I've been quite lax in posting since I got here, between trying to get settled in and not getting online outside of work for very long or very often. And also, because there are some things I didn't entirely know how to address here.

About two weeks ago, I went to medical again about that whole breathing problem thing. I'd had a bit of trouble again when I got here (not much while I was home, but (a) I wasn't doing very much to get my heart rate up there, and (2) it was significantly cooler and less humid there, which may be the bigger factor perhaps). And then that Thursday morning, we had command-wide PT and I didn't make it through without gasping for air and sitting out the rest of the session. Which is not a good impression on my first time PTing with the command.

So, I went to medical, and I had a civilian doctor contractor see me, which was excellent. And he did another Sporometer (or however that's spelled), and wasn't as happy with the results as the doctor in MS had been. Nor as complacent about the abnormal EKG results I had there.

Currently, the diagnosis is Reactive Airway Disease, which is an asthma-like condition (sometimes leading to regular asthma, too, according to my doctor) and in my case apparently my airways are reacting mostly to humidity and also to most forms of exercise. Which makes Navy life, and that in FL, particularly difficult. However, comma, He prescribed me an inhaler and I've been using it since, and sometimes it seems to help. He doesn't want to put me on the cartosteroid (again, sp?) inhalers just yet, since use of such things in females can lead to more physical difficulty later in life, including potentially increased risk of osteoperosis. Way I figure it, though, if it would make it more likely that I survive these years comfortably, it may be worth the risk.

Depending on how I do at command PT tomorrow, we may be pursuing a different diagnosis. This weekend, since I was outdoors almost the entire time, I used my inhaler twice a day or more and it mostly helped. Sunday mid-afternoon I had a pretty bad attack that the inhaler just didn't work for, of the mild-appearing-to-an-outsider variety, but I leaned against a guy friend at the concert there and tried to match his breathing. That helped a lot, and it eventually cleared up.

And I'm still tired all the time. I think I sleep well enough when I do sleep, which is every night for about 8 or 9 hours and then every day after work for another hour or two or sometimes more.. but I never feel refreshed. May be the breathing thing, though.

Those are some of the things I wasn't really sure how to approach here. Despite the heavy percentage of health-related blogs, I don't actually LIKE blogging about it, mostly because it's all so unknown, and in my blog history has perhaps been a little hypocondriac-sounding. It's just frustrating when you don't know what's wrong or how to make it better. As so many people experience with much, much worse symptoms than mine.

Ah, well. On to bigger and better things.