I got asthma. It only really affects me at night when I'm asleep. Basically when I breathe in cool or moving air (think a fan) I have an attack. My medicine only works when I'm awake. When I fall back asleep I have an attack again.
During winter and summer I don't sleep well. Goes for many nights in spring and fall. During these times I sleep 2-4 hours a night on good nights. Don't sleep for nights on bad nights. I can't express the damage this causes. Falling asleep while driving or at bus stops or any other place you shouldn't. What it does to your mood. Your appetite, sex drive, blah blah. It's fucking nothing like Fight Club.
The worst thing is when I get sick. My sleep drops to something like an hour or two a night. And I cough like crazy. It's very loud, painful, and uncontrollable. The coughing closes up my airways even more to the point that the medicine doesn't work that well when awake. It gets to the point that I am afraid of dying. Your body seems to get into this natural fear mode when you aren't getting enough air. I hate the feeling.
I've tried quite a bit of medication and have yet to find something that works. The current game plan is to
Get fit. There's some evidence that asthma symptoms decrease or go away when you lose weight.
Trying to get a hold of foreign made drugs. Some are no longer made anymore in the US. I might as well try them.
Try a surgery for asthma. It's $15,000-20,000 and called bronchial thermoplasty. I'll probably get it done in Mexico to save on $.
There's a drug called omalizumab (Xolair) that might work. I kind of calculated how much it would cost a year without insurance. Something like $22000 a year.
Try to get involved in a clinical trial of a new drug I read about. If I can't get I'm going to try and get it made illegally. Not going to go into details on that.
If none of these things work I'm going to off myself.
This is the main problem anyways. I'm also bipolar, terrified of people, ADHD Inattentive, poor, and obese.
Oh yeah again. How I breathe during summer. I closed the vent and taped over it to keep out most of the cold air. No fans for me. So I'm spending the summer evenings in Phoenix in a hot box room.
I don't know how to tell anyone all of this so I never do. I don't really want to have friends until I'm better. I don't see the point. I don't even really drink because I'm afraid I'll pass out, choke, and die.
Disclaimer: No I do not have sleep apnea. To an extent I do but I deal with it via pillow positioning and sleeping on the side with a body pillow.