I inhaled

So I caved. I couldn't take it any longer. I bought an inhaler. I just can't breathe very well and I've decided to try and mask the symptoms and ignore them altogether. I just hope this won't manifest itself down the road as a different problem requiring a different set of pharmaceuticals, which I will undoubtedly swear by at that point as the end-all, cure-all for all of modern day society's ills. You never know what they put in these drugs to keep you wanting more.

My current drug of choice happens to be Salbutamol. It "is a short-acting β2-adrenergic receptor agonist used for the relief of bronchospasm in conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease." I don't think I have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and I could have asthma, but I think it's just a bunch of hot air. Basically, I think the heat is doing it to me. That combined with a little anxiety and a lot of exhaust. I feel like I'm smoking an exhaust pipe.

What it boils down is that I am suffering from shortness of breath. Otherwise known as dyspnea in the medical world. I am not suffering from shortness of breath upon exertion, which is another thing. Well, who knows, I could be, I'd have to exert myself first to find out. But I figure if I'm having trouble when I'm idle, I'm probably going to have bigger issues once I get moving.

The only time I seem to be free of issues is at night in the comfort of my air-conditioned hotel. And I should say relatively free of issues. I still have the occasional grasp for air that is unfulfilled. I am immediately reminded of the time I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Whatever they put over my face and told me to breathe, whatever that was, I want some now. That was the most blissful breathing I can remember since I left the womb.

My feeling is that my dyspnea is related to the humidity. The air is so sticky, the oxygen must be stuck to it. That is my mental picture of the situation. Add to this some diesel fumes, dehydration, desperation and desire and well, it can only be more difficult to extract the oxygen from the air. If you can call it that.

Air is technically a mixture of gases roughly containing "78.08% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.038% carbon dioxide, trace amounts of other gases, and a variable amount (average around 1%) of water vapor." Thank you Wikipedia. I'm pretty sure there are not just trace amounts of these other gases that I'm breathing. I wonder if that means I'm breathing something else.

I'm not too fond of the headaches I've received from Salbutamol inhalation. I'm hoping I get something else out of it than that. Even if I just get the placebo effect I will be happy with the "results." I just recently thought of a more natural drug that is supposed to enhance relaxation. You would think it would enhance breathing too. I don't necessarily want to be an inhaler, but I think I'd prefer that to having an inhaler. We shall see.