I don't actually mind this doctor. Really.

[killing_rose]

Dear doctor yesterday:

I'm sick. Like, we don't know what went wrong, but something went way wrong, and I finally admitted that Urgent Care was needed a week after the original "let's try and pass out" incident. You, of course, haven't actually managed to figure out what's wrong, but that's a post for another comm.

For this one, let's talk about my asthma attack in your exam room yesterday.

My body thinks it's a special snowflake when it's not sick, and it's worse about that tendency when it is.

I've had to hit my inhaler a couple times this week--after months of being mostly inhaler-free.

When I started coughing because you'd asked me to breathe deeply, my roommate went, "Oh hell, hon, did you bring your inhaler?"

Me, after having gotten round of coughing done with: "Seriously, it's like y'all expect me to be intelligent."

Roommate: "Okay, fine, after last night I should have brought one, damn it."

Doctor: "Don't worry, you're not wheezing, I don't think you need an inhaler."

Her: "Really? And what was your peak flow reading last night, babe?"

Me: "275."

Doctor: "....Still, no wheezing."

Dearest doctor: I very, very, very rarely wheeze. I just cough. I have that fun and pesky variety known as cough variant asthma, and my asthma has presented as such for over a decade. Trust me when I say, Roommate and I made faces at each other after you left the room.

Comments

[syntaxofthings]

275 and no inhaler?! No, Doctor, no. I personally haven't wheezed much in a long time either, but I get the coughing. I've struggled with feeling like I'm not sure I have asthma when I'm coughing for no reason but rarely wheezing, and whether or not I should take my inhaler, but it also seems like a good measure is "Does the inhaler relieve your symptoms? Yes? Then it's asthma, take it."

Good thing you had a roommate there to be your advocate!

[killing_rose]

I keep one in my backpack for if I'm biking somewhere; I keep another by my bed (which is the one I'd hit when I got the peak flow reading of 275), but I hadn't had the brain to throw one into my purse before we left for the doctor. (Which turned into 3 hours at Urgent Care, and yes, they even saw us promptly at the beginning of said 3 hours.)

I'm lucky--when the coughing got really bad, and because I'd previously had what they called exercise-induced asthma, my parents took me to an asthma doctor who went, "...This is classic cough variant, and no, she's not wheezing, but she's not breathing, either." So it doesn't bug me that I don't wheeze--a medical professional flat out told me not to worry about that lack of symptomology.

My roommate(s) are awesome. No one was actually going to let me go to Urgent Care by myself, much less deal with a doctor on my own.

[jesse_the_k]

Another cough-variant asthmatic here. I know that I often present as coughing in my doctors office because they have that nasty smelling alcohol gel for hand-washing.

The only time I had a peak flow meter is when they did a challenge test, then I used an inhaler. Which improved the peak flow by 200. Doc says, "Yep — here's this inhaler, let's talk if it gets worse."

[killing_rose]

~snort~ Yeah, that stuff is foul.

I got sent home with a peak flow meter years and years ago, in part because I routinely went off my meds and they figured at least if we knew where I was when my lungs were healthy, I could tell when I needed to go back on the asthma meds.

[dancewithoutyou]

Doctors who think they know everything and don't know shit, man...

[untonuggan]

^^This.

[killing_rose]

Agreed.

[killing_rose]

Preach it.