italianlifter

Recently for the past 6 months I have been having shortness of breath constantly throughout the whole day until I fall asleep and I could never understand why this started happening to me. One day half way through the day I just started to breathe and then started having to keep constantly take deep breaths to get a "satisfactory" breathe and half the time it does not even work. At first I did not think anything of it so I just kept ignoring it until about a week and a half later I decided to go to the hospital. While in the hospital the Doctor performed a chest x-ray on me which he said came out negative and then did a blood test on me which later came out normal as well. He didn't diagnose me with anything but wanted me to stay in the hospital. Since I had work in the morning I decided not to stay even after the those tests were negative. So I proceeded to try and ignore it but eventually would not go away again so I went to schedule an appointment with a Pulmonary Doctor. The doctor at first did not diagnose me with anything expect just to give me some medications. The medication he prescribed was prednisone which honestly did not do anything to make the symptoms better and also an inhaler which did no affect as well. So I asked the doctor to perform a pulmonary function test on me even though he did not see the reason for it but since its my body I wanted to see if there was some underlying cause of my consist breathing issue. Ill post the results below FEV1: 4.33 Liters FEV1 %: 98% FVC: 4.94 Liters FEV1/FVC: 88% TLC: 6.18 Liters TLC %: 88% RV: 0.92 Liters RV/TLC: 15% DLCO/VA: 6.25 Liters When the doctor performed this test my stats were as follows Age: 22 Height: 5'10 Weight: 164lbs Sex: Male Now Im 23 years old and not sure if my PFT could have been decrease a lot by now. I was wondering if anyone who knows how to read PFT can explain my results to me since my doctor did not explain to me. I should also probably mention that I'm not a smoker and my parents are not smokers but I have been around second hand smoke throughout my life due to other family members and cousins. Im also around it now since I am a firefighter currently and also dealing with all these exhaust fumes coming from the engines. Just recently for the past month my nose has been getting really stuffy and I been getting what sounds like wheezing coming through the nose but not the mouth. I have had a very very very minor cough for the past week. Just been having minor pains throughout the ribs and my stomach always feels bloated like my diaphragm is not working right. Its very weird to explain. No lung diseases run in my family but heart disease does. I honestly hope I am not developing early COPD. I did have a Alpha 1 test which came back negative as well. I do have a video of the nose sound but not sure how to upload that. If anyone can give any suggestions of what they would do or what they think please don't shy and Im sorry if this was a bad website to post this. Just wasn't sure where else to go before thinking about seeing a doctor again since apparently they just shrug me off as nothing. I also take fitness very seriously and do workout a lot and I am able to complete my workouts but some days I get more out of breath then others but it doesn't prevent me from finishing the workouts. Thanks to anyone who read all this and responds.

I'm planning on starting Nursing school very soon and my ultimate goal is to become a NP until just recently heard that this field will be required to have your doctorate instead of your masters. Can anyone tell me if this is true or not.. Thanks

Hello Studentnurse365, Thank you for your post and giving me your advice which is greatly appreciated. I would like to first say to everyone that has recently posted something, my intentions when I first started this thread was to just get an idea of what would be my best option while receiving great advice for experienced medical personal. Felt at the beginning that it started off bad but then eventually everything calmed down and everyone was giving great advice and working with me which I felt was heartwarming and honestly I received more then I should of and I cant begin to thank everyone here. Just recently there have been a couple post that just seemed unnecessary due to that fact that it started to turn into an argument with people on this thread and honestly I don't want it to come down to that and would like everyone to try and get along and I don't wanna sound rude when I say this but if you can't post anything nice then you do not have to post anything in the first place. I understand everyone means well and wanna give there advice but all I ask is that when you do be mature about it cause not everyone will agree with each other, thats why this thread was made to listen to everyones opinions. Now that I said all that I would like to respond, firstly the ADN route might be the cheapest route and I can totally understand your advice and what you are coming from but I would also like to mention that if I do decide to go the PA route which sounds more along the lines of my career field I might as well just get my Bachelors and hopefully get into a PA school even though it is very competitive. The only thing I am concerned about with the PA school is not getting in and then kinda feeling lost at that point. I'm not saying that NP is a lot easier or a better route by any means but what I am going to say is at least when I become a BSN and decide to to become a NP, I can at least get into the school and have a chance of passing the school. Its hard to choose between the two careers though and what is truly stressing me out is the new semester for school starts in October and I have a little less then a month to make my decision so I can start to sign up for school. I understand Im the only one who can make my own decision and no one else can but thats why I started this thread, just to hear everyones advice. Worse case scenario I can always join the military after I receive my degree but we will see.

