I was given a working diagnosis of asthma last week after 3 weeks of very varied peak flow readings (done at home as requested by my doctor) and a prescription of salbutamol for use if needed. I am grateful for a diagnosis as I've been having these same issues for around 7 years but they never got bad enough for me to feel I needed a doctor.
Last Thursday (22.2.17) my doctor prescribed me the brown preventer inhaler. I have read about people being misdiagnosed and am very worried about this. My symptoms cause me bother on an almost daily basis but I've never had a bad 'asthma attack'. On Tuesday I was woken up through the night feeling like someone was crushing my chest, my reliever inhaler did not help at all, and over the rest of the day I felt like someone had tied a belt around my chest and was constantly tightening and loosening it. It was scary and uncomfortable. I used my relived inhaler a few times and it didn't make a huge amount of difference. I returned to the doctors yesterday and was told my temperature was normal and my chest was clear. I've been given a 5 day course of prenidsalone and told to double my daily dose of my preventer inhaler (from one puff twice a day, to 2 puffs twice a day).
I am grateful for the diagnosis and for the medication (which does seem to be helping a lot). I'm just wondering, does it definitely seem like I have asthma? I'm just worried due to hearing about misdiagnosis plus having had symptoms for so many years without any really serious effects. And also I read somewhere that if the blue inhaler doesn't help (which is does most of the time) then it's unlikely to be asthma.