i need a beta-2 agonist

i struggled with an asthmatic attack for a couple of hours in the wee hours of tis morning before conceeding to seeing a doctor. for asthmatics like myself, one will guess as much that i shld carry with me an inhaler at all times. i do carry one but it has since expired and i hadnt gone to the doc to get a new one. tis is not like in australia where ventolin or salbutamol or the inhaler is available at the chemist over the counter. in singapore, we need the doc's prescription to get hold of one. and tis availability is bound by the opening hours of your GP or clinic you visit. alternatively, i can get my GP to write me a script and then i buy it from the pharmacy. anyhow, after a whole lot of explanations or excuses (if u think that is :P), i did go to see tis doc whom i see only during emergency or after normal clinic opening hours. the thing is, i was at OH's place in the south (he claims that. i tot its more like the west) and there arent alot of 24hour clinics in the south or west. the nearest is in clementi and upon calling them, we found out that they charge $78 for consultation excluding medications. thats merely $2 shy of SGH's A&E's admission fee at $80. i could have gone to SGH but since i dont consider myself that serious (well, pple do die of asthma. think constriction of airway) and also not to hold up the usually long queue at the A&E. so i said i went to my usual 24hour clinic in the east where i stay (at my parents' place). and we didnt go back to my parents' place after i got myself fixed. i didnt want to alert my parents. and thank God, OH's parents are away on holiday. consultation is $37 (the bill came up to $63 including medications) at tis clinic which is like half of that at clementi. i know we did pay for the cab across the island to the one in the east but i gladly do that. knowing that i'm only paying half jus made me feel better and i know the doc too. i made a mental calculation and it seems that if we've gone to clementi, it wouldnt be that much savings too.

~outside clinic after consultation~

*puff* *puff* wooooh, i almost felt well immediately. seems like someone had lifted a slab of concrete off my chest. on the way in the cab back to OH's place, i could talk normally without grasping air in intervals. and most importantly, i could lie down in bed, catching the last few hours of the morning sleeping before dawn breaks. it was a relief for me. jus imagine holding your full bladder on your bus trip back home and that relief u felt when u emptied it when u got home. perhaps thats a bad example.

if u search under the MOH website, there're only 11 of these clinics scattered ard singapore. there're 4 in the west: pasir panjang ring road, clementi, bukit batok and chua chu kang. can we have one in the south? unless we're expected to go to the A&E dept at SGH? okay, how abt a non-serious 24hr clinic at SGH then?

a better solution for asthmatics like myself is to implement a more flexible but controlled prescribing practice. for the first time at the clinic for your asthma attack, docs could prescribe u your first inhaler and also issue u a card. tis card will have your name and I/C number and the date of tis first inhaler that u were prescribed. subsequently, when u run out of your inhaler (there're 200 sprays in 1 inhaler. with 2 puffs each time, 1 inhaler can last u 100 asthma attacks so to speak), u jus need to present tis card & your I/C (to prove that u're the person on the card since it has no photo on it) to the pharmacist at any guardian (for example), u can get your new inhaler. of course, the pharmacist gotto sign on the card. the purpose of tis card is to identify u as a geniune asthma sufferer and to make things convenient (instead of going to the clinic). i suppose it takes alot more asthma patients and also their voices heard before such a similar system is in place.

now, i need my 2 puffs before retiring to bed. pray that someone comes up with a cure for asthma one day.