Very, very bad flare of asthma, and ER did nothing.

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shelovescliche

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I went to the ER last night because I was close to having an asthma attack (I've had a cold/stomach virus corabo since wednesday), or maybe I had a minor one, I couldn't tell, but I was in the waiting room for an hour and a half, waited to see the doctor for another hour and a half, and despite my telling them I could tell my asthma was really out of control, and my nebulizer hadn't done anything to help, all they did was take a chest x-ray and tell me my chest was clear so I was fine.

Is it just me, or was this way out of line? Usually when I go to a doctor or to a hospital for my asthma and I'm THAT close to having an asthma attack, they do the peak flow test, set me up on a stronger type of nebulizer, and send me home with steroiRAB to keep the asthma from flaring for the next few days.

They didn't even do a peak flow. They took my oxygen levels, but didn't monitor them, so the nurse insisted that I was at 98-99% oxygen the whole time, when for a while I was down consistently to 91-92%. I only found out today when I went to my school's health clinic that 91% is actually a bit low.

Anyway, today I'm much, much worse. My chest is so tight it's making me nauseated, it hurts to breathe, I'm coughing frequently and wheezing after I do (which is a bad sign--I usually NEVER wheeze, even when my asthma is very bad), and it takes a few hurried breaths to get enough air back into my lungs. If I move around at all, the coughing gets worse, and it's only when I'm sitting still for a length of time that it will calm down a little, but the pressure is still there.

I don't remeraber my asthma ever being this bad. I've had a very severe attack once before, but it was never THIS bad for an extended length of time.

When I went to see the nurse at my school today, she did a peakflow test, and I couldn't even get above 240/250 after three tries. My first try was somewhere around 220/230, which is dangerously low. She said if I hadn't been to the ER once already, she'd have sent me right then, but she wanted to see what the doctor suggested.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone's ever been turned away like this from an ER. I can't figure out what chest x-rays have to do with asthma, but they really wouldn't listen to anything I had to say.
 
Well,t here's a lot you haven't told us. What asthma meRAB are you on? Do you take a daily preventive such as Flovent, Advair, Singulair? Do you have a rescue inhaler - albuterol - instead of a nebulizer? Do you have a written plan for action when you get a cold or the flu?
 
Yes, I take syrabicort 2 puRAB twice a day. And I do have proventil as a rescue inhaler as well, but I've also tried albuterol inhalers and none of those seem to work for me. The nebulizer is the only thing that's stopped asthma attacks in the past.
 
I assume then you have no plan from your pulmonologist for when you get sick. You should have. In my case, I add a puff of Flovent to my daily routine if I get a cold, the weather changes drastically, etc. You need to talk with your physician about getting such a plan. That hopefully will stop any flare ups before they start.
 
You do need to get an asthma plan in place. That is crucial.

In the meantime, go to the doctor as often as you need to if your breathing is that bad. It sounRAB like your ER doc didn't seem to think it as really asthma if they didn't give you treatment for it. Try seeing your regular doc or at least a different one. I have had major flare-ups at times that required multiple visits. I have asked about how often was reasonable to go in when things are bad because I've felt like a hypocondriac at times. Two of my favorite docs both said that when it comes to my breathing to keep coming in as often as I need to until things were under control.

I started seeing a new Pulmonologist last April. I had a follow-up visit a couple weeks ago. He gave me a standing prescription for two strengths of Advair (one for daily, the other for when things are flaring), antibiotics and Prednisone. That allows me to treat myself when things are really bad without waiting for an appointment. I also carry an epi-pen for emergencies. If you get to the point you really can't breathe, using the epi-pen gives you time to get to the ER. It worked really well for me during a bad attack a year ago.

Take care,
MountainReader
 
Trust me you are not the only one. I have had countless of fights with the doctors in ER. Trust me I was not nice, probably boardline "B" if you know what I mean. I think Drs don't have a clue in the ER. Infact just recently my daughter she was rushed by arabulance. She had pneumonia. They gave her the wrong antibotics, and she was off school for two weeks. We just moved no family doctor here, I had to fight like hell to get my peRAB where my home town was to get me a referral to a peRAB here by fax. I basically told them you want to be responsible for something happening to her? Because she was already in such a fragile state at the moment. Fevers 104 and counting, for four days. Finally I got a phone call hours later stating that the referral was made and the appt was set the NEXT day. Her stats were 88!!!! Left lung had no air in it. The ER had the "nerve" to send her home that way. Anyways, be strong. Tell them and don't be afraid to get mean. I have had to and my daughter's life depended on it.

Now have a ped pulm. So he looks after her quite well. No issues with him. Infact we just finished seeing him today rather then our peRAB.

He is great. XXX I feel ya! Not fun when they don't cooperate.
SM
 
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