Opioids, breathing and antihistamines
Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 6:10 pm
At the doctor's appointment yesterday, she went through every item on the "have you every had" list. I mean EVERY item. I don't think any doc has ever done that.
One that I had checked was wheezing. A few years ago, when doing my daily swim, I found that I couldn't butterfly anymore. I never could do more than a full lap, but I couldn't even get 20 feet before I thought I'd die getting a breath. I was wheezing! I looked it up and saw that chlorine is implicated in exercise induced asthma. Went to the doctor, she agreed it was exercise induced, gave me an inhaler and away I went.
I stopped swimming. I hated the inhaler and how it made me feel. Over time, I noticed that sometimes I'd be wheezing when I got to the top of the stairs. Other times not.
Moss' recent post made me look at the date this problem first started. Indeed, it was shortly after starting the methadone. Huh.
So, when we asked me about the wheezing, I told her what had happened but that I wasn't sure...maybe it was the opioids. She asked if I was taking an antihistamine. I told her many aggravated the RLS so I avoided them. She said that this is the therapy most commonly used for people taking opioids - both an inhaler and an antihistamine.
Fortunately hubby has his own drugstore from all the problems he's had, so I offered me Singulair, Allegra, and Zyrtec. Yesterday I tried a Singulair and then went biking. I had no problems at all. Now, many days I don't have problems, so that isn't definitive. But, I am going to try this over the next week or two and see what happens.
One that I had checked was wheezing. A few years ago, when doing my daily swim, I found that I couldn't butterfly anymore. I never could do more than a full lap, but I couldn't even get 20 feet before I thought I'd die getting a breath. I was wheezing! I looked it up and saw that chlorine is implicated in exercise induced asthma. Went to the doctor, she agreed it was exercise induced, gave me an inhaler and away I went.
I stopped swimming. I hated the inhaler and how it made me feel. Over time, I noticed that sometimes I'd be wheezing when I got to the top of the stairs. Other times not.
Moss' recent post made me look at the date this problem first started. Indeed, it was shortly after starting the methadone. Huh.
So, when we asked me about the wheezing, I told her what had happened but that I wasn't sure...maybe it was the opioids. She asked if I was taking an antihistamine. I told her many aggravated the RLS so I avoided them. She said that this is the therapy most commonly used for people taking opioids - both an inhaler and an antihistamine.
Fortunately hubby has his own drugstore from all the problems he's had, so I offered me Singulair, Allegra, and Zyrtec. Yesterday I tried a Singulair and then went biking. I had no problems at all. Now, many days I don't have problems, so that isn't definitive. But, I am going to try this over the next week or two and see what happens.