Difficulty breathing for months.

[sparksgemma]

Hello, I have had bad difficult breathing for nearly a year now. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't struggle. I have been to the doctors and they have done X-rays blood tests oxygen test ect and everything is normal. I have asthma since I was born. The doctors think it is asthma related but my inhalers don't help me that much. I have also been having the occasional hives. I can't do active activities like I used to a year ago. It all came on so suddenly one day I was running, horse riding ect now I can't do any off that. I'm not horrendously weasy thats the thing it's just a really bad tightness in my throat and chest making me struggle daily.

Anxiety has been mentioned as a possibility but like I said I have this breathing problem 24 hours a day and it never goes away, just gets a little better when I take my inhalers.

Hope someone can help me.

[Damon1864]

Hi ,sorry I have no idea what is going on, but ask your GP for a spiromitry test. Keep us up to date on. How you are. Take care, sorry I haven't been much help. 😐 xx Bernadette

[HannahForever]

I am out off breath too, sometimes it gets controllable but not always…. sorry to hear about your situation

[Hidden]

Ask for a referral to a consultant in respiratory medicine. You need full evaluation to look for other causes aside from asthma. Insist on a referral and make sure you see the Consultant at your appointment - pay if necessary! Good luck. Xx

[Hay1234]

Tightness in throat can be vcd also gerd get it checked

[sparksgemma in reply to Hay1234]

What's vcd ?

[Hay1234]

Vocal cord dysfunction mine is triggered by strong smells exercise etc it closes your throat and makes you feel like your breathing through a straw it feels like your being strangled abit and you normally cough

[sparksgemma in reply to Hay1234]

Sounds a little like how I feel I mean last night I took my inhalers seritide and sabubatmol but I wake up and my breathing is bad again and I have to try so hard when breathing in because

it's all right and thickly

[sparksgemma in reply to sparksgemma]

Tickly

[Hay1234]

Yes it irritates your throat so much the lat you keep coughing then struggle to breath its going to sound random but try gaviscon it coats the throat and if you have got silient reflux it will help

[sparksgemma in reply to Hay1234]

Ok thank you. I'm begging to wonder if it is just anxiety

[Hay1234 in reply to sparksgemma]

See the problem with vcd is stress can affect it but please dont think its in your head my condition got undiagnosed for four years i cried when they finally told me because i thought is it me i hope you get sorted xx

[Hay1234]

To test vcd its a little risky but will give u answer spray lynx if you start coughing uncontrolably then prob have you need a camera down throat to tell you 100%

[sparksgemma in reply to Hay1234]

tbh when I talked my voice sounds soooo blocked up I know that probaly dosent even make sense but I don't sound clear. I'm not very weasy or anything and I don't feel anxious but I feel stressed a lot recently. It also gets really bad whilst and after drinking alcohol fizzy drinks sweets ect

[Griffon]

Hi Gemma , I suffered something similar , I too have a very active life , dogs , horses etc .

I have always suffers from hay fever , and as I've gotten older this has also brought on asthma linked to it . Last June the hay fever started and the asthma , and then the asthma just kept going at a perminant low level with regular flare ups . There were nights I thought I wasn't going to see the morning , and this continued until the start of this year .

Getting proper treatment was a battle . Eventually I got to see the Asthma Nurse and she instigated a proper regime of medication . It has taken two months of correct treatment to finally get my breathing back to normal .

It seems to me that proper medication and correct use of it is the key .

[sparksgemma in reply to Griffon]

Yeah tbh all they have done is taken me off the brown inhaler and put me on the purple but I am still taking like 10+ puffs of blue a day to keep me going

[ClaraC]

Hi sparksgemma, have you thought about contacting an experienced hypnotherapist to see if they can help you to ascertain whether your problem has a psychosomatic aspect? Often a consultation will be free. You could ask your doctor if he can do a medical referral to a reliable practitioner I have known of a very good one who has amazing success with many techniques which help enormously with psychosomatic disorders. Best wishes 😃

[Jess33]

I say this to everyone who's post I read that sounds similar to my experience it seems (which i won't share because I don't want to scare you) but it is so important to me to get this out to possibly prevent anyone from going through what I went through. I went through a very traumatic experience from not having my asthma under control and being honestly unaware of the issues and the consequences of that.

Please go see a specialist! It is the best thing I've done for myself. I haven't used my rescue now in 2 days. LONGEST IVE GONE IN YEARS!!!!

Not saying a GPs can't get stuff done but all mine did was give me a rescue and an inhaled steroid.... still ended using a rescue up in 15 days or so. Turns out I had allergy induced asthma... so basically I was just treating symptoms without treating the real cause.

A specialist can in the least rule out any triggers... so if it is possibly anxiety induced at least you know there's not anything else causing it. (Not sure if they handle the anxiety aspect) but they do ask questions and do tests and can tweek different treatment plans.

It's not "normal" to use a rescue that much.... or it doesn't necessarily have to be. It becomes normal to us because we need it and depend on it. -- I would actually get anxiety if I forgot it and cause an attack. But hopefully with testings and better treatment you won't have to be so dependent on the rescue. - Best of luck! Please keep updated!! -jess