Severe Asthma, Bronchial Thermoplasty?

[Shadowcat04]

About 2 years ago at age 47, I was diagnosed with asthma. It hit me like a brick wall. Fast forward to today and I have been allergy tested- nope (mild dust mites, mold and ragweed- not in Oregon), no eosinophilic Asthma, no vocal chord disorder. I am on spiriva, dulera, QVAR, montelukast, xyzal, Dupixent shots, and daily prednisone of 15 mg for now. My pulmonologist basically said there’s nothing more to do. When I need it, I have albuterol inhalers and albuterol nebulizer. I have been feeling poorly for weeks. The last suggestion from the pulmonologist was to keep lowering the pred and talk to my doctor for anti-anxiety med and maybe get a second opinion. I have an allergy doctor, too. Anyway, I’ve been hospitalized twice, ER last night, my Asthma doesn’t present normally, and the ER visit didn’t help much. Question-

Should I enquire about Bronchial Thermoplasty? Am I sick enough? Is it worth it? Does it work? Does it make it worse? Is there something else I should try?

[twinkly29]

It's really hard having non-typical asthma. A silly phrase in itself as non-allergic asthma, for example, is real.... it would just help if it was more widely understood!

I also find I react to things like pollen even though apparently my igE isn't raised.

I don't know much about bronchial thermoplasty but I think it's more about whether not would be effective in your type of asthma rather than a 'how sick you are' type thing - ie people with certain asthma types aren't necessarily worse if that makes sense. Having said that I don't know which asthma types BT works for!

Sorry that's probably not very helpful!

This is good at exploring the differences in presentation etc of asthma, anxiety and breathing pattern disorders in case that helps....

healthunlocked.com/asthmauk...

[hilary39]

I’m so sorry, sounds like you’ve had a rough run of things!! It’s very difficult to live with severe asthma. I always wish there was a way I could make that more clear to my loved ones who always seem somewhat surprised by my constant bouts and flares. I think asthma is so often thought of as a mild disease yet as people like us know, severe asthma can sometimes dominate every waking minute of our lives :/ it’s so hard when even ER staff aren’t helpful or are baffled.

There is a great bronchial thermoplasty group on Facebook that I would recommend checking out. Tons of people who’ve had it done and great threads you can look up by searching the index by key word. The overall sense I’ve gotten from the site is that it works great for some people but definitely not everyone. I’d kind of thought of it as a silver bullet end of the line option for myself so I was bummed to read a lot of people’s testimonies that it hasn’t helped but it at least helps you be pragmatic about deciding whether to pursue it-

[Jjude1003]

My symptoms sound similar to yours. I just got approved for BT and have my first procedure next Friday. If you go to the Boston Scientific BT site you can find a doctor that does the procedure. They are pretty familiar with the insurance approval drill. Based on your description of symptoms and meds it sounds like you should be a candidate.

[Shadowcat04]

Thank you everyone for your thoughtful responses. I did request to join the Facebook group last night for BT.

A lot of time I feel like it is just me not being strong enough or not just getting up off the couch (I’m always so tired, or out of breath or coughing).

I think I realized it was pretty serious in January when my pulmonologist said the best thing would probably be to stop teaching altogether! What?! That’s what I do, that’s who I am! But, I have been hospitalized once in the last two school years with a huge medical leave after each because I just couldn’t recover. It took over 8 weeks to recover from each hospitalization.

I will look at the Boston Scientific Site and see how I fit in. My pulmonologist hasn’t mentioned it, so I’m not sure how she feels. I talk to her tomorrow. I appreciate all your input before I talk to her.

I feel so much less alone. Today, I hope to rest and use inhaler and nebs after my ER visit on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were not very relaxing. I didn’t sleep again well for about the 10th night in a row.

Thank you for making me feel not alone!