Up all night ... up all day
Jan. 12th, 2005 09:40 amLast night was a very bad night for me. The expectorant seems to have done all it can ... and then some.
( Kind of Gory Details )
I'd been maxing out the Mucinex dosage, to little avail. So, I did put in a call to the doctor yesterday, explained that the antibiotics do seem to be working, but the expectorant isn't doing as much ... even though I'm still terribly wheezy and coughing something awful.
So, I have narrowly escaped Prednisone. Instead, I'll be upping my Advair to 500/50, until the wheezing and asthma subsides. Anything to get me out of the perpetual Yellow zone* that I've been in is certainly appreciated. :)
*For non-asthmatics, "Zone" does not refer to that popular low-carb diet plan. Instead, it's a range for the Peak Flows (how much air I can inhale/exhale), done in traffic signal style. A Green zone for me is 352-440, and means that my symptoms are under control. The only reason I'd use the Albuterol is 2 puffs before exercising. Yellow means that I'm in the 220-351 range, and if I haven't had an attack yet ... it's bound to happen, so hit the Albuterol. Red is the "Danger Will Robinson" zone (0-219), where the attack has reached emergency levels. When that happens, I'm to get my ass to the ER, and fast. En route, it's Albuterol and a burst of Prednisone.
So, now you know entirely too much about asthma. And to add to my geek factor - I have my Action Plan posted at my desk at work. Because I'm such a girl scout in that regard.
[ETA - I may be the only one that thinks it's kind of humorous, but I noticed that the Advair Diskus labels are traffic-light colors. 100/50 is green; 250/50 is yellow; 500/50 is red.]
( Kind of Gory Details )
I'd been maxing out the Mucinex dosage, to little avail. So, I did put in a call to the doctor yesterday, explained that the antibiotics do seem to be working, but the expectorant isn't doing as much ... even though I'm still terribly wheezy and coughing something awful.
So, I have narrowly escaped Prednisone. Instead, I'll be upping my Advair to 500/50, until the wheezing and asthma subsides. Anything to get me out of the perpetual Yellow zone* that I've been in is certainly appreciated. :)
*For non-asthmatics, "Zone" does not refer to that popular low-carb diet plan. Instead, it's a range for the Peak Flows (how much air I can inhale/exhale), done in traffic signal style. A Green zone for me is 352-440, and means that my symptoms are under control. The only reason I'd use the Albuterol is 2 puffs before exercising. Yellow means that I'm in the 220-351 range, and if I haven't had an attack yet ... it's bound to happen, so hit the Albuterol. Red is the "Danger Will Robinson" zone (0-219), where the attack has reached emergency levels. When that happens, I'm to get my ass to the ER, and fast. En route, it's Albuterol and a burst of Prednisone.
So, now you know entirely too much about asthma. And to add to my geek factor - I have my Action Plan posted at my desk at work. Because I'm such a girl scout in that regard.
[ETA - I may be the only one that thinks it's kind of humorous, but I noticed that the Advair Diskus labels are traffic-light colors. 100/50 is green; 250/50 is yellow; 500/50 is red.]