healthy lady can't figure why I am suffering!

Hi all,

I'm hoping I can get some advice. I'm suffering from bad bouts of asthma around this time of year. My asthma lay dormant for many years and would occasional need an inhaler.

Around 2 year's ago I embarked on a health plan that changed my life, I signed up for to a fitness bootcamp and changed my eating habits. I now eat foods with no preservatives, e numbers, sugar, wheat, gluten, dairy and have eliminated caffeine and fizzy drinks. Ive since lost 4 stone and have been running a handful of 5 and 10k runs.

I am an asthma cougher and struggle through the night to even sleep. I am currently on symbicort 200, which is the best inhaler I have tried and tested in 6 months. I have also been on a course of steroids with singulair which kind of helps.

Yet here I am again, suffering with lack of sleep and unable to construct a sentence without coughing. It has also stopped my training as I struggle to run in the cold. I believe I am at my peak health and cant seem to find my trigger to these bad bouts of asthma. Has anyone any advice? Id be grateful. I'm currently taking metabolic enzymes which are helping the inflammation of my chest area.

Thanks!

[Hidden]

Hi

I'd suggest your first port of call should be allergy testing. I'd had no problems whatsoever with my asthma until a 2007 visit to Norway whilst suffering an chest infection (what a fool) led me to become badly allergic to birch and grass pollen causing me no end of problems.

I also learned of the big influence stress can have with asthma and allergies. The immunologist that diagnosed me said vast majority of people he sees with allergies do stressful jobs; I was a prison officer at the time. He advised me to find a new line of work which I did and felt better almost immediately. I also obtained fantastic results against allergies by using hypnotherapy.

So this is my rambling way of saying look at how much stress you have and assess how much of it you can eliminate, and get skin prick tests for allergy. As I've discovered, this is apparently one of the worst years for mould and fungus spores for a long long time and people not normally affected by it are suffering this year, myself included. I've also followed the same path as you improved health; if it doesn't walk, fly, swim or grow then I don't eat it. I've lost five stone since January and felt great till now, just have to wean myself off the wheat now! lol

Good luck and I hope you find a solution.

[Annista]

Hi

You seem to have made some drastic changes in your diet over the last 2 years and I'm very impressed by the weight loss, but I'm wondering if you've had the support of a dietician who can make sure that your body is still getting the right nutrients.

My understanding is that the usual medical advice for improving your diet is to cut down on most food groups but not to cut things like wheat or dairy out of the diet completely unless you have an intolerance or allergy as this can lead to dietary deficiencies and ill health.

My own asthma tends to kick off when I'm physically stressed in any way, so if you have not had medical support while making your lifestyle changes it might be a good idea to mention it next time you see your GP fo find out if you need any dietary supplements.

good luck

[Hidden]

It seems your asthma is not controlled and you should see your GP or respiratory team to try and sort this if you can. Good luck with it.