Followers

Tuesday 11 June 2013

A worrying kind of day

Today has been quite stressful even though I finally got my way over a problem.

Michael has asthma, not serious or life threatening , just the common or garden variety controlled with inhalers.
On our return journey from sending my brother off he complained that his chest felt tight and proceeded to have an asthma attack. My bother has asthma but this was the worst attack that I have seen and it was scary, the inhalers did not touch it.
His face was dark and his breathing dreadful, I had to pull off the road and in the end get him into the recovery position and talk him into a relaxed state before the medication took effect. By the time we got home he was back to normal but admitted that he had been scared.

He also suffers from tennis elbow that flares up when he over does it at work and this has been giving him considerable pain for a few weeks now, it has got so bad that the pain has gone up into the shoulder. I strongly believe that this chronic pain was a big part of the asthma attack, his body was so stressed that it made it much worse than normal.

 Ages ago the GP said that a cortisone injection was required, he was horrified and ignored it. I have nagged away and yesterday I laid down the law and it was get to the doctors and get sorted or think about finding somewhere else to live. This may seem harsh but shock tactics were needed, he has spent weeks in pain and then getting so tired that he sleeps for the best part of 2 days at a time, and it is having a detrimental effect on all our lives. Thankfully he took notice and today had the jabs, one in each side of the tendon, he picked up new painkillers as well. We had dinner and he is now in bed snoring his head off.

Michael is 14 years younger than me but if you had seen him over the weekend you would have thought it was reversed.

I was widowed when quite young and for a while thought that I was losing Michael, I have never been more glad of my first aid training. I am not scared of much but that episode has left me quite disconcerted and ill at ease. Michael has to go to the asthma clinic next and then have a general check up to see how he has been affected by the trauma. I can only hope that all is as it should be.

TTFN    Pam

4 comments:

  1. Asthma is very scary, my sons both have it and one of them has been in A&E several times with it.Very very frightening.I am glad for you that Michael is ok.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think people often see asthma as being trivial as so many people have it nowadays but when a sever e attack strikes it can be very scary and dangerous. Sophie has asthma and has had these kinds of attacks on rare occasions. I'm glad Michael took your advice and got sorted out.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pam how very frightening for both of you. Your calm level-headed action certainly minimised what might have been a more serious incident.
    I've had asthma for about 35 years, and it has never been so well controlled as now - an inhaled steriod night and morning and I seldom have to use the ventolin (blue) inhaler. I have a check up with the asthma nurse twice a year. Hyperventilation can mimic and preempt an asthma attack, so it's good that you insisted on some pain treatment. I hope Michael gets his condition under control and you can can choose to live whereever you wish. Lx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for your comments, it was very scary and in a way I hope we never let that go. Michael had his cortisone injections and is on quite strong medication for a few days, this is making him drowsy and he is snoozing on and off. The GP warned him that it would take a little while for the injected drug to do it,s job. His forearm is bruised and quite swollen so no work for him this week.

    ReplyDelete

I love to read comments so take the plunge and join the conversation.