Hey there,
I’m at odds with my ARNP and doctor and I’d love some advice. First off a little bit about me:
Im 38 F. 5 years ago I got a bronchitis and my breathing forever changed. Currently I’m on Breztri. It works some but I need rescues all day. Albuterol does hardly anything.
My PFTs consistently show my fev1/fvc is obstructed with no improvement after albuterol administration. I also do not have any typical asthma markers such as: high eosinophils, IGE, fEno or allergies and I also passed the methocholine test. Yet, I’ve never smoked, been near smoking, no alpha 1 gene. So, my doctors all still label me asthma even tho it’s odd to me bec I clearly have chronic bronchitis in purist terms besides the fact that I don’t have any typical copd risk factors.
I have asked if I can try combivent (albuterol + ipatropium) as my rescue in the humidity bec the only thing that helps me is a nebulizer with ipatropium bromide in the humidity. I have young kids so I was hoping to try combievient as a quicker method of getting the medicine down in my lungs when I’m at parks etc.
My ARNP keeps insisting that’s not right for me bec I have “asthma”. I keep reminding her that I truly have chronic bronchitis. She rolls her eyes and denies me trying any meds I ask about that are more geared towards copd. Even when I remind her that albuterol doesn’t have much effect on me and I simply suffer all day long with shortness of breath, she still refuses. I remind her that I also have ipatropium as neb medication so why can’t I try combivent? She wants me to use that sparingly and feels I’ll abuse combivent.
I swear it’s like these doctors and nurses WANT me to suffer.
What can I do?
Thankyou for your time