Anybody here with a chronic medical condition?

D

dberry

Joined
Oct 16, 2007
Messages
595
I have been extremely healthy all my life and still am except for my breathing. In the past year I have started to have asthma like attacks after working out. I can recover by relaxing and using breathing techniques. I have also started using some natural remedies and they have helped with the severity of attacks. I got an inhaler and it helps but I dont want to be depending on it since if SHTF a doctor will be out of the question. Does anyone else or a member of your family have issues like me and if so what are you doing about it? How does it affect your S&P plans? What should i do?
 
I feel your pain, bro.
I'm a chronic asthmatic. I'm much better than I was 20 years ago, but I'm still considered "chronic". It really messed up most of my goals in life, from wanting to join the army ever since I was a kid, to just learning how to scuba dive (Which I finally did two years ago by not disclosing my condition on the forms).
With most activities, I'm generally OK. I jog, weight train and do other cardio workouts 99% of the time with nary a wheeze. It's allergic reactions that are my kryptonite. Being allergic to pollen means that getting into the wilds comes with a lot of wheezing.
I use the steroid inhalers and I've tried lots of herbal, alternative, etc treatments over the years, including acupuncture (What a waste of money that was).
The only thing that I found that comes close is eucalyptus. When I find it hard to breathe, if I relax, sit calmly and breathe in eucalyptus, it eventually helps with my airways. The main problem is having the time to do that. If I'm by myself in the woods, then I can sit for 30 minutes to an hour and get over it. If I'm with others, then the inhaler is the fastest and most effective way to get over an attack. You could try a eucalyptus airspray or aromatherapy oils before you work out, or even in the room you workout in. Often this kind of preemptive course will prevent an attack.
As to any kind of SHTF scenarios, eucalyptus may be as rare as inhalers (Depending on your location). The only thing to do is stockpile and rotate. I keep inhalers at work, in the car and more at home, along with bottles of eucalyptus.
One thing that I learnt over the years is to just deal with it. If you have a niggling wheeze, try to ignore it. Don't reach for the inhaler every time. Either relax or try to carry on. It's like any other disability. The more you train your body and mind to cope with it, the less dependent on drugs or help you'll become.
I know I haven't been much help, but good luck to you.
 
I just found out that I have sciatica in my hips, it doesn't effect me as is making me stop going on walks or doing hard labor, it just makes me feel a little bit older........I just stretch 3 times a day now....
 
2 spinal surgeries and arthritis in both hands. After all those years of collecting and using those big choppers I'm transitioning over to a folding saw or 2. Anybody want to swap?;)--KV
 
dberry said:
How does it affect your S&P plans? What should i do?
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I don't know. What's S&P?

ratamahatta said:
I just found out that I have sciatica in my hips, it doesn't effect me as is making me stop going on walks or doing hard labor, it just makes me feel a little bit older........I just stretch 3 times a day now....
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I've got a prosthetic foot. Which sometimes makes one leg longer or shorter than the other. That's going to lead to hip replacement if I'm not careful But meanwhile I walk and I walk. A lot. Day and night, all kinds of weather.

Give that up and terminal stiffness sets in fast.
 
you might try taking a benadryl or zyrtec an hour before your workout.
if this fized the problem, it's an allergic reaction to mold spores or cleaning chemicals.
if it doesn't, you may have developed an "exertional onset" form of asthma.
since you're not panicking when the attacks happen and you're controlling it with breathing techniques, it doesn't sound like you're in any danger.
The fact that a "rescue inhaler" fixes things quickly and the only time you're using it is after a workout leads me to believe you don't have a particularly severe case at this time. One other thing to try is hitting the inhaler for a single puff about 30-45 minutes before your workout. (this will do bad things to your heart rate during the workout, however) If you still have the symptoms afterwards, I'd be looking for an allergic component to the problem.
 
I have 2 rare blood diseases. 1 is rare and is in remission, the other is really rare (I have heard 200 people in the country) and requires me to get a medicine infusion every 2 weeks (that costs my insurance $20K a pop).

Because of them I have low blood counts. Low red counts means you can't carry as much oxygen so I get winded if I start moving a lot. Low white cells mean I don't have a very good immune system and any infection has to be taken very seriously and usually means heavy duty antibiotics or a stay at the hospital for a week. Low platelets mean if I am injured I don't stop bleeding very well.

When I first found out about it I researched all the options and choose a high dose chemotherapy where I was in the hospital for over a month (I think 37 days). It didn't work quite like it was advertised and came back a couple years later. I got another treatment I guess 3 years ago this month and it seems to be working OK as of now. I still have all those symptoms above but I am alive which means it is working for the time being.

I am not able to work right now and the disease will most likely cut my time here short. Knowing that really changes your priorities and what is important. Don't ever take a day that you wake up in the morning for granted because one day you aren't going to. I am turning 31 this year and have been dealing with this for 7 years and I still have a hard time with that. But it is something that every single person will have to face one day and is the only thing you are guaranteed in life.

Good luck with your condition and continue to try to find an alternative treatment. The more you use your inhalers the less effect they will have and it will cause you to rely on them more.
 
Not chronic I hope! but I've had 2 bouts with cancer one year apart and so far (6years/5years) I've been cancer free.
 
Permanent partial paralasys of left leg due to a surgical misadventure attempting to remove a tumor off of a spinal nerve. My quadraceps has shrunk to the point that my leg looks like one of those pitiful starving kids you see on TV. It makes it difficult to do stairs and inclines while hiking. But hey, it's still my leg even if it doesn't work right!!
BaldingEagle
 
I feel like a wimp even posting after reading some of these real problems, even life threatening ones. I have chronic foot problems. I have arthritis in them. I've broken both of them and get tendonitis all the time. I spent 6 weeks in a wheelchair a couple of years ago because both of them were broken at the same time. I also get gout quite a bit, but that I kind of bring upon myself. My rheumatologist and my podiatrist don't pinpoint anything specifically as causing all the problems, although I do have metatarsus adductus which is just a fancy way of saying my feet aren't shaped quite right.

