Sob

[Jeanjt]

Well spent couple of days in hospital over weekend had real bad sob attack but to be honest getting real fed up with being told sats are really good when I am struggling to breathe am now actually waiting to finally see a consultant

[knitter]

I am the same......I wish medical practioners could understand that my SATS may seem OK, but I am really struggling to breathe.

i don't know if it's because my airways have narrowed making it difficult to breathe or if it is something to do with the gas exchange being out of sync.

[Jeanjt in reply to knitter]

I would like to know cannot wait for an appointment may get some answers

[Nottobad]

It might have something to do with the medication you are on at the moment once you see the consultant they may change your medication. I have had my inhalers changed a few times after seeing a consultant x

[Jeanjt in reply to Nottobad]

This will.be the first consultant I have seen since being diagnosed in 2012 so doing well I suppose

[Nottobad in reply to Jeanjt]

That's good a lot of people never get to see one witch I think is wrong. I hope your consultation goes well xx

[sassy59]

Hope you get to see a consultant soon Jeanjt and finally get some answers. Xxxx

[PenelopeS]

I hope you have better luck with your consultant than I did. I saw one for the first time earlier this year & it was very disappointing. I knew I was going to have trouble when she kept insisting the 8 foot I had walked from the door to her desk was 40 yards! She the spent 10 minutes telling me she had lost two stone at Slimming Wold & my weight gain had nothing to do with lack of serious exercise (since diagnosis I have gone from daily work-outs to sedentary as I am very sob) because she had never exercised in her life. She wrote to my GP & changed my medication & arranged for lung tests at the hospital & at the same time discharged me back to the GP. I have severe COPD & have been trying to find the best LABA/LAMA combination since as what she prescribed did not work. Fortunately my GP is wonderful & has suggested he refers me again asking for a different consultant. I'm unsure what do, I'm seeing him next week to discuss it further. Sorry, I'very got side-tracked moaning about myself!! What I'm trying to say is if they are dismissive, as mine was, don't be polite & meek as I was. Fight your corner. I really hope you get a good one.

[Jeanjt in reply to PenelopeS]

Thankyou I am not going to be fobbed off have been told there is still inhalers to try and read up about different ones on internet I hope by your experience you don't live in Southampton

[PenelopeS in reply to Jeanjt]

No not Southampton, North Yorkshire.

I found it quite difficult determining the various inhalers & combinations until I found a comprehensive guide on a Canadian website. It is at RxFiles.ca & choose COPD - New drugs, new devices & considerations for best practice. September 2015 so it is relatively up to date. There are something like 13 pages of very helpful information. The only downside is I get tons of emails from Rxfiles, fortunately they go into spam. xxx

[Jeanjt in reply to PenelopeS]

Thankyou may have a look

[Watfordgirl]

Hello jeanjt, I can only half answer your question I'm afraid. It is well known, though not by all health professionals, that a patient can feel really breathless and their O2 levels can be 99 or even 100%. What I don't know is why, what the physiology behind it is.

Until I do, the way I chose to look at is that even if I feel pants I've obviously learnt to breathe effectively and am getting enough O2 in to keep all the vital organs functioning. That means I can relax a bit about the breathlessness and think about slowing my breathing down. I was on a monitor for four days recently and absolutely know that there doesn't have to be any correlation between feeling really breathless and O2 levels being low.

You could ask about having your blood gases checked when you see your consultant. It could be that you're retaining CO2. Just a thought.

And another thought - it's always worth giving people the benefit of the doubt because they're there to help. Assume the consultant you see will be brilliant and kind until he/she proves otherwise in which case ask nicely to see someone else. Good luck.

Sue x

[Jeanjt in reply to Watfordgirl]

Thankyou for reply will def be asking about blood gases x