My mother and grandmother had asthma, but I never had it as a child, although I did have allergies.
When I went to Tokyo in 1968 for a year abroad in college, people were still heating with kerosene heaters in each room. At first, it didn't bother me, but as time went on, I would start to cough every night when I went to bed. This went away after 15-20 minutes, so I thought nothing of it. And I didn't know it was asthma
Then I moved in with my boyfriend, and we painted a little room outside his parents' house. We had a kerosene heater, but it was still cold. One night, whammo, my head hit the pillow and I couldn't breathe. I asked my boyfriend painfully, word by word, to call an ambulance, and he said "Can't it wait until morning?" Then I started to cry and said "No, it can't!" Apparently the crying brought up some adrenaline because I was able then to breathe a little bit, but I was still in trouble.
The ambulance came, and I told them not to make me lie down, and they cooperated (bless them!), and when we got to the hospital, the doctor could see I was in trouble, and gave me an adrenaline shot, telling me to let him know if I started to get nauseated. Then they put me in a bed in the children's ward (I was 20, and insulted!), and put me on oxygen. They tried to run a catheter up my nose, but due to a birth defect, the hole inside is not large enough, so I ended up holding the catheter and breathing in the delicious oxygen.
They sent me home the next day, and I remember that during dinner, I got so sleepy that I just lay down while everyone was talking (we were sitting on the floor -- it was Japan!), and waking up to find all the lights out and everyone gone. I have never slept so soundly in my life!
When I came home, about 2 weeks later, I had an asthma attack the first night home, and my mother knew exactly what it was and gave me a puff of her inhaler, which helped.
Then it went away for many years, but recently, I have again started to have the symptoms when I go to bed, and when I'm out in the cold or exposed to cigarette smoke or petroleum products. I went to an allergist, and he gave me a steroid for prevention and a rescue inhaler if things get uncomfortable, but I hope I never have another attack like the one that sent me to the hospital!
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I work in pharmacy at a nearby hospital in MI (a place you didn't want to move to and yes for the big S conglomo- but my corner of the world isn't too bad) and have gotten to help asthma patients in the community in a retail environment as well as work with RTs where I am now. I got to be on the patient side, more times than I would like as well. As you know, folks like myself who weren't diagnosed until adulthood, struggle to adapt to this lifestyle change. 20 years later and I'm still learning to this day! (and in my case, it was a wishy washy diagnosis that lead to a couple significant events before a more solid diagnosis by another doctor- that's another whole story!) Being in the pharmacy arena, I helped folks with learning how to use most specific inhaling devices. I also learned about more specialty products in the hospital setting, so this gave me a pretty good education on at least proper usage of drugs for asthma.
SO the story I have, is during a prolonged 6 week hospital stay for myself, non asthma related. Being on a twice daily inhaled steroid prior to hospitalization, in this case pulmicort turbuhaler, I had a pretty good sense of how to use this device. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed out of bed or off one side of my body for too long, and additionally, I hadn't felt comfortable using my inhalers in front of other people. To this day, I still try to hide in a bathroom or my car if I have to use the rescue inhaler. Even Superman used a telephone booth- but I digress. Unlike my usual routine of mostly remembering doses, but sometimes missing a day here or there, or a dose here or there (it's easy remember to do things on time at work, so I must have nothing left by the time I get home!) the nurses and RTs loved to remind me twice a day, every day, to do this-and watch-ack. Your job, I know. So imagine my dismay, when a couple days in a row the RT who came in with the pulmicort, turns and clicks the base, dutifully INVERTS the inhaler and SHAKES, then hands it to me to inhale. Um, yeah. The first time, I just clicked it again and got my dose. She made a comment how I was double dosing, and I just replied politely that I was taught differently. The next day (thankfully she was only a day shift RT) she did the same thing, and I nicely explained what I do for a living, that I have used this and demonstrated this, and she is dumping the dose on the floor by inverting and shaking it. I got a 'whatever, but I've been an RT for years.."etc. I clicked it again, and got the dose. In the interest of not going into labor from arguing and getting worked up against doctors orders, when she left I called the nursing superviser, who of course, transferred me to RT superviser, who was as perplexed as I. The next morning she came again. She said nothing, and gave me the pulmicort directly. I got my dose, she left. I never saw her again. The point wasn't that I was upset with her, only that she clearly needed some re-education on this kind of inhaler. I felt concern for other patients who did not know this was incorrect, and lost their doses time and time again. I actually hoped I would see her again, and make clear that I had no problem with her personally, but that some patients have knowledge to share. I truly saw this as an opportunity to learn, not blame. I would want the same for my patients, not just myself.
I just ran across this blog today, and it's great. Found somewhat because of my "I feel pretty good now, and it's no big deal to miss a couple doses here or there of that steroid" dumb thinking....feeling stupid now as I listen to the poprocks symphony out of my lungs. Punishment enough, and a reminder to do better with the meds! I look forward to exploring it further. The RTs I work with, and had at the other hospital where I stayed, have been an otherwise great group of people to work with. Like you said, most will stop to share a story, hang out for a while, and are pleasant to work with (well, and pharmacy is everybody's friend, right?). The past year for me has been full of asthma crudola fun -respiratory distress then anaphylaxis all in one year! And I was compliant those times, but those were sudden and unexpected triggers. The RTs at work have been very helpful and I have gleaned a lot of new knowledge from them. A couple of them even gave up some office space for a week earlier this year, just so I could use my nebulizer out of the view of my co-workers. Hooray for phonebooths!