If Ventolin helps does that mean you definatly have asthma?

[GreatGateway]

No cough or wheeze but I do get gassy and tightness and my breathing completely stops. I am terrified of chronic illness and will do anything to avoid an asthma diagnosis. Clenil isn't helping but Ventolin does. Last year a purple combiinhaler also didn't help much.

[Hidden]

Hello, I understand being diagnosed can be scary. Although once you know the answer you will feel relieved to know where you stand I think and if it is asthma well at least you will have an adequate treatment.

Take the test on Asthma UK website to see how many times you take your ventolin and talk to an asthma nurse she will tell you how to go about it. Then I think you need to go back to the GP and get some answers and treatment. Taking your peakflow will be an indicator as well. If you don't have one do ask for a prescription. Measuring morning and evening over a week is a good start.

Take care xx

[elanaoali]

Dear Gateway Firstly welcome to the asthma forum. I think it would be helpful if you wrote a bit more of your history so people on here can see where you are coming from. You say you are terrified and I understand that when a person get a diagnoses like this one of Asthma it can happen. The reaction of fear can be very strong. The best way to deal with the fear is to get yourself informed.

I have asthma and I don't like it or are friends with it. I was a mild asthmatic for ten years and but last year my asthma got worse. I ended up on different kinds of inhalers and it hasn't been easy. You will get through it and it will get better.

Your also find that their are people on this forum who are very caring, friendly. All our asthma experiences are different and we are all on different medication. Asthma medication is not one size fits all. Sometimes it takes time to sort out what medication is best for each person. What works for one doesn't mean it will work for another person.

Here we can swap information, story and its not all doom and gloom.

The best and most comprehensive understanding, current and professional information is the Asthma UK website. I am putting the link up here asthma.org.uk/advice/.

The Charity also has a helpline asthma.org.uk/advice/resour... which is staffed by asthma nurses who will listen to all your concerns, fears, questions and anything to do with asthma.

I suggest that you ring the asthma UK helpline today if you can and have a chat with them. They are really the best to talk to and will really listen to what you have to say.

I hope and pray that this information will help you with your questions.

[GreatGateway in reply to elanaoali]

There is a vague memory of me having asthma as a child of about 7 years old but nobody else remembers it. I have always had symptoms of low oxygen as long as I can remember like daily headaches/migraines restless sleep, LPR reflux and vision loss.

5 years ago I had to go to A&E for serious difficulty breathing affecting my heart. Echos showed no heart issues which resulted in a hypochondriac label. Since then we have proven LPR, narrow jaw and low oxygen exists but ruled out things like Vocal Chord Dysfunction, Dysfunction breathing and COPD. I was even hospitalised in a mental prison - horrifying experience - but thanks to my mother's last wishes I was released.

We have sufficently ruled out anxiety as a primary cause as far as I can tell because CBT, mindfulness, 10 different meds and alternative therapies all failed and my childhood anxiety diagnosis was overturned by formal tests. Then one day I discovered a chest X-Ray withheld from me that showed hyperinflation in the lungs. My doctor still thinks anxiety is to blame and held back a potential diagnosis from us.

We have found Ventolin helps my breathing tremendously but last year a purple combo-inhaler didn't help and this year Clenil isn't making it all go away either. We also know I never cough or wheeze with my asthma but I do feel tight across my chest, back, abdomen and especially throat. My nose "blocks" but in a different way to having sinusitis, like a physical wall (nose structure is proven normal) and I stop breathing automatically causing my heart rate to dunk into the low 50s - I never hyperventilate.

My pharmacist said Ventolin can help non-asthmatics relax their muscles but after looking up scientific journals I'm not convinced, though I wish it were true!

[GreatGateway in reply to GreatGateway]

I forgot to mention I did have very bad eczema growing up but my only known allergy is hayfever pollen which runs in the family.

[ChrissieMons]

There are lots of conditions make you breathless - it might not be asthma and it might not be chronic, but being anxious about this will only make you worse. Perhaps you should talk to your GP calmly about your worries and why you are so scared. There are about 5 million of us with asthma and most of us manage quite well; it's annoying, this asthma, but you can live with it and live well.

[GreatGateway in reply to ChrissieMons]

The biggest reason for my fears is that I know quite a few family members with a chronic illness of some kind. And sadly all but one have died from their illness including my mother just over a year ago. Asthma as bad as how mine affects me would also spell the end of my dream career and independence.

[Hidden]

Hi. I have asthma and use ventolin serevent and flixotide. The purple inhaler I believe are a combination of serevent and flixotide. My husband has pulmanory fibrosis and uses sybicort and ventolin but he do not have asthma but the ventolin helps his cough and opens his airways. There are quite a few lungs diesies on this forum and you can read about them all. Personally I would rather have the asthma. You don't say wether you smoke or not ? If you do you really need to give it up and if you don't well done !! Best wishes.

[GreatGateway in reply to Hidden]

Although I have never smoked or had alcohol, I have known and been around a lot of smokers growing up.

[Hidden]

Sorry I forgot I was on asthma forum and not British lung foundation site. You have had some good advice already on here and I hope it helps you. I have been asthmatic all my life ( I'm 64 ) and I have very brittle asthma with lots of allergies but it well controlled. You have had a rough time of it and I hope things get better for you xx

[Windigo]

no it could be an allergy to mold or dust, they can't ask you about mold though because doctors consider it a personal question because poiseious types of mold can cause infertility problems but sadly it lets them sell you on all kinds of medications knowing it may be an allergy, as a child i has asthma but they sold my mum on inharlers to get me to take them, i took them for most my life till i had to take antibiotic stereiods when i was 8 because of a chest infection i had for a year, that seems to also cure the asthma then too.

Then i didn't have it since and i was living in Scotland, they don't suffer with mold in houses like down here in England, being back in England for a while now after a year my eyes turned red in the corners and around the eyesball, sometimes goes a bit red in the eye too, it's been like this every day since and my eyes sting when i'm cleaning, i may be allergic to dust mites too and i wake up with a block nose, soon as i hit more air i might sneeze down my face lol i did it today and i almost sneezed a couple hours ago when i just sweeped the dust off a couple shelves, you could just be allergic to ether of those as well, but if you have mold you should mention it to your doc as they can't or won't say anything.

[Karjade]

It could also be reflux which makes you breathless. I am not sure sometimes if it is my asthma or reflux causing me to feel breathless as reflux definitely mimics asthma symptoms.