Do inhalers work for anxiety breathing?

[Orange Lightning]

I really, really, really don't want asthma as well as LPR; it's the end of my chances of getting my dream career if this turns out to be true. At the same time, I can't deny Ventolin helps me (lack of sleep and showers make me worse)! Can asthma inhalers help people who don't have asthma?

Also when hyperventilating, do you HAVE to have a racing heart/pins and needles?

[MyNameIsTerry]

Reliever inhalers are not specifically for asthma, they are to reduce the inflammatory response. If you have asthma then got also use a Preventer daily with the idea being to control your asthma so that you don't need a Reliever.

So, Relievers are prescribed to non asthma sufferers too when they may have allergies or other conditions affecting their breathing where inflammation has taken place.

Your GP can easily test you for asthma. I don't know about your career, some won't accept it, but people run marathons these days with this condition so it's not a life limiting condition other than for the small number of severe sufferers. I have had asthma nearly 30 years and it never limited me.

[debs71]

I really, really, really don't want asthma as well as LPR; it's the end of my chances of getting my dream career if this turns out to be true. At the same time, I can't deny Ventolin helps me (lack of sleep and showers make me worse)! Can asthma inhalers help people who don't have asthma?

Also when hyperventilating, do you HAVE to have a racing heart/pins and needles?

LPR can make you feel breathless, so I am wondering if that is the source of your problem here? But then again, as you say, anxiety can indeed cause your breathlessness, and it may well be 'just' that (and I don't man 'just' as it that is all, as goodness knows I do sympathise and know exactly how you feel with this!)

Like Terry, I was diagnosed with asthma when i was 5 (My Mum has it too) and have been on and off Ventolin and Becotide ( Though I think they are the old brand names now, lol) all of my life, but thankfully not much of late, but a few years ago when I was abroad on my own, I had what I really, really thought was as asthma attack....I just couldn't get my breath at all, but in actual fact it was a panic attack and hyperventilation, but it was SO like an asthma attack, it was bizarre.

Just wanted to illustrate that what may seem like asthma is often not, especially if there is no wheeze involved, and not much coughing.

As Terry said, the Salbutamol relievers just open up the airways, whereas the preventer is a steroid that keeps things settled, so you don't need to use the reliever as often (in theory)

In all honesty, if your breathlessness is not asthma, the inhalers won't do much at all, IMO. They may have a kind of placebo effect on you, but other that that....

As far as hyperventilating goes, yes you can have a racing heart and pins and needles, but sometimes you can be hyperventilating and not even be aware that you are. Been there myself.

I would first establish if you actually have asthma or not, as then you will know one way or the other, and take things from there, treatment wise. I agree with Terry too about your career thing - asthma does not have to inhibit you, but I am not sure what career you have in mind....do you have to pass a medical, perhaps?

Try not to worry too much. Many things can be dealt with one way or another. x

[.Poppy.]

Like others have said, ask your doc to check for asthma, if you think you have it.

I had anxiety-induced breathlessness for over a month; it felt like I couldn't draw a full breath in. I went to the doctor and while they couldn't really find anything wrong, I did fail an air pressure test (where you blow into a tube and push a ball up). They didn't know why, but gave me an inhaler anyway.

The inhaler seemed to help a little bit, kind of like a placebo effect, but it didn't really help that much AND made me feel really shaky, which was almost worse. That was actually the turning point in my anxiety - I figured it was bad for me to put those meds in my body when I didn't really need them, so I challenged myself to see if I could get better on my own.

My anxiety's not gone, not by a long shot, but the health part mostly went away. A start, I guess.

[Orange Lightning]

LPR can make you feel breathless, so I am wondering if that is the source of your problem here? But then again, as you say, anxiety can indeed cause your breathlessness, and it may well be 'just' that (and I don't man 'just' as it that is all, as goodness knows I do sympathise and know exactly how you feel with this!)