Hello Guttercat, See the reason why I keep switching back and forth is cause I keep reading about the requirements about becoming a PA and how tough it is just to get into the school. Stuff like that really scares me cause I hear people talking about have better then the minimum requirements and still not getting accepted in and Im not going to sit here and tell you I'm the smartest guy out there cause I am far from that but what I can say is that I am a hard worker and I am willing to work for something. I am just nervous that I will not get accepted into PA school no matter how well I do. Sorry for the sob story.

Hello cleback, Thank you for responding to my post and giving me your advice which is appreciated just like everyone else are. I would like for you and everyone else who has respectively responded to my post understand that for right now I am currently pondering on to get my bachelor degree in nursing so I will have a bachelor degree and then get my experience and while getting my experience and hours, hopefully meet all the requirements to get into a PA school like EMORY would be a choice if possible right now. I believe they are really expensive but for right now they are the only PA school I can find here in Georgia but I will keep looking. From what I understand PA schools don't require a specific bachelor degree but just require a bachelor degree in something and I believe a nursing degree would be a great fit/start for my medical career especially being an AEMT right now.

Hello Loriangel14, Thank you for your kind response and I wouldn't say I dislike the patient care per say but I throughly enjoy the doctor aspect of diagnosing patients but I also don't want to be in school for 12 plus years. Yes that sounds lazy and pathetic but I'm not here to lie to anyone cause I would be doing you all a dishonor and I'm not like that. I'm throughly thinking about going the PA route cause I believe this will be my only option for a field I can enjoy after 6 years of schooling. I just need to go an shadow a PA to fully understand it better.

Hello Beenthere2012, From what I have been reading from you is all about physcial thearpy which is not a problem with me by any means. The only thing about sports medicine is becoming a doctor. I'm not trying to sound rude when I say this but I just can't see myself doing just about 12 years of schooling or more to become a sports medicine doctor. Yes of course it is a very intriguing field to me and I would not mind doing it in the slightest, it's just the amount of schooling that it requires. Not sure if I want to be in school for that long and I really hope I do not sound lazy cause those are not my intentions by any means. Also the physcial thearpy was once thought about but I am not quite sure I still wanna do physcial thearpy. I'm not saying it's not a rewarding career or a waste a time cause it is most definitely a good career but I'm not sure if it is worth it to me. Not trying to sound rude but I have been hearing that majority of places require atleast a doctorate in that field.

Hello Libby1987, Thank you for your advice and yes I am most likely going to accept the route of becoming a nurse since I believe that will be the most efficient route for me. It seems that it will accommodate my fitness schedule fairly well while still being able to enjoy my healthcare job. I know sometimes its hard to find something in the world that has the best of both worlds but I believe the nursing comes close to it. Thanks for your advice and honestly its sad to think about how the younger generation today is become more sick with chronic illness then we as people are used too.

Hello StudentNurse365, I can't begin to tell you how insightful your post was because it not only made me rethink my degree route but most likely helped me choose my path cause from what I understand a PA works under a doctors scope while a NP is more free. In my eyes that seems more like the job for me since I do not want to have to worry about working under someone to the point that every little thing I do might be wrong while I understand a NP still works under a doctor, I believe they have more freedom compared to a PA (correct me if I am wrong.) Honestly when I said i did not want to deal with the poop,pee and baths was because I felt like thats all nurses did and yes that was very naive of me but I am glad I had some great posts here explain thats not all nurses do. Of course it will suck like you said dealing with it but at least some point down my career I can advance and hopefully not deal with it as much. My question for you would be do you recommended me just getting my associates in nursing first and find a job at a hospital and look into some scholarship programs they might have that could possibly help me reach my secondary goal of getting my bachelors in nursing? Also can you please explain to me what would be the difference between 2 year nurse vs a 4 year nurse? Im planning on hopefully attending Gordon State College here in Georgia for my Associates in Nursing cause I think it will be the cheapest route. Correct me if I am wrong but wouldn't the cheaper route be to become a NP other then a PA and no I am not looking to find the easy way out, Im just trying to compare the two. Thanks!!