I am not limited in "normal" life activities because I work behind a desk, but on a day to day thing its a drag because it always hurts to walk and its a lot worse when I'm on my feet much.
 
Shann said:
I feel like a wimp even posting after reading some of these real problems, even life threatening ones. I have chronic foot problems. I have arthritis in them. I've broken both of them and get tendonitis all the time. I spent 6 weeks in a wheelchair a couple of years ago because both of them were broken at the same time. I also get gout quite a bit, but that I kind of bring upon myself. My rheumatologist and my podiatrist don't pinpoint anything specifically as causing all the problems, although I do have metatarsus adductus which is just a fancy way of saying my feet aren't shaped quite right.

I am not limited in "normal" life activities because I work behind a desk, but on a day to day thing its a drag because it always hurts to walk and its a lot worse when I'm on my feet much.
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Anything that limits you or causes pain is not something nice to deal with. If it is something you have to deal with every day then it is chronic and can wear you down after awhile. I know it isn't fun to deal with because on top of everything else the really rare blood disease I have causes fairly severe stomach pain as well as 'ghost pains.' I have stomach pain everyday and have been on pretty heavy narcotics for the past 2 years to control it. I don't even know I take the narcotics anymore but it would probably knock a normal person out. If your pain bothers you a lot I would talk to your doctors because it is their duty to make sure they do everything for you they can including dealing with pain. When you hurt all the time even a couple hours relief from a pill can make all the difference in the world.
 
I had chronic tachycardia for over 20 years and all I was offered was a surgery called radio frequency ablation.
My uncle, a DDS, told me not to do it.
I was in the ER 2 or 3 times a year to " reset" my heart.
I came here and it happened. I went to the doc and got "reset" and put on a non FDA approved pill.
Nary a problem in almost 6 years.
 
My chronic medical condition...Where should I start?

high blood pressure...About 190/110 without meds!
(at-least one) "bad" heart-valve.
Emphysema..I get VERY short-of-breath easily.
bad lower back...L3, L4 are totally messed up.
gout

Those are just the "main" problems...:(.
 
Toucan Oasis said:
I had chronic tachycardia for over 20 years and all I was offered was a surgery called radio frequency ablation.
My uncle, a DDS, told me not to do it.
I was in the ER 2 or 3 times a year to " reset" my heart.
I came here and it happened. I went to the doc and got "reset" and put on a non FDA approved pill.
Nary a problem in almost 6 years.
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That is awesome, what is the pill called? I was watching a TV show that had someone having back problems in another country. They went to a Dr. and he did acupuncture and then applied a electrical current to the needles. It looked painful while he got the therapy but his back was immediately better. Too bad these kinds of alternative treatments go unknown for the most part in the US. I'm sure many people would like to have an alternative for them to decide on for themselves. I know it is not fun having your life rely on a bag of liquid that I receive once every 2 weeks. If there ever is a SHTF scenario where there is a meltdown of society I will be in trouble. I think I am one of the few that could actually for the most part be self sustaining and get through it other than relying on that medicine.
 
dberry said:
In the past year I have started to have asthma like attacks after working out. I can recover by relaxing and using breathing techniques. I have also started using some natural remedies and they have helped with the severity of attacks. I got an inhaler and it helps but I dont want to be depending on it since if SHTF a doctor will be out of the question. Does anyone else or a member of your family have issues like me and if so what are you doing about it?
Click to expand...

Asthma is usually an allergic reaction to something environmental or something you eat. I had severe childhood asthma in the early 1950s when there were no inhalers or anything else that really controlled the symptoms. If the source of the problem was environmental and not something avoidable, all that doctors could do was try to desensitize you. First you had "scratch tests" to discover your allergens. Then you had shots — lots of shots. Here is the Mayo Clinic's summary:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/allergy-shots/MY01158

It took six years, but it worked for me. I have "hay-fever" for a couple of weeks in the spring and fall, and I had to quit a job in a toxicology lab. And I can't live with cats. Without the shots I probably would have been on disability for life.

dberry said:
How does it affect your S&P plans? What should i do?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by S&P, if it's "salt & pepper" (interracial sex) I wouldn't let a little thing like asthma hold me back. I used to date cat lovers.
 
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All kinds of autoimmune stuff, like psoriasis and reynauds. all within the last 3 years.

plus the wicked tinnitus left over from the long undiagnosed hydrocephalus.

and the V/P shunt isn't 100% perfect. so sometimes it gets clogged and the hydrocephalus comes back.

how does it affect me? well the tinnitus is a royal bitch because it makes it very hard to concentrate (something I was never very good to begin with). right before I was finally diagnosed and treated for hydrocephalus, I found my internal visualization skills severly hampered. These are returning slowly, but in the meantime it makes designing on the fly wicked difficult.

Psoriasis makes me itchy, reynauds makes me cold.

Hypnosis and biofeedback have helped with the autoimmune stuff. but if anybody knows how to get rid of this godawful whine in my ears, I'd name my firstborn child after them.
 
I used to have a godawful whine in my right ear, practically blocked out my hearing on that side. I also get infected sinuses and my doctor prescribed an antibiotic that took care of the infection, but didn't completely clear the sinuses.

He suggested I pinch my mouth and nostrils shut, and then push air up into them. The pressure popped my eardrums back in place, so to speak. He told me to do this twice a day for a while. It worked. Tinnitus gone. (Still half-deaf from years of NYC subways. :))
 
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