Terrie I'm sending vibes over to you take care.

Hi, Brigitte. Thanks for writing. Breathing out isn't the problem right now, it's breathing in. I feel like I'm going to choke when I try to inhale. So I take the nebulizer with Albuteral, then follow that with 2 puffs of the inhaled steroid. Then I eat, take 60 mgs of oral steroid pills, and today I'll go in for my 2nd shot of steroid into my hip. I still think IV is faster and better, but... well...

My dad died of COPD-emphysema 2-1/2 years ago (tomorrow I do his Dia de Los Muertos alter, as I do every year). It was horrible watching him die a slow death. For him, the issue was being able to get rid of the CO2 build-up, the exhaling. While he could exhale physically, his lungs were no longer able to remove the CO2 from his body and he felt like he was suffocating from having too much CO2 left in his lungs.

My youngest son Michael is an asthmatic and has been hospitalized (way too) many times in his young (almost 13) life. His problem is exhaling air at all. These kids can die from their lungs exploding, literally! It's happened to 2 kids that I know of already. That's terrifying, too.

So now I have inhalers, nebulizers, pills, shots, cough medicine, antibiotic, decongestant, and all of my heart medications... I'm only 53 but with all these meds, it's overwhelming all of a sudden.

I hope my story can help at least one person here, or somewhere. I know I never listened... while my dad was dying, he and I would light up our cigs. He'd tell me to quit. I'd laugh and say, "why bother" at this point? Six days later I had that first heart attack!

Sorry, I'm preaching again and I really don't want to come off like that. Dad didn't quit until the day before he died! Marian (my step-mom) is still smoking, after burying TWO husbands from COPD. It's a terribly difficult habit (addiction) to deal with. No blame to those who can't manage to quit, just best wishes to those as you begin to make the attempt!

Terrie, I got the pm on Sept. 14...if you sent one since then, I never got it.
I'm glad I never started smoking; when I was a kid, whenever we went anywhere, my folks would drive us around with the windows rolled UP...while they were chain smoking. It was great aversion therapy...I never wanted ANYTHING to do with smoking. I especially hated having my clothing and hair smelling like their cigarettes.
My mom and dad quit together cold turkey in 1977...it was a welcome relief. They didn't like it when they'd visit and need an ashtray and I'd be digging some groady cat food can out of the trash...for them to use out on the porch.
My mother in law started smoking at age 15...she smoked for 27 years, and quit when a lung collapsed during some surgery in 1968. She was diagnosed with asthma in 1998, which kept getting worse...and then was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2005. We lost her at the end of January in 2006. The last nine months of her life were rough...she was on oxygen full time, and got a little worse every day. The last couple of months, we were flying in every other week to see her and helped to clean out her apartment after she went into hospice care. And we wished she had never picked up a cigarette.

Sue, my kids are just like you were... they never allowed me to smoke in their cars, they hated the smell, and I, being the heavy smoker, couldn't smell it! I had NO idea what they were talking about... until after I quit and I had to walk through the smokers' group outside the door to one of my college classes and it smelled horrible. Eventually I could tell a smoker the second s/he walked into the classroom.

I remember what you went through with your MIL... that was just right after my father died. It's really hard knowing when it happens "to other people," and then it happens to you.

I feel so bad right now for Judy. She, like me, wasn't there when he passed. That's hard too.

I started smoking when I was 13, bit by bit it got more. When I was in my late 20's I smoked up to 2 packs a day, even though I was always sick with my bronchial system from being a small child on (my parents both smoked). Finally I got a real bad bronchitis with very high fever for about 2 weeks, still tried to smoke but couldn't. That was the start to stop slowly, I started smoking cigarillos which I couldn't inhale, got down to 4 cigarettes/cigarillos a day and quit when I became pregnant. So for 18 years I am not smoking at all, but the result of the smoking and the allergies I have was Asthma. Fortunately it is under control and doesn't limit me too much, but it can get acute anytime when having an infection or having lots of personal trouble.
I know the feeling of asthma attacks and having difficulties to breath. It is very scary and causes me great fear.
I am sending my healing vibes to you (((((((((((((((Terrie )))))))))))))))with wishes for a fast recovery.

I know it’s difficult to stop smoking. I’ve never smoked but I have several friends and colleagues who have. They realized it was dangerous for them and their children or others. They often tried to stop but they couldn’t , there was always someone with a cigarette all around them, at the office, restaurant …..
Since the last anti-tobacco campaign (and a new law), most of them stopped because they have no temptation, and no-smokers better understand how it’s difficult for them, and now they have more help than before.
I hope ,Terrie, you're feeling better , best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I hope you're feeling better, Terrie. I'm hoping you're more comfortable soon!

Hope you're doing better. More pryers & vibes sent your way. I'm so glad I never had the desire to smoke. I am allergic to it now so when we eat out we sit in non-smoking...

It is very difficult to quit smoking.

I am looking into chantrex (sp?).

How does chanting rex help??

More jello levity anyone?

Terrie, hope you feel better soon. I've get a touch of asthma when around wood dust from sanding and it's no fun at all. I was a smoker for the longest time. I was down to low tar & nicotine cigs and still couldn't stop. Then I got a really bad case of the flu and was out of work for almost a week. I figured that it was a good time to stop. I kept telling myself that it was the flu and not the withdrawls that was making me feel so crappy. I also had unlit cigs that I "puffed" on and a cheapo corn cob pipe (unlit as well). About two weeks on, I had no more craving. In fact, I lit one up about two months after I quit to test a smoke detector and was totally grossed out by the thing. I'm not suggesting that anyone get sick to stop smoking but, if you do get sick, it may be a good time to give it a go.

I hear you just say:

REX
REX
REX
REX