Hello Everyone. I would really appreciate your advice please. I'm a 55 year old female who was diagnosed with asthma seven years ago and I'm on Symbicort 200 as preventer and reliever.
My asthma manifests itself in that if I'm doing anything energetic I'm puffing and get out of breath, to the extent that others pass comment. If I climb two flights of stairs I'm the same and I can't hold a conversation when I get there.
But then I have other episodes that bother me more and they all happen when I am seated and so both physically and mentally relaxed. I will suddenly feel like someone has sucked half the air out of the room and I'm struggling to breath what's left, my chest feels tight, I feel light-headed, my legs go weak, I feel trembly and my voice is affected as if my throat is constricted. My heart doesn't seem to be beating rapidly. I use my inhaler and the breathing starts to ease but the other symptoms take longer to dissipate. After the breathing has calmed, I feel so fatigued that sometimes I find it hard to stay awake.
There are no obvious triggers for any of these episodes, they happen anywhere. The only common denominator is that I'm sat down and relaxing. My mind isn't worrying, in fact its usually distracted from thinking as I'm often reading a book when it happens.
Do other people experience similar asthma episodes? (I won't call them 'attacks' because I know that many people have much more severe symptoms than mine which warrant the term.) Or is this something else like anxiety? Although I've had anxiety attacks in the past and they have been much more severe in symptoms - racing pulse, rapid breathing, irrational thoughts - than those I've described.
If anyone can help I'd be really grateful. Thanks very much.