viral induced asthma and questions

[flowergarden1]

hi I am still figuring out if I have asthma but it is looking more and more like it and I have a to of questions. so my breathing trouble started 5 years ago after I got a tick bite and did a long long time on antibiotics. I have had some breathing issues off and on since then but no wheezing. I tended to think the breathing issues were actually part of the lyme and co infections and didn't really think asthma. Then 9 weeks ago I got an inner ear virus for three weeks. right at the end of that I felt my upper brnochials tighten up and they have been tight for 6 weeks and I have had a lot of trouble breathing. ( I live in the us). I went to a few drs and they didn't think it was asthma because they didn't her wheezing. But I was starting to hear some squeaking and a bit of light wheezing and I was just gripped up tight all the time in my upper chest. I went for a pulmonary function test at the hospital but I have a lot of fear about those things and I was too scared to do the full test.

So finally yesterday I went to a new doctor to see if the breathing was lyme related. She said it sounded more like asthma- and that a virus like I had could bring on asthma.

She put me on an herbal formula which she said could help. And she said to try the albuterol inhaler. so I tried the inhaler for the first time yesterday. I felt about 60% better after it for about an hour then it tightened back up some for a couple hours, but then for the rest of the day I felt about 60-70% easier breathing.

So woke up today and things are tight with my breathing again. I guess I will do the inhaler again? I am not sure how often I should use it. Does it just help with the symptoms?

I need to figure out how to actually cure this asthma, but in the mean time I need to breathe comfortably. Is it safe to use the inhaler daily while I figure it out?

I am going to try herbal and homeopathic remedies ( guided by drs) to try to heal the asthma. I hope I can clear it.It has been my worst fear that I have asthma!! But this new dr said sometimes people can have acute asthma and it does not have to be chronic. Is this true? She also said there are lots of herbs ( she is a naturopath) that can help support it.

Any advice for me?

[flowergarden1]

I forgot to add some other questions I have. I am still trying to figure out for sure if this is asthma. I think it is-- I think maybe there are different forms of asthma? I had always thought asthma was like people feel ok, then something triggers them and then they have an attack, which can be warded off with an inhaler. but what I have is a tight gripped up feeling in my upper chest all the time- for the last 6 weeks. so can asthma cause you to feel that your lungs are gripped up all the time? and also, should an inhaler provide full relief of tightness and last for 4 hours? Or can it provide partial relief and kind of ebb and flow

[JoBo1979 in reply to flowergarden1]

Hiya,

I live in the UK and so have a different healthcare system but it sounds to me like you really need to go back to a medical doctor (not homeopathic - no offence) and get some good advice on the nature of asthma and how to use your inhaler.

That inhaler is just called Salbutamol here and I've been using it for 36 years. It is a reliever inhaler, used to improve symptoms when they happen, rather than to prevent them. I always thought that a few doses a day was the safe maximum but yesterday I went to my doctor as my asthma has flared up after one of my regular viral infections, and she told me to try taking it much, much more than I ever had in the past, for the duration of the illness. Obviously your inhaler might be a different strength to mine and your situation is different, so I can't tell you exactly how much you shoukd be taking.

People qith ongoing asthma may also need a preventer inhaler, that you take daily to maintain things and stop you needing the reliever inhaler so often.

Also, yes, asthma can manifest in different ways. I was diagnosed with it at 4 years old and as a child I always had sudden onset attacks. Now my asthma worsens much more gradually, and the tight chest feeling you describe can last for days.

Mostly I think you should not be scared to seek medical advice and definitely not be scared of having asthma. Most people can lead perfectly normal lives with it if it is treated correctly! My only problem these days is when I get a virus and my asthma gets worse for a few weeks. The rest of the time I'm just like anyone else!

Hope this helps.

[Wheezycat]

Unfortunately you cannot cure asthma. Some children may grow out of it, but otherwise you are stuck with it though you can have better and worse periods, and it can be well controlled or badly controlled. So if you have asthma you are stuck with it, and need to be aware of that. Though most asthmatics can lead very normal lives, it is still potentially a very serious condition. People can die from it, but most people absolutely don’t.

As one of the others have said there are preventers and relievers. Relievers , salbutamol mostly, lasts for a bit then wears off.

Go back to your doctor, and learn about asthma! I fact Asthma U.K.’s website is a very good site, but there will be others in the US, and they may have more with names of medications you recognise over there.

[Beefull8]

Hi. When I started reading your post, it sounded so much like me. I actually thought maybe I had wrote it. I’m also in the U.S. and suddenly had trouble breathing. A few hours later I was diagnosed with stomach flu. But for months I struggled to breathe. No wheezing either. I did take the pulmonary function test and got low scores on almost everything. I too have been doubtful of asthma even with my diagnosis because I was ill when I took the tests and because it came out of nowhere. It’s been about six months since my acute attack and I’ve been put on several medications including preventer inhalers, montelukast and a rescuer. For the most part, I can breathe a lot better, but I still struggle. I wished my asthma was temporary. I’m still in denial as it seems to go away completely when I’m in the ocean. But not being able to breathe is the worse feeling in the world and I have other autoimmune diseases so I’d rather be safe. Sorry if I couldn’t be more helpful. I’d say to take the full tests though. I actually didn’t use the rescue inhaler because I was afraid they would tell me I have asthma too and all it did was make it harder for me to know for sure. Now pulmonologists will read my results and say I don’t have asthma because I didn’t take the rescue inhaler and it showed no reversibility. Basically I have to do the whole test again.

[Atom1]

What herbal, homeopathic stuff have you tried. I'm interested in that as a lot of the inhalers don't suit me.

[Stespc22]

Hi I have infection induced asthma and generally for 90 % of the year my Asthma is controlled. With regards to your inhaler you need to build up your immunity to the triggers. I take 2 puffs of my preventer inhaler ( brown ) one in the morning when I wake and one at night just before bed.

If my chest is ever tight or especially during a cold / virus then I use my blue bricanyl reliever.

Occasionally I do require some prednisone steroids with antibiotics to clear up my chest and relieve the tightness as well as cracking and both wheezing whilst breathing in and out, I must stress this generally happens in winter.

As people will tell you on here there isn’t a cure for Asthma it can only be managed.

My Asthma is most definitely triggered by a virus or cold and when it hits its awful.

Sometimes we can’t avoid the winter bugs.

Hope this helped and good luck.

[Hidden]

You should buy a peak flow monitor and regularly monitor your PF ( they are cheap online). If you have no wheezing and the inhaler only gives you light relief for an hour and your PF doesnt change much when your breathing is restricted then it is very unlikely (although not impossible) that you have asthma.

PS You cannot cure asthma and in all trials no alternative medicines have ever increased lung capacity in an asthmatic.