Hello BonnieSc, Thank you for your kind advice cause it is appreciated. I have been looking into the PA and have been considering it especially since I have a cousin who is actually in PA school right now. His father is a doctor and he decided to go the PA route since he did not want to go to medical school to be a doctor and do that much schooling. Yes it sounds lazy but I think it is more along the lines of wanting to start his career rather then staying in school for so long. I am actually planning on shadowing a PA this week. I am more then excited to go and shadow one to see if I am going to enjoy this career before I make a commitment into the schooling. I actually torn between PA or CRNA since both careers look very rewarding. Honestly just posting that paragraph means the world to me cause every since I posted this thread, I felt like I was being targeted as an arrogant young adult who does not know anything but here you are understanding where I am coming from and how my concerns are legit concerns (That means a lot to me.)

Hello Extra Pickles, Thank you for responding to my poster and I would like to first off by saying that yes if anyone would to read my username then they would assume exactly what you are assuming but that goes back to the old saying "Never Judge a book by its cover." I understand that my name does not indicate nursing by any means but no offense your name in my view does not as well but I am not judging you cause by your post you seem like a very well educated individual. I understand that nursing school would take up majority of my time if not all of it and even though it would suck to give up my gym time, I would be more then okay with giving it up cause it will be for my future and I believe anyone would be okay with that. Higher education is without a doubt an investment and I agree with you on that. I believe what is holding me back and making me so nervous to attend a college is the question always popping up in my head.. "Is college worth it" cause this question is being asked constantly in todays world and everyone has mixed views on it with both sides having great ideas. You are absolutely right that I have been having people dictate my career path for me and that is very unhealthy cause I'm investing in myself and not them. I guess just seeing two doctors in my family who are struggling with loads of debt still just freaks me out is all. Again thank you for posting your advice cause it is appreciated it and I will without a doubt take it into consideration.

Hello again llg, Thank you for understanding my concern and not blowing me off thinking I'm just talking about nonsense. All my concern with debt has led me to think about joining the military to help pay for college and I know people are going to say that I would be joining for the wrong reasons. You are right about being smart with college finances. I believe what made me scared was researching online about a field I would be interested in and seeing all the members talk about how much debt they are in. As I am currently working full-time at a fire department I do have the benefit of taking online classes which I believe would be a benefit. The only thing that is bothering me and I don't wanna sound like a soap box is the stress I have accumulative as a 22 year old. Just recently we have my uncle who is staying with us now at my parents house who we need to take care of cause of the nursing home he was previously at was not treating him up to par. I'm a 22 year old still living at home with his parents who feels like a bum. You know I wanna move out really bad but the only way I would be able to afford to live on my own would to find a second job but I am nervous that this will be a big inconvenience for when I start school. Ive never thought about starting out really low and then moving up to my goal through an employee reimbursant program which sounds like a great ides cause I can always look into a community college here in Georgia that will require far less money to start I understand that my passion is truly fitness and it would so wise to find something in fitness but at the same time from what I have been researching, it just does not seem like a wise decision. I don't want you believing that i dislike health care because I do not. I throughly enjoy the health care setting and helping patients.

Hello lLG, I greatly appreciate you believing me and giving me good advice. I can honestly say that my main concern is truly the debt cause I would like to believe that it is anyone's concern. I really appreciate your advice and will most certainly look into everything you have posted. I'm planning on tommorrow going to my local hospital to shadow a PA and a physcial Thearpist. I will keep looking into the fitness industry but as of right now I cannot really find a degree/career that truly interset me other then opening up a gym but that is a dime in a dozen.

Hello again ItsthatJenGirl. Honestly I would like to believe that I have been fairly nice so far and came here just honestly looking for some advice but so far I have been getting nothing but sarcasm from you which I believe is just disrespectful. Honestly if you don't have any good advice then why are you commenting? I'm not forcing you to comment at all on my post but it seems like whatever I have said really annoyed you and I apologize for that cause those were not my intentions.

Hello Itsthatjengirl. With all due respect my whole point of becoming a nurse is to not become a paramedic. I don't wanna be a paramedic and I do not wanna be in the fire service anymore. I hate it honestly and everyday I get sick coming into work breathing in all this dust and crap. It's hurting my lungs and 20 years from now I can see myself with lung cancer and I just don't want that for me. I want a rewarding career and that's why I was looking into nurse.