dosages, asthma story

[Guest guest]

I get the full 375mg every two weeks, in three shots.

I was diagnosed with allergies and allergic asthma at age three.

This was 1970, so there weren't a whole lot of meds approved for

children back then. When I wheezed, I had to take a liquid called

Periactin. I still remember how it smelled. I'll remember that til

the day I die, I imagine. I can remember when Actifed first came

along (remember that one?). I also spent a large amount of time in

the bathroom with the hot shower running, trying to loosen up all

that mucus. Back then, few people knew anything about asthma and I

would repeatedly be asked by teachers, schoolmates, etc., " are you

sick? or is it just your asthma/allergies? "

I can remember when I was given my first albuterol inhaler...what a

Godsend. When I was a teenager, I took theophylline (Theodur,

specifically) and terbutaline (a pill that is/was a relative of

adrenaline). At 17 I refused to take both of those drugs ever again

and I have kept that promise. They made me crazy, they made me sick

in other ways that I could never get well. Prednisone is an

improvement, although I don't like that much either. I first got

pred when I was sixteen.

I had a few years in my late teens and early twenties where my asthma

wasn't so bad. The last 9 years or so have been much worse.

I have seen seven different allergists in my lifetime. The first two

told me I'd grow out of this. I've had at least seven rounds of skin

tests. I " m allergic to dust/mites, molds, grasses, trees, weeds,

some preservative that is used in most cosmetics, various animal

danders, and a couple of other things I've forgotten.

I hope all of you are doing well this week.

Addy