Showing posts with label IV nutrition therapy for asthma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IV nutrition therapy for asthma. Show all posts

Friday, May 25, 2012

And Just Like That, It's Cocktail Time

I woke up yesterday, after writhing with nausea until 2am, and was fine.

No need for albuterol or nebulizer.

So farking weird. I want to accuse myself of making it all up, but I was there! You would never know I had intractable asthma the entire day before--nothing I did worked. And to go from the narrow edge of an adrenal crisis to not,in what seemed like the blink of an eye, was just...bizarre. Did my body run a Hail Mary pass at the last minute or what?

Fatigue was okay, with some adrenal burning in my back. If I hadn't needed to drive, I would not have taken any steroids yesterday. Since I had places to go, I did 5mg to play it safe.

Got my vitamin IV and boy, did it stir the pot.

This was my first official Meyer's Cocktail. I don't know what the others are called. Anti-oxidant infusions? But they weren't Meyers from what I know.

Here's the list of what was in my Meyer's Cocktail:

-Vitamin C
-Magnesium Sulfate (with more added later.)
-Calcium Chloride
-Pyridoxine
-Dexpanthenol
-Vitamin B-12 (ah, no wonder I feel so frisky despite being tired from lack of sleep!)
-Vitamin B complex
-L-glutathione
-Glycchrric Acid (that looks misspelled to me, but it's what they wrote down.)

For a second time in three weeks (OMG I've been sick forever), the IV infusion went in and 'broke' the congestion in my lungs loose. I became acute very rapidly and my BP plunged. Hence the additional magnesium, which helped quite a bit.

At the start, the IV hit me like a Mack Truck and took me down. By the end, I was better. Again, better than the ER. Better than the nebulizer. Even if it was the initial trigger, although all that gunk would've caused problems sooner or later anyways.

So I'm tired and wiped and just blah.

Going backwards a bit...the ER visit last week. I filled out the survey for the ER. Not sure if I'll mail it in though. My only criticism is they really didn't pay close attention to my O2 levels and I really needed the doctor to ask me how I felt since it would've triggered me to say 'not better.' (I was too out of it to communicate well, something else that was missed. I think I was just perceived as quiet and no trouble vs. sick.)

In the end, it all worked out, I guess. They were so slammed and I looked better than I was, so I know it wasn't intentional. On the other hand, I feel like maybe it would help to say 'Hey, you discharged a patient whose O2 dropped to 90 after rolling over and sitting up. She left just as bad as when she came in.'

I don't know. I'm conflicted about it. It's also amazing how uneven ER response is to asthma.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Rush

I woke up yesterday, very clear in my lungs. No tightness. Didn't need any albuterol and, as a result, I decided to stop the steroids. Still congested in my nose though with a productive cough, but I think I'm winning the war. Finally, 20 days later.

Since I felt so much better, I did the 'Rush' Zumba workout which is 20 minutes. I didn't go full force, kept it light but worked up a sweat.

Being sick reinforces my decision to do the DVDs over signing up for a class. It's vital that I go at my own pace, in my own time. Strict schedule adherence is impossible for me still and sometimes I modify things in a way that would make me very awkwardly stand out in a group class.

It feels so so SO good to use my body again. I hate being sidelined (doesn't everyone?). I think a lot of my ability to even do this much so soon stems from the IV nutrition therapy. I'm a total convert, about to become a zealot.

By the way, I did find one study on IV therapy for asthma. They hyped magnesium but there's also mention of nutrients like B12."Patients who received longer-term therapy (average duration of 12.58 months) for chronic asthma demonstrated an overall average improvement of 95%." That's pretty interesting. If there's a way I can better manage this stuff with less disruption of my life, I'm all for it.

As for the rest of the day post-Zumba... I overdid it a little bit. Ran three errands and my lungs got a bit raw and reactive. That tired me out and I was happy to go to bed.