Specialist says Asthma and No COPD.. but symptoms are daily and suck

[Super_Freaked]

Hi, i was told i had COPD a few years back, and then going to emerg room about 1.5 years ago after X-ray the doc there said oh you must have more advanced COPD as you have over inflated lungs.. damn..

so anyway I go get the breathing spino test where they make you blow and I get sort of low but number in the normal and the young theoprist says no COPD or anything she can see must be stress..

ok so i bugged 3 regular doctors and they all brush off my breathing problems to stress. .. and said thexray is a bad way to judge, and radioolisgt said slightly hyper inflated lungs.. so i was told can be allergy or asthma or even breathing hard.

so i complied enough to see specialist he said you have asthma and sent me for a challenge test where breath in stuff that triggers asthma and nurse said I am approaching what they would say is hard diagonis of asthma, same day i seen the allerginist and she saw i had allergies to things like dust mites, and i asked her when she was looking at my breathing test if i have asthma she said yes. Then seen specialist again and he said it's mild asthma and i would feel better once on puffers for 3 months, it's been over 6 and i still have daily but mild symptoms.

Seen specialist again and he didn't offer and more info to make it sound like I will get better, just daily asthma symptoms and though maybe stress induced as i have aniexty...

Now i can't accept it's only asthma and not COPD/Asthma. or that it could be aniexty causing this.

Strange symptoms i have apart from more typical asthma :

1. i get tight and closed feeling when talking fast mostly, does't happen when singing though, rarely if talking normal but sometimes when excited .

2. daily slightly Short of Breathe maybe when i am thinking of it but sometimes not just working away and get it

3. I can run very far and don't get more short of breath than i can.

4. sometimes the rescue puffer makes me feel even more tight.

5, sometiems i get this mucus feeling but lately been wondering if it is more post nasal drip than lung stuff


I am worried i may never get better, i am on a moderate dose of symbicort and that is pretty advanced combo drug. I could be around allergens but got this sucks.

[NervUs]

I was just diagnosed with asthma after a year of god awful respiratory crud! I wasn't necessarily aware of difficulties breathing/SOB (although every doc noted that on my chart), but every cold would set off months of dry cough, sporadic wheezing, nasal gunk, throat clearing. I also ended up with chest pains last Feb that they thought was a clot but wasn't. It got to the point that I REALLY thought I had lung cancer or metastatic cancer in my lungs, and I would avoid exercise b/c I was afraid of setting off wheezing (which scares me more than interferes with life).

So, I had a ct in feb due to the clot, two xrays over a year, and a spirometry test- all normal. I was finally referred to a pulmonologist a couple months ago. He barely did anything but listen to my story and symptoms and conclude asthma. I was put on Symbicort then switched to Breo. Then, my GP also gave me Montelukast. Things are A LOT better for me, I even stopped taking the meds, and things worsened, so I am fairly certain it is asthma, although I still have those cancer thoughts sometimes.

I would give the meds a little bit of time. I feel like mine took a while to kick in.

I wondered about COPD in my case b/c I self diagnosed myself with chronic bronchitis at one point :doh: and I am pretty sure you can't diagnose COPD from xray. Did a specialist say you had COPD or just a regular doc, or a ER doc?

[Super_Freaked]

NervUs

Some young emerg doc years ago said that, don't remember why, then it was on my chart so the next person another young doc at emerg said "it got worse"

Specialist said "you don't have COPD" straight up so that felt good, so did most doctors, i am only late 30;s it is quite rare, i think the emerg room person originally though well it wasn't asthma who knows why they came up with that. The specialist seems to be a bit of an authority as far as teaches students and stuff. I doubt he got it wrong he had all the information in front of him.


Do you know why you switched from Symbicort to Breo ? I haven't quite tried monculast yet, changing meds and adding that pill you mentioned is my last hope really.



You do sound like Asthma and the meds are working so it has to be asthma for you, i know people with asthma tend to hyperventilate and not breathe well if they have aniexty and asthma it can be worse. Stress can trigger asthma attacks,that is know fact. You should prob read "breathing works for asthma" by somebody from New Zealand i forget.

Take care.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Some people find asthma meds don't work for them so they have to try you on several before they find the best fit. There are various classes of them and some even cause side effects so they switch you again.

As you age, you tend to change prescription with asthma. And sometimes they may give short term versions to give an extra kick.

If you have been diagnosed with mild asthma, it should be easily controlled. They sholdn't be saying you just have to live with it. They should be trying you out on different types.

My GF has had to switch hers several times over the years. She's just spent 3 months working through different ones to find one that works.

So, just because they are not helping it is not evidence you don't have asthma.

Asthma benefits from various improvements you can make yourself. Check out asthma charity sites for advice. And one of the best things for asthma is increasing your lung capacity through exercise but obviously get approval from your doctor with you still be stabilised. Find your triggers, do things to reduce them e.g. your allergy triggers can be worekd around.

[NervUs]

I switched asthma b/c insurance companies suuuuucckk in the USA. They won't cover Symbicort but will cover Breo so there ya go! I have no idea why their passion runs so cold for Symbicort but probably greed related?

The Breo is actually fine, and I like its delivery better. Only one time a day and the delivery contraption is easy to use.

[DonnaT]

You sound a lot like my son. He’s ten. He has asthma, he was diagnosed at a very young age which they don’t like doing but I knew he wasn’t right. Not long after that we found he was allergic to lots of things he has major allergies to nuts(Epping pen job) but he also had allergies to cats, dogs , dust, grass. His asthma is set off by any of these. If you do have allergies and you know what they are be really strict. I hoover everyday through the house because of know if I don’t his asthma will play up. We find that we tend to mix and match medications a lot. If he gets a cold/cough I have to be on the ball with him the whole time because it causes him so much trouble. I do have to say that once we knew what he was allergic to his asthma improved, his asthma is mainly allergies related and he can have symptoms regularly. Over the summer we struggled so much because of pollen and an allergie we still can’t work out to this day what it is. Does your gp have an asthma clinic??? The nursery sit and it’s really useful to go and talk to them about what your next step would be.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You sound a lot like my son. He’s ten. He has asthma, he was diagnosed at a very young age which they don’t like doing but I knew he wasn’t right. Not long after that we found he was allergic to lots of things he has major allergies to nuts(Epping pen job) but he also had allergies to cats, dogs , dust, grass. His asthma is set off by any of these. If you do have allergies and you know what they are be really strict. I hoover everyday through the house because of know if I don’t his asthma will play up. We find that we tend to mix and match medications a lot. If he gets a cold/cough I have to be on the ball with him the whole time because it causes him so much trouble. I do have to say that once we knew what he was allergic to his asthma improved, his asthma is mainly allergies related and he can have symptoms regularly. Over the summer we struggled so much because of pollen and an allergie we still can’t work out to this day what it is. Does your gp have an asthma clinic??? The nursery sit and it’s really useful to go and talk to them about what your next step would be.

Donna,

I had loads of problems with my asthma when I had colds. They always turned into chest infections. This meant antiobiotics but very often I ended up on steroids too.

In adulthood, this improved. I still needed antibiotics but never steroids. Now I've moved onto regular vitamin C dosing throughout the day and increased dosing during coughs/colds, I've not needed antibiotics at all and beaten various throat & chest infections (currently sorting one out now again with the vitamin C).

So, as he gets older he may find it improves.

[DonnaT]

Thanks for the tips My Name is Terry. Before I had him I knew only a small bit about asthmas and I just thought it affects people after they did sport(little did I know) I didn’t realise what a dibilitating thing it can be if your not on top off it every day.