Help please. Anxiety, asthma or mix of both?

[Dalton1]

Hello all,

I am 24y old and I have been diagnosed with asthma when I was a child. I never really had any real problems because it was mostly allergic asthma.

2 years ago (summer of 2019) I started to have everyday chest tightness and feeling like my chest muscles are to weak to breath in and out and like not enough oxygen is coming into my lungs... after that I would start to feel like I was going to pass out any second and like I was choking (while having these symptoms my peakflow was okay)

I went to regular pulmonologist control every couple of months while using fostair 100/6 2x morning and 2x evening... after like almost 2years of using it everyday I didnt notice any change (we also did all the other tests like hearth,thyroid,blood and it was all good)... On the last control which was 2months ago my pulmonologist said that this is not asthma causing the problem (because all my controls in this 2years was fine) and that I should visit psychiatrist... and I did visited best one in town who told me that I have anxiety problem (psychosomatic asthma) and that I should use antidepresivs which I refused (I am not pessimist.. I work and I go to college)...

My current status is that I do have some improvement but I still cant imagine a day without using fostair which helps me in getting the day through...

My question for you all is should I be afraid of everyday usage of fostair for this long? (could fostair cause me some other problems?)

How would you deal with this problem?

I never really tried to get through the "attack" without using fostair which probably is placebo in that situation but maybe this would help me if I start to go through this "attack" without using it?

[Troilus]

We’ll Dalton, the first thing I would say is change your pulmonologist!She/he certainly hasn’t explained things very well at all!

I’m answering this from an asthma point of view - I know anxiety can cause asthma like symptoms, but apart from that I know nothing about it.

First thing your pulmonologist should have told you is that you MUST take your Fostair every morning and every night.

This is called your preventer as it designed to prevent attacks. It contains a steroid to reduce inflammation and it something in it to keep your airways open. This lasts 12 hours, so it must be taken 12 hours apart.

Unfortunately the steroid element of this inhaler (all preventers) takes 6-8 weeks to become fully effective.

And no, it is not dangerous to take it everyday. Just about everyone here takes a preventer twice a day. It is standard treatment for asthma.

Secondly, you must never ignore symptoms and yes you can take Fostair100/6 when you get symptoms. I think it is about 8 through the course of the day, it I am not sure on that. (I’m sure someone else will come along who does know.)

Like I say I know nothing of anxiety, but if it is your asthma playing up, a higher dose of Fostair might be needed.

[Dalton1 in reply to Troilus]

Hey Troilus , I was trying to keep my post short so I forgot to mention that we tried to higher my dose with spiriva respimat... but all of this medication that I used nothing worked and it has passed 2 years now...

I still get this symptoms everday especially in the morning when I wakeup and I cant get outside of the house without using my fostair first which is really annoying (so let say that I take my fostair 2 times at the evening at around 23pm and when I get up at 07 am I still get symptoms)

The problem that I see is that I dont feel anxious nor do I currently have any major problems in my life.. everything is going in positive direction... could this be breathing disorder?

[Troilus in reply to Dalton1]

I don’t know much about that either ☹️ Sorry. If you use the search facility to the top right of this page it should throw something up. There have been a lot of posts about it.

I’m no expert - but I would think if your Fostair works asthma is at least playing a part in your breathlessness.

Spivira Respimat is a lama - it is designed to relax the airways for 24 hours - it won’t treat any underlying inflammation.

I take it, and Fostair 200/6 alongside a tablet called Montelukast, a kind of anti allergy pill. I also take antihistamine on a daily basis.

I was originally on Fostair 100/6. - I remember the first time I took it, I thought it was magic! However, I kept having attacks, so 2 courses of prednisone later it was upped to 200/6.

[Dalton1 in reply to Troilus]

Yeah I agree it is probably mix of both also because I have allergic rinithis and I had 2 nose surgerys... I am just afraid that long term usage of fostair will have bad impact on my health... what do you think? is it normal to use asthma medications for years?

[Troilus in reply to Dalton1]

In short, yes 😁

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

Hi Dalton1,

It does seem like asthma may not be the only/main issue if asthma meds don't seem to be helping (but doesn't mean there is no asthma at all - it just may be that isn't what is causing your day to day breathing problems).

You may well have breathing pattern disorder causing many of the issues. It unfortunately seems too common for even doctors to assume all breathing pattern issues/dysfunctional breathing must be due to anxiety. While anxiety can cause these problems, they can also occur often in people with asthma or just generally. It can be a mechanical thing and not necessarily have anything to do with anxiety.

You may find this post helpful to understand the differences between asthma/anxiety/breathing pattern disorder.

healthunlocked.com/asthmauk...

[Ts777]

Hi,

I suffer with both asthma and anxiety and, for me, they can trigger each other.

Asthma obviously affects my breathing. This can cause me to be anxious. Anxiety causes me to do a panic breathing pattern. This panic breathing triggers the asthma.

If I’m anxious, I can do panic breathing. This does feel a bit like asthma. It can also trigger the asthma.

Panic breathing sounds like a really easy problem to solve. Breathe in a paper bag etc. This isn’t the case for me, I have to manage the anxiety to sort the breathing out properly.

When my breathings bad, ventolin may just help a bit. It will sort out the asthma. I then have to deal with the anxiety to sort out the panic breathing. I do have various ways of doing this, mindfulness and distraction work best for me. Others have different methods.

Of course, your situation maybe completely different. However, I had drs saying my asthma was steroid resistant before they realised that anxiety was involved. No amount of steroids sorted my asthma out . It seems it’s sometimes difficult for them to see when anxiety and asthma sit together?

[Nmstoday]

The other thing to consider is if it might be vocal cord dysfunction which is often misdiagnosed as asthma and can exist alongside it.

[Dalton1]

Hey Nmstoday , Ts777 , Lysistrata ... Thanks for reply <3

first thing I got to say is that I was checking vocal cord and that I have some slight disfunction.

I do think that main problem is chronic rhinitis which cause mucus going down my throath and probably into my lungs which is causing a little bit of asthma symptoms... also I probably developed breathing disorder and anxiety..

I will start working out and do breathing exercise... also I need to find a way to keep my nose clean as possible.. I will continue to use fostair as prediscribed.. I dont see what else can I do?

[Nmstoday]

Do you use a steroid nasal spray - that made a massive difference for me with post nasal drip.

[Dalton1 in reply to Nmstoday]

Yes I do use it.. it helps a bit but my nose start to bleed after 1/2 weeks of use