Lungpire

[shanmonster]

After 2 and a half hours spent waiting in emergency yesterday, I was finally put on a ventolin vapour mask. The stuff tastes something like nasty chalk dust. I was on the mask for about half an hour. By the end, I was so weak that holding my book was taking almost all of my strength. That ventolin shit gave me some really bizarre physical sensations. Although it didn't feel like my heart was racing, my heart rate was significantly elevated. You know how your fingers will tingle if they're regaining circulation? Magnify that by a hundred or so, and that's what mine felt like. They were buzzing as though electrocuted, and the sensation spread to other body parts, including my chin, my thighs, and my feet. I kept having little muscular twitches along the sides of my abdomen. And I was also getting really, really spacey.

When the mask ride was through, a respiration specialist came by to check my lung capacity. He wanted me to sit up, so I forced myself upright, then sagged down onto one arm. He said I needed to sit upright without leaning, and I struggled to do just that. Sitting up just once was about as tiring as doing a 400th push-up.

The odd thing is, my lung capacity test, administered both before and after the ventolin mask, came out with excellent results. I was asked if I still felt short of breath, and that's a question that confused me. I could breathe in and out just fine, but felt like the oxygen wasn't actually doing much while it was in my lungs. Is that what they mean by short of breath? I thought short of breath is that feeling you have after sprinting full speed for an extended period of time, where you're breathing fast and hard and can't get enough air to appease your tortured lungs. Anyhow, I didn't feel like that at all on the onset, although after the ventolin, exhaling took more effort than it had prior. I can't say I felt any better, although my coughing had eased somewhat.

So my lungs are "excellent," yet the doctor felt it necessary to prescribe two steroids to strengthen my lungs. Maybe that will help.

No one addressed my sudden laryngitis. It remains inexplicable to me. I don't have a sore throat or a cold. I was asked if I had seasonal allergies, but I doubt this. My eyes are never red and swollen, and my sinuses don't bother me during pollen season.

After 3.5 hours, I was allowed to leave. By that time, much of the shakiness had worn off, partially due to the ventolin wearing off, and partially due to my conscientious efforts to slow my pulse rate (this is a process I use whenever doing strenuous physical activity, too).

But last night, my lungs were seizing up on me again, and I had to take my puffer. I was also rather exhausted, and begged off on kung fu.

If my lungs are so excellent, how come breathing is so uneconomical/difficult, and how come my voice is still gone? And how do I get an effective workout while I'm in the throes of this respiratory hell? Gah.

....

I went to the library the other day to gather more information on Elisabet Bathory, but was stymied. There's a real dearth of material on her. The book I read in my undergrad years (Raymond T. McNally's sensationally-titled Dracula Was a Woman) has been out of print for quite some time, but if I'm lucky, I might be able to get it on an interlibrary loan.

The only book available at the library is in Hungarian, and is a translation of an English novel. I don't read Hungarian. And although novels interest me, I'm more interested in nonfiction.

Besides, I think I've already read Andrei Codrescu's The Blood Countess.

Other Bathory-themed books include:

The Trouble with the Pears: An intimate portrait of Erzsebet Bathory by Gia Bathory Al Babel (Can you believe that name?)
The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory by Valentine Penrose
Countess Dracula by Tony Thorne
The Blood Countess, Erzebet Bathory of Hungary: A Gothic Horror Poem of Violence and Rage by Robert Peters

After a bit of online research, I was able to locate a couple sites of interest:

The Crime Library's take on Elisabeth Bathory: Interesting introduction, but not exactly the best documented information. This doesn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

Elizabeth Bathory: The Opera: Although the author claims not to be a historical authority on Elisabet, this site contains some illuminating photos of her castle and the view she would have had from her prison cell, and it also discusses a few details I haven't seen elsewhere. I'd love to see the opera, too!

Did you know Elisabet Bathory kept diaries? Purportedly, she wrote about everything she did, and everyone she killed in them. These diaries have never been published. What the hell? How can this be?

And on a tangential note, I've also found some interesting sites on Vlad Tepes/Dracula, some of which makes mention of the Blood Countess.

Journal of Dracula Studies: Lots of scholarly articles. I have a lot of reading ahead of me.

Transylvanian Society of Dracula Canadian Chapter: As run by Dr. Elizabeth Miller, who "is recognized internationally for her expertise on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula – its origins in folklore, literature and history, as well as its influence on the cultrue (sic) of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries." I see she will be giving a lecture in Toronto this fall, and have fired off an email asking for more information. I'd like to attend!

.....

Link time.

