Please help. Gasping for air at night.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That's a new one on me that adults using asthma inhalers eventually die from asthma. Asthma is a chronic condition that you will likely receive treatment for all the rest of your life. That includes old age where it becomes a factor and your health worsens and disease has a greater effect on top of it. Asthma is likely only an added complication.

Given the high number of asthma sufferers, if it were true then we would have some serious health worries.

Asthma is something that can be well controlled, people run marathons with it these days!

I suspect you have read about severe asthma, which is a very different thing to what the majority of us deal with.

Asthma inhalers tend to be steroidal and reduce inflammation. This means they also get used to treat allergies and may even be used in cases were lung function is impacted in other issues. That doesn't mean the person has asthma and I suspect this is what you are receiving since as asthma diagnosis is relatively easy these days.

I was diagnosed as a child. They had me take a peak flow reading and then run around the surgery about ten times then take another. They don't do that any more for very obvious reasons as the nurse at my last asthma clinic check up laughed about.

[Catherine S]

Hi, to answer your question about what the test involves, I had a test for asthma in 2015, which involved blowing really hard into a nebulizer type of machine that measures lung function while the nurse counted to a certain number. Then she showed me how to use a puffer spray after which my lung function was measured again. I had to do this several times and she noted the before and after numbers and after the test she was able to tell me that I didn't have asthma. The complete test took about 45 mins. Hope that helps.

ISB ☺

[meant2live]

MyNameisTerry: It's just that I've read that on multiple explainations of adult onset asthma, plus the box on my daily inhaler. It really scared me when I read it, but I also did wonder if they meant elderly patients.

To be honest, I can't tell if either inhaler is helping me. It's difficult for me to tell the difference between shortnessbof breath from asthma vs anxiety.

I haven't had the stridor since I started the daily inhaler, though.

My issue now is that I've got itchiness, like an allergic reaction, one week into taking it. I'm seeing my allergist tomorrow and I'm worried that, a. He'll tell me to stop the daily inhaler and my breathing will get worse or b. He will have me continue and I'll have a severe reaction like anaphylaxis. That's a big fear of mine.

[meant2live]

Hello,

I’m opening up this old thread of mine because the symptoms have returned twice this week.

To give an update, Ive kind of accepted the fact that I have asthma. I’m not on a daily inhaler and I have the emergency inhaler, as needed. I also take singulair at night and an allergy pill during the day.

Now, as far as the choking feeling, I’ve had to happen to me twice this week. Something that I failed to explain in the posts before is that I’ve had the “waking up choking” feeling for many years now, but it’s always been very random and spaced out, so I never really brought it up with a doctor. I’ve always put it down to stress.

Back to this week: I have a cold and I’m also stressed about a possible new job. Yesterday and this morning, I was abruptly jolted awake and realized I couldn’t breathe. When I would try to breathe, it was like the air just wouldn’t go down my throat. I make this awful gasping/croaking noise until the air comes in.

Yesterday, I think I reached for watcher and everything opened up. This morning, I pushed air out of my throat and then it opened up.

It could be because of the cold and it’s awful post nasal drip or it could be from stress. I really don’t know.

What scares me is the possibility of sleep apnea. I believe my brother has it and my father may have it as well. I know my brother was tested, but I think he is having issues wearing the mask at night. For my dad, I think his doctor mentioned that he should be tested.

I am overweight. It’s somethng that I’m trying to work on by being more consistent with my gym visits and with eating better. I haven’t been to the gym lately because I had a breast cancer scare (see other thread) and because of this I cold (asthma may act up).

I really don’t want to bring this up to my doctor, but it terrifies me every time. The first time I met this doctor, he made a comment about how I had been “tested more than anyone in this office.” So, if course, I feel like an idiot to add some new symptom into the mix. My health was pretty much great before, but in the last two years or so, it’s been one new thing after another. Some of it has been anxiety-related, but some of it has been diagnosed conditions like asthma and orthostatic hypotension.

I guess I’m just wondering if you all think it’s the post nasal drip and that I should wait until the next appointment (later this month) to bring it up, or if I should try to get in sooner? If it is the cold, I’m hoping it will have gone away by that time.