Just over a week ago I was at the end of my tether and ready to throw in the towel. I had lost the will to live and was depressed and contemplating the misery of my life of breathlessness and struggles. It had been months of ups and downs, coughing, gasping, tiredness and dispair. I could barely walk and was breathless after only a few steps. I had tried to see a GP and was fobbed off with receptionists giving me appointments with 'specialist nurses'. At last I was able to get an urgent appointment with a GP who's own mother had COPD like me. He was empathetic and helpful and gave me a newer antibiotic which has sorted the whole thing out. I can't believe I had to suffer for so long. I'm now feeling so much better and in control again. The consultation I paid for was worth the money too as it gave my GPs surgery a specialist report for them to work on. The NHS consultant I had seen months before had been dismissive and unhelpful. I am writing this to give hope to those of you are in the same place as I was a week ago. Be proactive, it's your health and your responsibility to get the help you need whenever you can. Good Luck.
Amazed at my improvement.: Just over a... - Lung Conditions C...
Amazed at my improvement.
Hi there, it is so nice to hear good news. Those of us who struggle with COPD rarely have news like this and it is great that you can give others hope. I struggled for two years with our national health service before i got diagnosed. When i finally took a spirometry test and learned it was copd in two minutes. I just kept thinking why didn’t they do this two years ago.
The cost of my frequent visits was unnecessary, no wonder it is crumbling down around us.
So glad you feel better, well done.
sheila1kerry I too was going back and forth to the docs with breathlessness for two years and eventually I was given a spirometry test and was told I had COPD. all those appointments I had could have gone to someone else had they been more up to speed.
no wonder the NHS is going down hill
That is unbelievable, the same thing happened to you, i wonder how many others. It just shows that the doctors do not have enough time with patients. Not just the cost to the NHS what about the cost to our health. Two years just getting worse and worse. Now they give me my prescriptions and i basically look after myself. I see a consultant every six months but apart from that i am on my own.
I hope you are keeping as well as can be expected and sorry you had similar treatment . Take care🐹
You too Sheila1kerry xx
That's such good news! So pleased to hear this, really encourages me. Yes, sometimes solutions are closer than we think. A long time ago I had a similar illumination when my asthma was finally correctly diagnosed and treated. Now I'm in a new situation with different challenges but I'm hoping solutions will emerge for this too. Or at least improvements, partial solutions.
I couldn't be more pleased to hear such good news, I have bronchiectasis and asthma and have recently been in hospital for almost two weeks, I honestly thought that this was it for me, but like yourself I have got through it, it's not the first time I have felt like this and no doubt it won't be the last, but it's words like yours that keeps us all going on so you keep on with that good attitude and you will manage like we all have to. Wishing you all the very best. Love Maureen x
Have been reading your posts, good to hear that you have turned a corner, so to speak! Wishing you all the best!
Really pleased for you Hun ,. I've felt like my time is up for months now !! So I know how you felt ,it's a very depressing illness !! Just wondering what were the new antibiotics they gave you ??? Hope each day gets better and better xxxx
Not new really just new to me. GP put me on Ciprofloxacin
There's this from the American Society for Microbiology:
aac.asm.org/content/55/9/41...
"...According to the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), the European Respiratory Society guidelines for the management of adult lower respiratory tract infections, and the Canadian guidelines for the management of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, ciprofloxacin is the antibiotic of choice for the treatment of patients with severe exacerbations of COPD (25, 36, 2). These patients have seriously impaired lung function, they possess risk factors for Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, and they often require mechanical ventilation.
Ciprofloxacin, a broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone, is active against a wide variety of Gram-negative bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Enterobacter aerogenes, and is also active against some Gram-positive cocci (5). One of its prominent characteristics is a high level of activity against P. aeruginosa, although a significant percentage of resistant strains continues to emerge (21)..."
I plan on speaking to my pulmonologist about this when next we meet.
I'm afraid this reply was a bit too technical for me. I just don't understand all the medical terms for all these conditions. I wish I could be more informed in layman's language and maybe know more about the side effects of Ciprofloxacin and how it might affect me. Thank you.
