Anxiety and asthma

[MissEmilia]

Hey everyone,

It's another rough night for me today. :( my anxiety has been well controlled for the last 6 months or so, but 2 weeks ago it came back with a vengeance. I had a really bad attack which shook me, and ever since i've felt really all over the place.

What concerns me at the moment is the effect my anxiety is having on my asthma. My asthma has got a lot worse since that panic attack two weeks ago - in the last three days i've had to take my reliever over ten times because i've heard slight wheezing when exhaling and have started panicking. I've gotten to the point where i'm so scared of having an asthma attack that the mild wheezing just won't go away. I started taking sertraline too 3 days ago, and i'm convinced this is adding to the paranoia.

Can asthma be affected by anxiety in such a way? I'm such a hypochondriac it's driving me crazy!

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi,

I've had asthma nearly 30 years now and anxiety disorders for 9. In that time I've had one mild asthma attack and that was because I stopped taking my Preventer because I became so scared of taking anything that could change how my body felt (even eating, drinking water) so the jitters from these meds were all I needed. I had to face it head on then and it took time to get beyond those worries about those meds, everything was a much longer piece of work that is still ongoing years later for me.

What I have found is that you can work out that your asthma differs in how it feels to your anxiety, if you are like me. I found that my anxiety was more about my diaphragm but it wasn't my asthma because as you know, an asthma attack just doesn't stop from doing anything that stops a panic attack or increased anxiety. You can lesson asthma symptoms but an attack means meds to stop it.

I would suggest you invest some time in relaxation breathing techniques because these will help both but more importantly you will find you think more about what your breathing means and this can help you split it up between panic/anxiety symptoms and true asthma issues.

This won't be popular on a HA board but you could also check your peak flow. If that is fine and you still have all these breathing issues, it's more likely anxiety. Remember peak flow measures output whereas we tend to be concentrating more on input. Don't make this a regular check though, perhaps do it when you are struggling and see if you asthma is fine. If for any reason your breathing is below expectations, see your GP for advice.

Also, some inhalers are known to make you more jittery and this can be a problem for us. I think it would be a good idea to have a chat with your practice asthma nurse about whether all these Reliever doses are really the best thing to take. They don't like us taking them constantly unless we really need them as it impacts on treatment for an attack and so they may have a better way to deal with this for you.