Like Terry, I was diagnosed with asthma when i was 5 (My Mum has it too) and have been on and off Ventolin and Becotide ( Though I think they are the old brand names now, lol) all of my life, but thankfully not much of late, but a few years ago when I was abroad on my own, I had what I really, really thought was as asthma attack....I just couldn't get my breath at all, but in actual fact it was a panic attack and hyperventilation, but it was SO like an asthma attack, it was bizarre.

Just wanted to illustrate that what may seem like asthma is often not, especially if there is no wheeze involved, and not much coughing.

As Terry said, the Salbutamol relievers just open up the airways, whereas the preventer is a steroid that keeps things settled, so you don't need to use the reliever as often (in theory)

In all honesty, if your breathlessness is not asthma, the inhalers won't do much at all, IMO. They may have a kind of placebo effect on you, but other that that....

As far as hyperventilating goes, yes you can have a racing heart and pins and needles, but sometimes you can be hyperventilating and not even be aware that you are. Been there myself.

I would first establish if you actually have asthma or not, as then you will know one way or the other, and take things from there, treatment wise. I agree with Terry too about your career thing - asthma does not have to inhibit you, but I am not sure what career you have in mind....do you have to pass a medical, perhaps?

Try not to worry too much. Many things can be dealt with one way or another. x

I really hope it's hyperventilation, although I used to hyperventilate a lot years ago, so I know how it feels; this doesn't feel the same at all. I plan to go into exotic animal care, but I've trained to work with more dangerous animals. Asthmatics are barred from this line of work, because you can't afford to endanger others at certain times with an attack on the job.

SO many of my symptoms match asthma. The tight chest, mucus, methods of onset, the fact Ventolin helps, the fact I cannot walk, the fact the symptoms last hours/days when panic attacks only last up to 20 minutes tops, the cold weather/burping/shower triggers, the fact I don't match typical panic attack symptoms. When I get a tickle in my throat I know an attack is coming. No racing heart, palpitations if I breath out too much, I even got caught during an attack at A&E with only 84% oxygen! Despite all this, everyone still says it's all in my head. I've had a near-continuous attack since last night; I didn't realise my reliever inhaler was dried out. I tried to go for a walk, see if I could finally leave the house without collapsing. I collapsed. And I didn't get any help because people thought I was making it up. I had to be taken to a chemist - they gave me 12 (12!) puffs of Ventolin which stopped the attack in seconds. I'm in tears because the attack has returned in the expected time for Ventolin to wear off. A lifetime of severe asthma isn't a life worth living to me. I can't even walk a few steps like this.

On a side note the inhalers really do mess with my reflux too. I want to see a gastro about the LPR link, but I can't afford it, and nobody in my local NHS area knows of it otherwise. Just my luck, the only person who can help me is a private doctor. For now though I can't take my mind off my breathing, and if I can my body forces me to inhale to remind me otherwise. Last time I ignored the forced gasps and tried walking it off, I turned purple in my extremities, got sudden huge palpitations, a weak heart rate, and fainted. Only sitting hunched forward in a seat, in the "Tripod Position," putting tension into my neck and shoulders, sometimes more on one side than the other, helps. Here's a linked image of such a posture; I achieve similar hunched over at a laptop:

https://classconnection.s3.amazonaws.com/716/flashcards/2590716/png/orthopenic-143AD3F3A8E411C4263.png

EDIT: Says here about tripod position...

"If you sit in a slightly forward position with your hands on your knees or lower thighs and your arms straight you're actually stretching the chest out a little more then just sitting upright. This makes it even easier to take a full breath as your body is now working with you instead of against you"

Also learned my posture of choice helps force the airways in my neck open. Lovely.

[Masonn]

I got given an inhaler after going to a doctor telling him I had difficulty breathing and it really didn't do anything for me. I went back to the doctor and he told me if it's anxiety there's nothing that can physically relieve it, only way to make it go away is to fix the underlying cause which is the anxiety.