How fast can an attack come and go?

[AbductedByAsthma]

Hi,

I’m newly diagnosed with asthma; less than three weeks. I take Seretide 500 and Ventolin accuhalers. Manifestations of my asthma so far have been very textbook: coughing, tightness, shortness of breath, and whistly wheezing.

A couple of days ago I was spraying bug-spray, something I’ve done thousands of times before. Suddenly I could no longer breathe, to the extent that I could barely even make the slightest wheeze. I immediately backed out of the area I had been spraying and over a period of about 30 seconds, my breathing returned (very noisily, with wheezing and gasping).

I spent a few hours searching the internet and came to the conclusion that this wasn’t asthma, but was Laryngospasm, due to the instant onset and fast return to normal, without medication. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lar...

But I honestly don’t know! While it certainly fits the description of Laryngospasm, confusingly, one of the causes of Laryngospasm is asthma.

This is my question: I don’t expect anyone to diagnose one or the other, but just to let me know if it is possible for an asthma attack to come and go so quickly?

[Griffon]

Hi , an asthma attack can come on in seconds once triggered . That's why correct use of preventer and treater inhalers is important . Air sprays are well known triggers .

A classic symptom of an asthma attack is coughing up phlegm afterwards .

[AbductedByAsthma in reply to Griffon]

Thanks for your reply Griffon. Can an asthma attack also end so quickly, without medication?

[Griffon in reply to AbductedByAsthma]

I'm not an expert , can only go by my own experience .

An asthma attack involves the airways in the lungs becoming constricted and producing mucus because they are irritated . This is why coughing up phlegm is a classic asthma symptom . The coughing and other symptoms do take a while to subside . I would think that what you describe was not asthma .

[Thomas45 in reply to Griffon]

I had an asthma attack in February 2018 which was just constriction of the airways without any mucus production. It came on very suddenly. I also had chest pain. Fortunately it happened just as i was entering a pharmacy attached to a medical centre. It was treated with several nebuliser sessions and prednisolone. I was kept in hospital for two days. So it came on suddenly but took some time to go.

[Tugun]

Hi,

It's not unusual for asthma to come on so quickly but it is unusual for it to leave so quickly without a quick acting medicine such as ventolin. You say it came back in about 30 seconds - that is not unusual but did the noisy, wheezing and gasping last? Or did you return to a complete easy breathing, no noise, no wheeze within a minute or two?

As an aside - as you are newly diagnosed I would suggest that you concentrate on improving your immune system. Do whatever you can to improve your health. Sometimes we keep pushing our body until there is an overload but sometimes it is also possible to gradually bring your body back to where it was. During a particularly bad time in my health I became extremely allergic to a laundry detergent that I had used forever! As my health improved, I was able to use the detergent again with no problems. Having said that I will never use a bug spray. I use hot water/ a broom or a shoe!

[AbductedByAsthma in reply to Tugun]

Hey Tugun, Thomas45 and Griffon,

Thanks for your responses.

> it is unusual for it to leave so quickly

> without a quick acting medicine such

> as ventolin

That is what I suspected. It perfectly fits a Laryngospasm and didn’t seem like my regular asthma.

> Did you return to a complete easy

> breathing, no noise, no wheeze

> within a minute or two?

Not quite, but there was also the shock. Bearing in mind that I have asthma, when it happened the constriction was almost total and I had no idea it would reverse. I thought to myself “This is it, I’m dead. I won’t be able to breathe an inhaler and I will pass out very soon”.

I’m not as concerned as I was, but I’ll treat aerosols with caution. And I’ll mention it to my doctor when I see him on Thursday.

Thanks again everyone.

[Emer1000 in reply to AbductedByAsthma]

I never use aerosols as it will always cause problems for me