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Dear Patty,

Welcome to the list. I am . I am 43. My asthma began when I was 38.

The interval between the first attack and the second was 18 mos. Then 12

mos. Now much more frequent. Driving me nuts. Thank heaven's my children

are healthy and allergy free. 2 daughters, 11 and 14. I have been

hospitalized with the asthma twice. The first hospitalization was 5 days

after the initial onset. I got tossed out of the ER 2x w/dx of anxiety and

depression. Admit the depression, it is chronic and life long. I don't

know anyone who is having trouble breathing who does not have anxiety. My

husband was working out of town when I was first hospitalized and I was

afraid to go to sleep because I thought I would stop breathing in the night

and no one would know. Have had asthma wake me up a couple of times now

and so I know that I won't die without warning, but it was really scary.

Everyone in my house has some kind of respiratory infection right now.

Husband and younger daughter have colds. Older daughter has bronchitis. I

keep telling them that I don't need this, don't give it to me because the

end result of every URI I have is asthma. I have been on maintenence meds

since Jan, 1994.

Serevent Diskus is in a powder and works on negative pressure, that is when

you breathe in the powder is inhaled as well. It has a little counter that

tells you how many treatments are left. There are 60 in the container.

One puff instead of two am and pm. I also use a new inhaled steroid called

Pulmicort and it is a powder as well. I think that they get into my lungs

better because I am not trying to coordinate breathing with pushing down to

spray and all of it ending up on my soft palate.

I never wheeze and so I have trouble being taken seriously in the ER. They

listen but don't hear wheezes and so I am just a neurotic female even

though my peak flow which should be 400 is 250. My family doc will now

treat me in an emergent way in his office and this is great because it

means I don't have to drive 30 minutes to the hospital.

I will also be looking forward to getting to know you as well

Stay healthy

WV