Well done patty-Ann I’m so pleased that things are working well for you and you’re feeling better. How lovely to have a doctor who understands! That’s amazing! Xxxxx
Thank you for your positive post , things can change if we persist and get seen as proactive not just a complainants. Hope things continue in a positive way with you, take care and best wishes xx
This is great news and I'm so glad you have finally been given the correct medication. Such a shame you had to suffer unnecessarily for so long and also that you had to spend money for a private consultation. I do think a lot of us are just being fobbed off and left to suffer because of either funding or plain ignorance on the part of GPs etc. You should definitely complain to the Manager at your surgery about the receptionists not allowing you access to see your GP, when it was obvious you weren't getting better, which is totally unacceptable. As I am in a similar position, and still fighting to get to see a consultant, may I ask who you got a private consultation with - was it a consultant in your area or one attached to one of the large hospitals? Take care and thank you again for your post, which gives hope to many of us xx
Hi,
I was told by my pulmonary physiotherapists that there are "trigger" words you can use, such as: COPD, chronic. Whenever I ring up and say I suffer from COPD I always get a triage phone call and then an appointment in the surgery.
Stay well and I hope this helps you.
That's very helpful Burbagegran - thank you
My partner phoned a local private hospital and asked if a respiritory consultant took private patients. The fee was £125 just for the consultation but it was worth it. My NHS consultant was dismissive and seemed less than interested in just another COPD sufferer. I suppose that seeing the same lung problems all day long would make him less than interested in yet another but I didn't feel like a person, just another case!
That's exactly how my Bronchiectasis was discovered. Just being told I had first asthma and then COPD (even though I'd given up smoking over 30 years ago) just wasn't right. Saw a private consultant who proved they were wrong by a CT scan and I've been on a new path every since. In fact, I've made another appt. with the private guy this week - he often just puts my mind at rest which is all I want but I have more faith in him than the endless waits in the NHS, in crowded waiting rooms etc. Good luck to you.
Thanks so much for your most positive post. I feel your joy, and it's so encouraging for others in a similar position. I don't have copd but I've said many times that if I had my time over I'd have begged borrowed or stolen (not really stolen😆) to have seen a specialist years ago.
Good for you.
Hi I know what you mean about being ready to throw in the towel, please can I ask how you found a private consultant and was it very expensive. Glad you are feeling so much better.
Me again - further to my question above about who you got the private consultation with, can you also please let me know if you had a temperature during the months you were fighting your illness? Many thanks for your help xx
My symptoms were up and down all the time. I didn't always have a temperature and my oxymeter read less than 90 but my cough and breathlessness were my main issues. The local hospital was part of the Shire group but we phoned direct to the hospital.
Again, thank you patty-ann. The reason I asked was because I hardly ever have a temperature and the Respiratory Team seem to rely heavily on that. Its great that you're feeling so much better and it does prove that we're not always given the correct information/medication, which is really scary. Your post has helped me so much. All best wishes xxx
Hi,
I was told by my pulmonary physiotherapists that there are "trigger" words you can use, such as: COPD, chronic. Whenever I ring up and say I suffer from COPD I always get a triage phone call and then an appointment in the surgery.
Stay well and I hope this helps you.
In order to get an urgent appointment at my surgery with a doctor I have to phone at 8am promptly or there's no appointments left for that day! I'm told if I have further problems to phone 111. Then the medics come out in an ambulance and they assess me! It seems a waste of NHS funds to me.
It is all very frustrating for you.
Very interested to hear of your experience with Ciprofloxacin. It’s worked wonders for me too. I have bronchiectasis and this winter was terrible with exacerbations, and even when I was better I was still coughing and catArrhal every day. I then went abroad, had a dodgy tummy and was given a course of cipro. This cleared up the stomach problems immediately but amazingly has also cleared up my chest. There must have been something lurking there for years which never showed up in sputum analysis. It seems to be a wonder drug and I am so glad it has worked so well for you too.
I have Bronchiectasis with pseudomonas infection. The go to antibiotic for my exacerbations is either a Cipro or Levaquin (both quinolone drugs). I worry about possible side affects, but I always feel much better after taking a course of the pills. I'm glad that you found a supportive, helpful GP, Patty-Ann.
I have bronchiectsis with peudos. I asked my dr for cipro but he won't prescribe it, he says there s danger of I think he said MRSI,
There is some interesting stuff about quinalones here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quino...
I think you should try again with your doctor. just one course might be helpful and not build up resistance which is obviously an issue
Hi patty-Ann, well done 👍 to think how desperate and depressed you were a short while ago and look how far you have come, amazing. Keep up the good work patty. 💐
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