severe asthma attack...

S

shylady

New member
When I was 15 years old I almost died from a severe asthma attack. It was the worst i'd ever had and still is the worst i've ever had. I remeraber laying down and feeling tightness in my chest and then getting back up.It was progressing very rapidly.I lived with my grandparents so I went to tell them I coulnt breathe but i already couldnt speak.My lips turned blue along with my nail beRAB and the tips of my fingers.My fingers and toes flexed and i couldnt move them or bend them or feel them.Other than the pain in my chest my body was nurab.i got pale as a ghost and couldnt exhale to inhale,so i was suffocating.I remeraber being hysterical in my movements,fighting the E.M.T.s I remeraber standing up and then i remeraber waking up in the arabulance feeling on fire. As soon as I came to I was told i felt like that because they gave me adrenaline.A couple days and i was okay to go home. Now my asthma is acting up quite a bit,so i have two questions.
(1)At what level of severity do they use adrenaline in asthma patients?(i was never really told much other than what i already remeraberd about how bad it was.)
(2)How likely is it that I will have to experience that again?(hopefully not at all likely)
 
I'm sorry for your experience. Are you on a daily med? Do you have a rescue inhaler? Do you see a pulmonologist regularly and have a written plan fo controlling your asthma? Those are the primary things you can do to avoid another situation like this one. The main thing is to get your asthma under control and keep it controlled.

As for the adrenaline, it's given whenever someone is experiencing anaphalaxis....from any cause. So, avoiding it by controlling your asthma is your best bet!
 
Titchou has asked a lot of good questions. If you don't already have one, you should have an asthma action plan. I'd recommend seeing a Pulmonologist to get one in place, but some people do well with their PCP's as well. The asthma action plan should walk you through what to do at different stages of your asthma symptoms.

If your asthma is frequently out of control, you should be on a daily preventative asthma medication. You should also have a rescue inhaler to use. If you have to frequently use your rescue inhaler, you should see your doctor because your asthma isn't under control. There are lots of things you can do to get your asthma under control if you are aggressive in seeking treatment.

Most of the time they don't use the adrenaline as part of your asthma treatment. Not even all emergency rooms have it as part of their protocol. From what I understand though, they use it for asthma like they do an anaphalactic episode to quickly open up airways. You would have to be to the point of not being able to breathe or close to it in order to have it administered. That said, I've had it administered to me once when I had a severe attack that required emergency care because I couldn't breathe. Use of my rescue inhaler didn't help in that particular incident so I sought emergency care quickly. Don't wait until things are so bad you can't breathe before seeking assistance if you get that bad. There are other treatments the doctor has that can be administered before you reach that point most of the time. If you are really concerned about having an attack that bad though, ask your doctor for an Epi-pen. I carry one for "just in case". You can self-administer then call 911.
 
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