Monday, November 2, 2009

It's Official - I have the Bronchitis


It turns out that it was a good thing I listened to my body ten days ago when it told me to stop running until I'd seen the doctor, because once again, I have the brochitis.  Or asthmatic bronchitis (which is the same, but without the infection).  The doctor wasn't sure.  But he sent me off with antibiotics and an inhaler and instructions not to rest too much because that can bring on the pneumonia. 

Actually, I thought I had the pneumonia because I feel that sick and tired.  I felt a bit jipped by the diagnosis, but for my body and my recovery time, I'm glad not to have it.

Unfortunately though, bronchitis scars your lungs every time you get it.  I've actually lost track of the number of times I've had it, though I know I've had pneumonia four times. That, you don't forget.  I blame the scarring of my lungs for my inability to run fast.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

So while everyone else has the flu or the swine flu, I have the bronchitis.  I actually prefer that over the flu, because at least I can function in my daily life, though I am still so tired that I had to take a nap during my lunch break today.  And unfortunately, the asthma inhaler makes my heart race, so I couldn't really sleep that well because my body felt like it was entering a panic attack.  Fun times.

Needless to say, I'm out of the running game for a while, which is a bummer because I was watching the NYC marathon on Sunday and wishing I could run that fast and for that long.  But I have to be careful about getting back into running once I'm recovered, because not taking bronchitis seriously and working out too soon can push me right into pneumonia.  I know, because I did that once in college.  So it will basically be like coming back from an injury and I'm worried I'll have to start over from scratch. But maybe that's not such a bad thing.  And I think once the wheezing and coughing has died down a bit, I'll really go back to yoga, because re-conditioning my breathing would be a big help.  Right now, it's so much extra work just to breathe, that walking the dog for fifteen minutes makes me lightheaded.  Basically, I plan to take this a day at a time and see how things go!

4 comments:

  1. Aww, I'm sorry, I had that last winter. I can relate, when it's all over you'll be back at it. Take care.

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  2. I stopped running right after thanksgiving cause I get dizzy and light headed, thinking I should start up again before I transform into a coach potato! Did my first 5k this year too! Feel better...

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  3. Hey Lindsay, I don't know you but I follow your blog. I hope you recovered by now and haven't stopped running and blogging???

    Sheila

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  4. I'm so glad you follow my blog, Sheila! I was thinking I owed everyone an update - I definitely have not stopped running or blogging, but it' been tough getting over the bronchitis. I had a lot of bronchitis/pneumonia/asthma as a kid, so it's been a little bit slow to recover, and my breath still catches when I breathe deeply. That being said, I can't WAIT to get back to running, though I'll have to start out slow again. I'm traveling in the next couple of weeks, but towards the end of January/early February, I plan to get back to it and blogging. My sister and I are already talking about doing the Tunnel to Towers 5k in September, and I'm looking at other races too for 2010!

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