Asthma Returned?

[Geegee2]

I had asthma as a child and it faded out when I was about 16. I suffered occasional wheezing if walking in a cold wind but did not need any medication. I am now 61 and had a general anaesthetic in April and began with asthma-like symptoms in May, but not sure if this is related. Have had antibiotics for 2 weeks and 1 week of steroids which helped for around three weeks but then sob and wheeziness returned. Awaiting a chest xray and have ventolin which I am using a lot but my main concern is pain in between my shoulder blades. Is this a normal side effect of asthma? Sorry for the long post.

[runcyclexcski]

Do you feel like ventolin helps? Did they do the asthma diagnosis already?

I had asthma as a kid, and"grew out" of it by age 4, and did not have any issues with breathing for a while. I did competitive nordic skiing, running, and cycling, and occasionally, after a very hard race, would feel a "bubble" in my lungs for a few days, but nothing more than that. Then I had viral pneumonia at 26, after which asthma has come back. I am now 45, and I control it by taking inhaled steroids (common) and Xolair injections (not common, when I can get them), avoiding carpets and libraries, exercising in a respirator, and sleeping in a pressurized air-cleaned room. When I get careless and hopeful that it has "gone away" it surely comes back.

[Geegee2 in reply to runcyclexcski]

Not an official diagnosis yet. Dr wants my peak flow record which is terrible - only on day 3 which improves after ventolin. - and results of xray. Ventolin does help temporarily. Had terrible hayfever this year too. Have never smoked but feel I am clenching my shoulders if this makes sense. Having a feeling I will be on constant medication too and I hate taking medicine, but has to be better than not being able to breathe. Thanks for responding.

[runcyclexcski in reply to Geegee2]

If they confirm allergic asthma, I hope you can identify quickly what triggers it; it's detective work. When I am bombarded by allergens all the time (dust, pollen), ventolin hardly works, it feels like pouring a bucket of water on a burning house. So I always have a respirator with me in a backpack, just in case.

I find that steroids (inhalers and systemic ones) take a week to kick in; ventolin takes 30 min to kick in, and then offers 4-5 hrs of relief at a time. I take it before sleep and before a stressful meeting.

I used to refuse taking inhalers for a year after the diagnosis, and kept doing endurance races anyway. I am at peace with the inhalers now. I feel lucky to leave during a time when the human average lifespan has increased ~75, thanks to the science and the medicines that it gave. Decided not to have kids b.c. of the asthma. It feels scary at times that there might be a disruption in medicine supply due to brexit etc., so I find myself always planning for the worse.

[twinkly29 in reply to Geegee2]

It sounds like your GP is doing things sensibly and investigating in an appropriate way, seeing if ventolin helps symptoms and peak flow in the first instance. If they weren't helping at all then it might not be indicative of asthma so barrelling down that route would be very unhelpful.

If he/she moves to the next stage they'll probably give you a preventer/steroid inhaler to try. This should be similar to the ventolin in that it's still a "try and see" approach, but with the the preventer inhalers these take about 8 weeks to kick in properly. However, during this time it will build up and symptoms and peak flow should improve (if it's helping and therefore likely to be asthma). It's important to keep monitoring peak flow twice a day to track any improvement over the time as it helps inform the doctor about whether it's likely to be asthma (if not then no asthma meds will help and they need a different route), and whether the inhaler is the right one for you if it is helping.

If it does turn out to be asthma then the preventer inhaler would have to be taken every day, even when you're well, but most people can be well controlled that way (so no longer symptomatic and not needing their blue inhaler more than 3 times a week - some never need it once on a preventer). Most asthmatics don't need piles of meds or have lots of issues all the time - and anyone who is having symptoms needs reviewing anyway.

Hang in there and hopefully you'll have more answers soon! It is common to have chest infections after a general anaesthetic so I imagine the doctor is ruling out it having been that as a cause with the x-ray.

[Geegee2]

Dear Runcyclexcski thank you for your response. Much appreciated.

[Geegee2]

Dear Twinkly29, thank you for your very helpful response. It is encouraging to know that I might be able to breathe fully again in the future. This forum is a lifeline and I note you support people often. I hope things start to move quickly once my xray results are known. It is the night time when I find it particularly difficult and this pain between my shoulders is another concern. Thanks again.

[Slockwook]

Geegee2 you're shoulder hunching could be anxiety, talk to GP , they can really help and usually don't offer more meds first. Asthma can be distressing, so lots of people suffer anxiety, if you keep hunching your shoulders, pain may become worse, and emotionally worse. I know iv had it, and it was a long journey, don't egnore it. Good luck Hun x

[Geegee2 in reply to Slockwook]

Thank you Slockwook. You are absolutely right I do keep hunching my shoulders for no apparent reason. Will mention it to my Dr. Thanks very much 🙂

[Oxygena9]

Hi! I was born with asthma - it went away when I was 35 and returned when I was 45. When it was away I had no symptoms at all, I lived like a "normal" person, no meds. Could breathe in cigarettsmoke and take long runs, things that would put me in the emergency before. But, when I was 45 it was triggered of something and returned. Some doctors said it really never went away, but some others say it can happen.

I also got pain in my upper back because I breathe a little bit strange ang struggle (as I guess we all do...), so I go to physiotherapy /massage and I also do some training, and that helps a lot. My CT-scan showed damage in the spine and that is normal because of age. Some pain in my back/lung-area was infections, and it went away after prednisolon.

Hope you get better soon 🤗

[Geegee2]

Thank you so much for responding Oxygena. It is a strange disease isn't it. Once I get my diagnosis and if it is asthma then I will keep in mind physiotherapy and massage. May I ask what type of physio and training you do? Obviously understand if you don't want to respond as this is personal. Thanks again 🙂