Asthma and anxiety anyone ?

[Buster70]

Anybody out there have asthma and anxiety , I've had asthma for a few years and the problem I have is know the difference between anxiety causing my breathing to be wrong or asthma , when I do anything strenuous it starts me off first I'm out of breath then get a bit wheezy then panic sets in , I've had a lot of stress lately so anxiety it worse I'm waiting for heart echo so I don't know where the hell I am , if I walk for about 15 min chest gets tighter and get a bit weezy but I'm also aware that I'm shallow breathing , you can imagine the worst case stuff that's going through my head I feel so exhausted , went to a walk-in centre about a month ago like it and they were so ignorant just said if I had chest pain and trouble breathing shouldn't be there should be at a&e the nurse then turned her back to me and ignored me until I walked out very understanding , just wondered if anyone else is like this and how they differentiate between asthma , anxiety or somthing else , thanks in advance

[Holds1325]

Anxiety and asthma are very common. I do not suffer from both myself but I know a couple others that do. The thing is to be able to get control of your breathing through exercising and some do meditation by sitting in a dark room and bringing on an anxiety attack and then quelling it without reaching for that inhaler. A good therapist can accomplish this with you. This helps with being able to distinguish the 2 as most even if its a panic attack will give themselves a dose of the inhaler even if its not an actual asthma attack.

Some anxiety does induce asthma attacks though so its best to just use caution and find ways to treat the anxiety through therapy or by making lifestyle changes, that way all there is left to deal with is the asthma.

[MyNameIsTerry]

No therapist would try to induce an asthma attack, they couldn't deal with a medical emergency if one arose. If they used exposure therapy to bring on a panic attack then they are not able to assess your physical condition and this means a doctor first agreeing that your asthma is not too severe for such an exercise.

Relievers don't always work for an asthma attack, so to attempt to bring something like that on is very risky. If the asthma is mild enough to allow this type of exercise, as confirmed by a doctor and not an unqualified therapist, then the inhaler shouldn't be an issue unless it's a safety behaviour you lean on just in case you think it's an asthma attack.

Relievers work to open up those airways from an attack or when inflammation is causing breathing to suffer (like mucus in a cough/cold) but they won't do anything for a panic attack as that's coming from a different physiological response and so any benefit there may be a psychological one, hence cutting out that reaching out for it step.

Anxiety no more induces asthma attacks than stress can. So, like Holds said, it's about tackling it in other ways too and physical exercise is a good one for asthma, as long as your GP is happy with the exercise regime. Cardio will increase your lung capacity and help your asthma. Check your posture too, you could be restricting your breathing.

The trouble with exposure in this case is that in order to understand the difference, you would need to experience both and no therapist would bring on an asthma attack. They no longer use exercise inducement to determine the presence of asthma as they did years ago for the very reason of what it could create in that scenario. So, in exposure the most you can do is experience panic and attribute it to panic.

What I found with my asthma is that I had to figure out the difference based on where the symptoms were e.g. my muscular tension was lower in the diaphragm and so couldn't be my asthma. I would suggest talking to a nurse at an asthma clinic about some of this though because the wheezing could be the asthma and without understanding your physical health, the severity of your asthma and how controlled it is, it's going to be tricky to just say it's anxiety.

Shallow breathing is common in asthma.

[Buster70]

Hi , thanks for the replies , I've had my brown inhaler increased for last two months but had a bit of a cough 4 weeks ago since then it's gôt worse , I get a bit of a tickely crackle like flem in my lungs and throat so I'm always trying to clear it then my throat gets dry and I get the slight whistle and wheeze , finding it realy hard to exercise as I panic when it comes on even if I've got my inhaler with me , been up nearly all night worrying about going to sleep , haven't had a good nights sleep since start of December and now with my dog passing away I'm even more messed up can't get his final moments out of my head and I'm missing him so much , thanks , take care .

[MyNameIsTerry]

There are not all like that nurse with the bad attitude. I would see your regular GP about the asthma to make sure the current Preventer (is it Qvar with it being brown? I'm on that, Becotide years ago) because if not there are all sorts of other inhalers they can try.

It's all very raw with your dog, Buster. Give it time, it will get easier. It's grief piled on top of all the rest so it's bound to be very rough right now.