After taking my Advair, I started feeling really chilled, shakey, short of breath, and light-headed. My rescue inhaler does give me the shakes from time to time but this was extreme. I called the clinic and they said they could get me in at 2:45. I told them I needed to see someone sooner and she said to come down to the ER. The attending physician (thankfully) had some spare time so he saw me at the clinic instead (which saved me $30 of co-pay). It took him all of 3 minutes to diagnose me with a bad sinus infection which I’ve apparently had for two months. (This would explain me sleeping 13 hours a day.) He also ordered bloodwork (confirmed the infection), a chest x-ray (get a baseline and make sure I don’t have any bronchitis), and a pulmonary output reading (baseline and also to see if the nebulizer helped).
The diagonosis: a sinus infection and a reaction to one of the meds in the Advair. He replaced the Advair with Flowvent, which I know that I’m not going to react with and he gave me some Zithromax to get rid of the sinus infection. (I hate Zithromax because it rips up my stomach but it’s one of the better ones that they can give me that won’t give me massive panic attacks.) He also gave me some Singulair to see if a maintenance med will help and he got me more of the nosespray they gave me for allergies.
So why the “medical stupidity” in the subject line? This visit would not have been necessary if the doctor I saw last week had paid attention and not just thrown pills at me. She didn’t check my face, barely checked my breathing (it was the nurse who gave me a peak flow and the doctor just said it was normal, which means nothing because my peakflows are higher than average). She also didn’t see if I was reactive to any of the meds in the Advair (I’d had both before one had made me vomit).
Jon taught my Confirmandi tonight and I got to chill with my O.C’s (Original Cats — my boys) and correct faith statements. My kids (or at least those who have turned theirs in) have written some really excellent and profound things. Their insights on living a Christian life are better than the ones I’ve heard from some adults! I think they enjoyed having Jon teach — he’s a little more laidback than me and he told them stories about growing up as a PK.
I know this is an old post, but oh well. I haven’t been here in a while!
I’ve had several experiences like this one, I’m sorry you were so miserable. If the doctors would listen to me when I say “I have a history of sinus infections quickly impairing my breathing and causing bronchitis” I would have saved three trips to the ER in Illinois alone, and one down here.
When I got to the ER here a few months ago my pulse ox was 89. After resting for a few hours, it crept up to 92, but I was still working hard to keep it there. The doctor came in, asked me how I was feeling, said I looked good, and said I could go home. Luckily Duane was aggressive enough to demand a breathing treatment. When the RT came in he said “Goodness, you’re sucking the paint off the walls!” The doctor had looked at the “92” and thought I was fine.
Z-packs tear me up, too. I wonder what it is about them?? They are convenient, but the pain on the first day with the double dose is almost unbearable.
Asthma is a pain in the tuckus.
I think the problem is that most GP’s are trained in a little of everything so they can’t really spot anything other than extreme problems. My PA has asthma so he knows what to look for.