it up! The only thing I can say is that when my husband starts with excerbations sometimes it can be four or five courses of ab's and steroids before he returns to good health. I remember a doctor coming out and listening to his chest after four courses of ab's and saying he could hear nothing - but my husband was so so breathless, and was just given another course of steroids. It took a long time to get better - but he did.

As far as excercise goes - I think there is some sort of DVD from the BLF and I have recently read that if you are ill - do not excercise, that goes for everyone so I suppose will be even more applicable to COPD patients.

Have you asked if there is a specialist respiratory team in your area? Perhaps you could ask the practise nurse? Good Luck and take good care of yourself. TAD xx

[libby7827]

Hi Oakhouse2. It's very easy to get down when your breathing is worse and nothing seems to be making it better. It's usually a week or so after my second course of steroids that I start to feel better. I take carbocisteine twice a day every day, even though I don't have a cough, when I don't take them I am definitely worse, so keep taking them for now. I'm more or less permanently housebound with emphysema now, so I know how extra depressing this time of year is and it can be very hard to pull yourself out of it. I do all my shopping online, but it doesn't have the same festiveness to it. I think exercise is up to the individual, if you feel you can do a little then it can only be beneficial. If you cant, then it's only going to get you more breathless and make you feel worse. I hope you have some support by way of family and friends and don't hesitate to keep getting the doctor back out if you need to. I am under the care of the community matron copd service and they come every few weeks to check me out and I can always call them if I have an exacerbation, you should enquire at your doctor's surgery if they have such a scheme. Hope the steroids and antibiotics do their work for you soon and you are feeling better befoe long. Libby

[cofdrop-UK]

Hi Oakhouse

Really empathise with that down confused, not in control feeling. It's a comination of feeling really rough, abs, steroids and at the moment not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope you decide to see your nurse and that she will hopefully surprise you and be really helpful and give you time to express all your concerns.

Hope you soon feel in a better space and physically much better.

XXX

[janie62]

Hi oakhouse, so sorry you are going thru a rough time, do you not have to give a sample of sputum when you are ill, so that the doctor can give you the correct antibiotic, maybe thats why they gave your the carbocisteine capsules to see if u could cough something up, i know a lot of gps' do try and get samples from their patients with copd so they know which anbx. to give. perhaps u should mention this to your nurse practitioner, also i dont know if you have heard of 'wind trapping' most copd patients, especially those with emphysemia, get this and its when the lungs get hyperinflated, like a balloon that you blow up and cant get more air into, this can happen with the lungs, which means no amount of anbx or steroids help that much, when i last had it, my gp sent me into hospital for one day, i was given nebuliser treatment and physio and shown how to do exercises to help me, at home, should i have the same thing happen agian, during holidays or weekends, its worth mentioning this to your nurse practitioner as it was 3 weeks, of different antbx and steroids before i was finally x rayed and they discovered my lungs wer hyper inflated. sincerley hope you get better soon, best wishes, janie xxx

[narrowboat1]

I had a mucus test done as I was rattling and coughing a lot more,and it came back ok,I thought no way,so I did another first thing in the morning after suffering for 10 days.I took it into the surgery and asked them to send it away to be tested,a week later last night at 5pm my doctor rang me and said your test came back,and you need to go on a course of antibiotics you have a chest infection.HELLO I know..Jumped in my car and went and got them,hopefully it will now clear up.Why do we have to be doctors to our doctors,I just dont know.

Get better soon love. Jenni x

[narrowboat1]

I think if you dont feel like excercising,just try to keep as active as possible,it will help a lot. Also a lot of breathing,in the nose out the mouth helps me a lot.

Had my CT scan today,so now waiting resualts.I was suffering with pain at the top of my hip,on my right side,the doctor said it was a urine infection,I knew it was not,so I went to the ladies and did a sample,and told him to test it,he then said,no you have not.So I insisted on a MRI scan,which came back with a problen,then I was told to hace a CT scan to look further.I could have walked away that day,when he said a urine infection,and gone on another 5 /10 years with cancer,and no treatment.Makes me so angry knowing what doctors are doing to peoples lifes.Giving them the short straw.We know our bodies,and we should insist on further treatments.

[lizziec1]

Am so sorry that you feel so grim. Glad you are seeing nurse, ask her all the questions and she will no double have some of the answer. I tried exercising when I had bronchitis and it was hopeless, all I did was cough and splutter everywhere. But everyone is different. The weather doesn't help either at the moment. I have immersed myself in cooking and its 6 weeks since I had a fag and am feeling very pleased with myself. Take care xx

[toonamp]

I'd like to add my sympathies to all those before.

Though I find exercising tires me considerably, I find just to get out of the house a huge pick up mentally. I'm prone to depression at the best of times, so when the COPD really limits my movements, the world can become a frightening place.

I've just finished my rescue pack of Abs and steroids, they didn't have the immediate effect they did on previous occasions, but they seem to kicking in now. Best wishes