Asthma - can you tell me what it feels like?

[allergyphobia]

Hi, bit of a strange one...

I've had a chronic ongoing cough for over a year that has had the doctors and consultant baffled. I'm currently seeing a specialist for my allergies, who is going against my previous consultants diagnosis that it could not possibly by asthma, to say that it may be "exertional asthma".

The cough started after a bout of costochondritis.

I have bad post nasal drip which is worse at the moment cause I have a cold. I think I also have acid reflux as I do burp quite a bit! :blush:

The cough can come on randomly... comes on in a change of air temperature, hot or cold air, comes on when I am stressed, if i'm eating something really warm, sometimes at night, mostly after/during exertion.

Recently I've had quite bad shortness of breath and a really burning/freezing cold feeling in the middle of my chest, especially when I breathe in.

I would like to add I don't wheeze when i breathe, only if i force it out, if you know what I mean!

Any input appreciated, I'm not asking for a diagnosis, just those with asthma or perhaps reflux and PND sufferers could also share their symptoms?

OH and...! I can't really work out if inhalers help me... sometimes they do, most of the time, not really.

Many Thanks xx

[LucyR]

Hi, I have this at the moment, asthma, bunged up nose and sneezing, I think it is being caused by my 2 cats, although, I may also have a cold of some sort too. My chest is rattly when I breath and my chest has been getting really tight with it. Poor air quality also causes it as does cigarette smoke. I am hoping to get an allergy test done at my doctors. My inhaler does help me as without it I don't know what I would do at the moment.

[allergyphobia]

Thanks for your reply. My chest doesn't rattle but is very tight and I find I can't catch my breath. My cough is very rattly though and sort of like a whooping cough or all i can compare it to is like a seal barking!!!

i hope you get it sorted soon x

[Eggy]

I've had Asthma for 26 years and it's more about wheezing/shortness of breath/tight chest then coughing, You can really struggle for breath and wheeze a lot but i don't cough much and you're chest feels very tight when you are struggling for breath.

[allergyphobia]

Oooh thanks for this Eggy, very useful and helpful, thanks... I definitely wouldn't say I wheeze, only when I force it, like I say.

Hmmm!

[allergyphobia]

Oh, and do you feel as though inhaler immediately relieves it!? Blue inhaler I mean.

[paula lynne]

Hi Ambers, I had my first asthma attack aged 7, it was a feather pillow that did it.....anyway Im 40 now, and take the blue reliever (Salbutamol). Its troublesome going from warm to cold, or from the cold into the warm. Also after exhertion my chest gets tight. It wheezes with a cold too...sounds like a squeeky matress!

Asthma is almost always relieved by Salbutamol, which is a vasodilator.
Long term asthmatics are usually prescribed a preventor to take everyday, as well as salbutamol for episodes of wheezyness. If you dont feel its helping much, what about asking your gp to assess your lung function and go from there....?

I cant have cats or dogs because of my asthma. We had a goldfish but my daughter put milkshake in his bowl "cos he was hungry"...bless......

Central heating is not the friend of asthmatics, try a bowl of water in the room to moisturise the air. Classic asthma is....breathing out as much as you can which result in a coughing fit......does this sound like you? x

[allergyphobia]

Hmmm... i will have to monitor it if it breathing out or in... I think it may switch between the two (helpful!!)

I have had a mannitol challenge which came back OK, and i trialed a preventer inhaler for about two months which also had no change on the cough. i really suffer changing between hot/cold and cold/hot, chest gets very tight at night and like i say the coughing is pretty random. guess i am still a mystery :weep:

thanks for your info though :hugs: