Whooping cough turned into asthma

I have several chronic illnesses and disabilities including PCOS, orthostatic intolerance, insulin resistance, and hypoglycemia. I know that seems like diabetes but I have not been diagnosed with it. I was also diagnosed with panic disorder, depression, OCD, and ADD. An asthma diagnosis was added on to this list a few years ago.

Whooping cough or asthma diagnosis?

I started getting sick and was coughing a lot. My coughing was very violent, and it caused me to throw up nearly every time I went into a coughing fit! My mom who is a nurse thought that I had whooping cough. One day, I was coughing so badly at a family lunch, my aunt Becky gave me one of her inhalers. It helped SO MUCH! We still didn’t think I had asthma though.

I finally went to my doctor who did some routine blood work and found that my carbon dioxide levels were low. With this discovery and my symptoms, she sent me to a pulmonologist. Sure enough, I was told that I do have asthma and that I was exposed to whooping cough. We had found out that my mom had it, but I didn’t get it. Just the exposure was enough to set me off.

I’ve likely had asthma for the majority of my life as I can remember being super out of breath and my chest being really tight with exercise, and coughing a lot.

My asthma diagnosis changed my life

Since my diagnosis, I have tried countless medications and had a few visits from paramedics. My asthma has definitely put a huge strain on my life but I try my best to live my life to the fullest. I have a portable nebulizer now so when my asthma comes to get me, I come back at it harder with the help of my nebulizer, my friends, and my family who are always so supportive.

My asthma attacks took over my trip

I went on a trip a couple of years ago to a weekend Christian conference called Strength to Stand. Ironically, I didn’t have much physical strength to stand on this trip as I had 7 severe attacks in the soak of 2 days. This is when I had my first visit with paramedics... twice in one day! I passed out a few times from my attacks on this trip!

Luckily we had a Registered Nurse with us, Kevin, who became my saving grace! This was truly a really scary time but God brought me through! I probably needed to go to the ER, but I didn’t want to because I was away from home. They monitored my O2 stats, BP, and heart rate. After this, I got a nebulizer and it has definitely changed my life!

Living my life the best I can

Now I'm just living life... taking care of myself... living the best I can day by day. I knew it would get better and it did! I’m also getting a service dog that will help me with my panic disorder, and help me with the weakness and dizziness I have from severe asthma attacks!

Thanks for reading my story! Have a pufferful life... get it? Puff because of inhalers... oh you get it, haha!