Attacks presenting differently.

I've been diagnosed asthmatic since I was 5

When I had attacks when I was younger - they were constantly coughing, which responded to the blue inhaler, this happened multiple times a week.

I'm a lot older now. My attacks used to be shortness of breath, tightness and constant coughing. Recently, they've changed a lot. I frequently wake up with tightness and bad difficulties breathing in AND out - it feels like I'm breathing out through a straw and my lungs feel like they've got too much air in them but I'm unable to breathe out to remove the air to get new air in and its really uncomfortable. When these 'new' attacks strike - there is visible retraction from the start. A lot of blue inhaler later and it does calm down without hospital attention. I say attacks because they take more than what a 'typical' flare up would do to bring back under control.

Throughout all this - I don't have any wheezing; I've had a few times with no air flow to parts of my lungs and in those situations, there hasn't been any wheezing - even before the point of no air flow.

Is it 'normal' for attacks to change over time?

I'm under a consultant - he isn't convinced its fully asthma as I don't wheeze - I have restricted airflow. I also have 'better than normal peak flows' and lung function tests.

I'm taking:

*Domperidone

*Omeprazole

*Seretide

*Salbutamol

*Cetirizine

I do try avoid my triggers - I haven't noticed that any triggers make the attacks present differently.

I'm sorry for writing such a long post. - Has anyone been in a similar sort of situation themselves or have any insight into what's happening?

Thank you.

[Annista]

Hi

I don't know if it's any help to you but my asthma has changed over time. When I was first diagnosed it was because I was coughing continually. Over the next few years the coughing reduced to almost nothing and was replaced by attacks of wheezing and breathlessness which were fixed by a couple of hits of blue. This carried on for about 15 years and then after prolonged exposure to dust while sifting all the files in the office (about 5,000 in total) I spent 6-8 months struggling with something very similar to what you have described - very short of breath and couldn't breathe in or out properly or even make a cup of tea without needing to lie down, the full bit! That was my introduction to Pred, flixotide, atrovent etc.

Over the next 10 years I only had real problems following a cold or after a lot of exercise and, if I'm honest, I got over confident about the whole asthma thing.

In October last year I had a cold and started to cough, far worse than ever before. I didn't stop coughing until March.

Now I'm back under control. No cough, no wheezing, no elephant on the chest, just breathlessness on exercise.

Nowadays I'm using my lovely Symbicort every day like an obediant asthmatic should and keeping my fingers crossed that it keeps me in control of the asthma, not the other way round - who knows how it might affect me if it gets the upper hand again!

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Nice to see you back on Confused.did wonder where you had gone.

any way,hope your lungs settle down soon xxx

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possibly your asthma was originally 'cough variant asthma' and has now progressed to a more average type and symptome (although maybe not completely average if you have no wheeze, even though i know there are others on here in this situation)?...