Respiratory Arrest

[Pearly1]

I had a respiratory arrest on 3rd January at home. I didn’t know what was happening except I couldn’t breathe. Managed to ring ambulance and text neighbour before I collapsed. I woke up in trauma dept, of A&E. I spent 9 days in hospital getting better followed by the rest of the month convalescing at home.

I’m a lot better now than I was but it scares me that it will happen again.

I’ve been told if I need to take 3 or more puffs of ventolin I need to see GP as my asthma medications aren’t working effectively.

I’ve decided to cut my hours at work, I was struggling to do a full day, so cutting them down to 6 hours.

I wanted to post about it as I know I haven’t been well with chest infections for quite a few months I didn’t know it would get so serious.

One doctor says it was because of my lung disease, bronchiectasis, others say an allergic asthma attack. All I know is my back was aching (probably not related), which I thought was a kidney infection and had made an appointment with the GP for that and my asthma too, not being well over Christmas and new year. Thought I had the cold bug going around. My hands and feet starting itching terribly, my dream wouldn’t stop it, then my breathing got bad and my ventolin was having no effect. With that my blood oxygen kept going lower.

I just wonder if the itching had was a warning sign, if anyone else had experienced anything similar?

Apologies for the long post. I’m just wary and a little bit frightened.

[hypercat54]

How awful for your Pearly and I am not surprised you are frightened. I think you might get more replies if you put your post in The British Lung Foundation as well as they deal with all lung diseases. I know there are some bronchiectasis sufferers there. x

[Pearly1 in reply to hypercat54]

Thanks hypercat. I’ll give it a go x

[Asthma-girl]

Gosh!

It must have been a frightening time for you.

I hope things continue to improve for you

[Pearly1 in reply to Asthma-girl]

Thank you Asthma-girl xx

[Pebbles1012]

How scary !

Did you notice any change in colour on your finger nails or your face leading up to the arrest?

The tingling could be linked to low saturation’s oxygen.

It might be helpful to consider buying a saturation monitor - people sats at home should not drop below 94% without treatment. With your lung condition the sats will be less so it’s important to know what is your acceptable levels

It might also be helpful for you to know what your peak flows are and get a guide as to when you need to see the doctor or call an ambulance if they drop further.

Take care of yourself and remember knowledge is key !!

Teresa

[Abc64]

How awful for you. Hope you’re feeling better now.

[selyab]

Why don't you ask your GP to refer you to the local ARAS team they are asthma specialists I did and they sorted my meds out and did a great job on me can't rate them highly enough

[Pearly1 in reply to selyab]

Thanks seylab. I e not heard of the aras team until you mentioned it. Not sure why my GP doesn’t refer me. I’d like the chance to find out how to reduce the risk of catching other infections ! I’ll mention it to my GP. Thanks again

[Pearly1]

Hi pebbles

Thanks for your reply. I have a blood oxygen gauge which I put on my finger. It had gone to 88 and was lowering and my ventolin was having no effect. That’s when I rang the ambulance.

[Pebbles1012]

I think you need urgent review by a chest / asthma specialist . It might help you to know what your sao2 is when you are feeling well - 88% is very low!!