Finally feeling a bit better and seemed to have a turned a corner after a recent chest infection and asthma flare up.
However I’ve had a chest x-ray earlier in the week. They said that it was clear, but there background asthma related changes,which he went on to say is normal with asthma. I got a bit distracted so forgot to question it. Has anyone heard of anything similar to this before?
Thank you!
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Lotti_321-
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Yes - I’ve been ‘diagnosed‘ with something similar a few times. I think most issues usually shows up during/just after a prolonged exacerbation (air trapping, focal atelectisis, hyperinflation, bronchial thickening etc) , and most of it reverses as you recover. Other bits can linger tho if you spend a very long time (years!) un(der)treated/undiagnosed (bronchial thickening and hyperinflation mainly) which if bad can lead to worsening asthma symptoms/control (this is what bronchial thermoplasty treats) or a concurrent diagnosis of emphysema/COPD long term.
Most asthmatics will be told that their X-ray is clear cause usually what they are looking for (pneumonia, pneumothorax etc) is absent and it can take a more ‘fine-tooth comb’ approach to see the rest of it if it’s minor, and most docs ignore those findings anyway cause they’re there in most acute asthma episodes anyway!
I hope that helps explain what they might have seen and why the doc wasn’t too worried!
Thank you Emma, that’s really helpful. I wasn’t too worried, I was more curious as I didn’t think ‘asthma’ showed up on an x-ray. However that better explains it.
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