X-Ray

[Lotti_321-]

Hi,

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!

[emmasue]

Following because I have had asthma all my life and I always worry about changes to my lungs.

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

So glad that you’re starting to feel better!

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!

[Lotti_321- in reply to EmmaF91]

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.