Heat halts pain inside the body: Hmm. I wonder if this actually helps me any. I've never noticed using a hot water bottle helped ease my cramps, and hot baths may feel good to me, but I can't say they've ever reduced pain. Then again, I suspect my pain receptors act in very different ways than other people's (thanks, f00dave).

City of Seattle may ban microwave popcorn: I guess every city needs a ridiculous law. What crazy laws does your city have?

The Coin Bra: A Tutorial: How to make a tribal dance bra.

No One Will Walk - All Will Have Wheels: The Segway isn't really all that new. It was conceptualized as early as 1900.

Tragedy & Hype: The Third International Soy Symposium: Soy is not a health food (thanks, sarcasm_hime).

Comments

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

Speaking from personal experience, you may want to go in for a physical. Mine was an extreme case, but I experienced similar "lung seizure" symptoms several years ago, and it wound up actually being a symptom that something else was wrong. My lungs and heart were in excellent condition. They were reacting to another problem.

I don't want to go into specifics because, as I said, mine was an extreme case, but I thought it might be worth a mention that sometimes the body's symptoms act in a cascading fashion as opposed to a "what's hurting is what's wrong" way.

Message me if you would like more clarifying details.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to check and see if a physical will be covered by my medical insurance, because there's no way I can afford one right now. I'd really like to get one, anyhow. It seems to me that a yearly physical exam should be par for the course, but apparently doctors don't do them anymore without special dispensation, and they cost heaps of cash.

I have an appointment with some respiratory specialists in 2 weeks. Perhaps they can find out what's wrong.

[patchworkmind.livejournal.com]

Good luck with it. :)

[morty-baby.livejournal.com]

Also, have you been checked for anemia? I have severe anemia, which means lacking in red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the organs including the lungs and when it is really bad, I am as weak as a kitten and walking even a small distance up a slight incline will get my heart racing and me literally gasping for breath because my body is not getting enough oxygen. I ignored it until I was forced to go to the dr by the S/A and I was told to go to emerg *right then* to get a blood transfusion. (I stubbornly didn't because it was a Friday night by the time the tests came back and the instructions given me and I didn't want to sit in the ER for 5 or more hours but supposedly I could have died)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I've had blood work done in the past, and no mention was ever made of me being anemic. I've always been told my bloodwork was normal.

But something is wrong, and I'd like to know what. This pain in the lungs is a pain in the ass.

[zombienought.livejournal.com]

I was just on the phone with a friend
of mine (because I thought laryngitis
would make for a pretty one-sided con-
versation) who has asthma, and she said
she has recently learned that fast-
acting inhalers actually can cause a
buildup of scartissue in the lungs
that reduce lung capacity.

I don't know if you knew that, but
there's my tidbit for today.

Also, when did your laryngitis start?
Before or after your trip to the hos-
pital?

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Apparently, I'm in that group of asthmatics who are more prone to kicking it: mild to moderate asthma with a tendency to avoid taking medication as long as possible.

My puffer usage has been pretty heavy over the last week, but until the last year or so, I typically take my puffer maybe a couple of dozen times a year.

I woke up with the laryngitis, and went to the hospital with it in full effect. My voice normalized for a bit today, but now I'm all hoarse again.

[zombienought.livejournal.com]

How reliable is that Weston A Price Foundation,
and the article about soy? It felt a bit ve-
hement and spun, at times.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Not sure. The references in the bibliography looked pretty solid, if a bit dated, though.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

Not sure. The references in the bibliography looked pretty solid, if a bit dated, though.

[kiera-oona.livejournal.com]

My boyfriend has asthema too. I'm not used to living with anyone who is asthematic, so i get freaked out when he starts wheezing.

on the elizabeth bathory, there was a decent article on her in an old issue a few years back from Renaissance Magazine. If you want a copy of the article i would be happy to scan it in and send it to you

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I don't wheeze a whole lot. Mostly I cough or feel my lungs tightening up. It's a little different for each asthmatic, I guess.

That would be swell if you could scan the article for me! Yay!

[kiera-oona.livejournal.com]

just give me till monday to do so. (city of villians double xp weekend)

[kiera-oona.livejournal.com]

crap!!! i cant find the magazine. i will keep looking (maybe if i clean my appartment the solution will present itself)

[suzycat.livejournal.com]

Yeargh. I hope you can get this sorted out.

I have, or had, extremely mild asthma. I haven't had an attack in years and have no idea why.

I also have no idea why Elisabeth Bathory's diaries wouldn't have been published unless they are semi-mythical/were destroyed. Perhaps someone burned them because they thought they were so EEEvil?