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Post by Dreamer on Feb 28, 2018 12:13:00 GMT -5
 all I am 62 and just diagnosed with mild COPD (no details) but have been short of breath for 10 years. I am not a smoker. I have had CT and X-ray both are clear? I currently walk 2-5km 5 times a day for vascular issues. Just saw my GP today and he is sending me to respirologist as he does not feel I should be SoB 24/7. I am on Advair 250 puffer not disk, and bronchial puffer. As it will take 6-8 weeks to get appointment, what can I do now and what should I ask specialist when I see him Thanks for your help |
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Post by lavishgail on Feb 28, 2018 16:55:00 GMT -5
Welcome dreamer, I'm not so good myself these days, so I don't think I could give you any advice that I can't give myself. We all know here that we all need to Pace ourselves, that is something I am trying to learn. Pacing myself is very hard for me. I've always been very fast with everything that I do, and I still think I'm that way, and I will run all over cleaning doing different things, and I will be so sick afterwards as to where I have to sit down so that I can catch my breath and breathe. You see my mind is still in my twenties  , so I think I can still do all the things I used to do back in the day, obviously I cannot. I think that bothers me the most because I can't keep up the pace. So I guess what I'm trying to say is my advice is just try and do everything slowly as possible. Like a turtle, is our friend Spike would say. Also you can use the pursed lip breathing. If you look in the area about oxygen and how to breathe it teaches you a video on there, it's very very useful. I have to go to that every now and again to remember my breathing techniques. Before I go to the doctor I get out of piece of paper a few days before, and I write everything I can think of down that I want to ask her, like why when I lift my arms to say hang my shower curtain does my face turn beet-red why does my heart pound out of its chest and then I throw up? That is one of the questions I've asked her, now I have to go to a Cardiologist to have my heart checked because it's skipping beats and beating too fast so they want to do a cardiogram on me and I'm not happy about this. Sometimes I don't bother writing a no or asking any questions because they want to just keep sending me to a different doctor and then another doctor and this doctor and that doctor and I get very very tired. But I know this is very new to you and I'm sorry you have this. Ask everything you can think of do you need oxygen for how long? Do I need to exercise more or less? Why do I have COPD when I never smoked? You know things like that. They will probably give you a breathing test it's very easy and in the area of oxygen they also explain that how you get tested you have to go in like a little telephone booth and breathe through a mouthpiece in and out a few times and do as they tell you by holding your nose and pushing out as much air as you can. Just things like that nothing to really worry about, I don't want you to worry I hope you breathe better pace yourself try to anyway, and it's very nice to meet you my name is Gail and if you go to the fence where it says welcome to the fence and have a cup of coffee with us you can talk there and everybody can answer your questions we go there and talk about our day and things that we would like to do or what we have done. Please do join us over the fence so that we can all get to know you I'm very excited to have you aboard and I can't wait to meet you and hear all about you. I'm sure somebody here can answer your questions much better than I can I'm still learning and it's already been 6 years. They really don't know what I have. They say it's ild inflammation lung disease caused by lupus, which is the same thing as fibrosis. Hope you will join us over the fence and I'm very very happy to meet you, You're friend, Gail |
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Post by gerald on Feb 28, 2018 23:53:38 GMT -5
Dreamer, Shortness of Breath can have several causes. The Respirologist is a good place to start. Shortness of breath is a relative term so they will need to determine the degree etc, I would imagine a Spirometry test would be required.
However, Cardiovascular issues will also cause shortness of breath. You may need to see a Cardiologist to verify that you are not also suffering from heart issues coming from existing conditions.
Please be careful to ensure that your medical people do not isolate themselves to their specialty and ignore the rest of the body. That can make thing works.
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Post by gnott on Mar 1, 2018 12:19:22 GMT -5
Gerald beat me to it, but I'll not just ditto, I will emphasize the need to see a cardiologist even more strongly. And if it is going to take that long in your area to see a specialist, then I would attempt setting up an appointment now.
One or the other specialist may wish to wait to see what the other comes up, but that's OK if you can arrange the appointments close together.
The physical symptoms of the most common "heart failures" and any of the diseases under the COPD banner are so similar (if not identical) that the difference (with a few rare exceptions) makes it is impossible to diagnosis with any certainty without a battery of very specific tests, and absolutely NEVER in a doctor's examination room.
I was a smoker. I was diagnosed with mild bronchitis for years. SOB got worse - I got a stronger inhaler. The fact I had Arterial Heart Failure was never noticed until I died on the floor of the Emergency waiting room.
And to the second part of Gerald's post - the myopia of specialist - he is dead on. They act like they communicate, but they don't - except just before an operation and during a hospital stay. I have had a 15 year battle between Cardiology and Pulmonary - they don't agree on anything. So you will need a good General Practitioner to sort it all out. Smile.
Quick example: A cardiology ARPN suggested that my need for Oxygen 24/7 was obviously psychosomatic, even though I had failed the 6MWT twice the week before in less than two minutes. A Pulmonology nurse told me in Rehab my SOB was because I was improperly purse breathing and my Oxygen setting was too high. On advice of my GP I scheduled an appointment with my Cardiologist. They ran a stress test/mri - I was immediately scheduled for Angioplasty the next morning.
Smile. YOU have to look out for yourself.
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Post by joany on Mar 1, 2018 17:15:42 GMT -5
Hello all I am 62 and just diagnosed with mild COPD (no details) but have been short of breath for 10 years. I am not a smoker. I have had CT and X-ray both are clear? I currently walk 2-5km 5 times a day for vascular issues. Just saw my GP today and he is sending me to respirologist as he does not feel I should be SoB 24/7. I am on Advair 250 puffer not disk, and bronchial puffer. As it will take 6-8 weeks to get appointment, what can I do now and what should I ask specialist when I see him Thanks for your help Did something feel really "off" for you to recently see your GP? Do take your detailed inventory and make sure your most recent issues are not an emergency! And are you able to have your name on the appointment list to be called in case there's a cancellation (my health resources here won't do that if I'm a new patient - probably because there's a different time window needed) Do be smart about your health even if it means a drain on your resources. You can address that "tomorrow." |
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, so I think I can still do all the things I used to do back in the day, obviously I cannot. I think that bothers me the most because I can't keep up the pace. So I guess what I'm trying to say is my advice is just try and do everything slowly as possible. Like a turtle, is our friend Spike would say.
