Is it really asthma?

I'm just about to go up on my Fostair from 100 to 200 after struggling to breathe during the last 3 weeks, but I'm starting to wonder if it's really asthma I have. When I'm having a an attack, I don't respond to salbutamol or prednisolone and I never wheeze, yet sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating/drowning. I was diagnosed 2 years ago with allergic asthma but I'm starting to wonder if it's a misdiagnosis. Does anyone else have breathing problems like this and found out it's something else? Spoke to asthma nurse today and she made me feel like an alien because I don't have the classic symptoms.

[Hazyeyes]

Hi, I have the same issues as you, they said I have allergic asthma and yet I can’t take sabutomol as it makes me worse not better. They changed my inhaler as well to pulmicort they think I may have something like silent reflux causing this or asthma made worse by that.

I am now trialing a medicine called Lansoprazole which has helped. I had the feno test for asthma and it came back good that looked as if I didn’t have any lung issues. But Asthma nurses have said maybe I got the test on a good day.

It’s all very confusing and I think anxiety causes similar feelings as well, which i have recognised.

Hope you find out what it is and get the right treatment, An asthma nurse said to me the other day they think a lot of asthma issues start in the gut and cause inflammation to the airways.

[Hidden in reply to Hazyeyes]

Hi Hazyeyes,

Thank you for your reply. It's interesting you said the salbutomol makes your asthma worse and not better. My asthma nurse told me yesterday that everyone she knew got better quickly when taking salbutomol, which really depressed me At times I'm tempted to keep taking the salbutomol to see if it helps but when I spoke to a 111 doctor he said it could be dangerous for me as I have palpitations and the salbutomol can make them worse and ultimately exasperate my breathing. Someone advised the propellant in the canisters can worsen asthma so I'm going to try powdered inhalers which they said helped them. The acid reflux is something they suspected a couple of years ago and I was temporarily put on Omeprazole (together with a lot of other things). My breathing's been bad for the last 2-3 weeks and I've noticed there's been a lot of barbecues/fires nearby & builder's dust - I see dust/embers on my car every morning. Saturday I started struggling to breathe sitting in my living room when the smell of smoke came in through my kitchen's open doors. I am on a waiting list to see a respiratory specialist in London, so I'm hoping I'll get a definitive diagnosis soon.

[Hazyeyes in reply to Hidden]

It’s really horrible I know I’ve felt the same many times. I think I do have allergic asthma and triggers make it show up more. Keep your windows closed and maybe get a fan indoors. Don’t let pollen in and stay away from smoky bbqs they affect me too.

I have had to change from an aerosol inhaler to a powder one called pulmicort which is feeling a lot better. I also noticed a good change when I started an antihistamine daily just over the counter one Loratide which has helped loads.

I have had panic attacks where I thought it was asthma and my spray didn’t help as it wasn’t asthma related. It’s easy to get into a panic cycle with asthma as it is a scary condition but panicking only makes it worse. So I have seen a respiratory physio before the lockdown and she suggested practising breathing from the stomach not chest breathing as you get a much better breath and sometimes lean slightly over forwards can help. Definitely have a fan near you as well when it gets like that as it feels a lot better. The preventatives take about ten days to two weeks to build up in your body but your reliever is instant.

Also a steroid nasal spray helps as sometimes when you are asleep you can get post nasal drip going down the back of your throat and wake up congested.

Sorry for the gross details but hope some of it is helpful.

I went to Lapland last Christmas and I really thought the cold weather would set me off but I was fine as it is cold and dry not damp.

The summer has kicked my butt with allergies this year worse than most years before!

[Hidden]

I don’t want to send you off on a wild goose chase, or give you any undue worry. I’m not a medical professional, nor do I have any special kind of respiratory knowledge.

That said, I can totally relate to your story. I was diagnosed with asthma after a lung collapsed. I didn’t have classic asthma symptoms and I was getting the drowning feeling you describe pretty much daily. Some days it felt like my chest was packed with concrete.

Doctors and nurses were very impatient with my protests that I didn’t have asthma. They would patronise me and roll their eyes, tut and smirk when I complained that I though the diagnosis wasn’t correct.

After 2 years of feeling like I could die at any given moment, someone eventually sent me for a scan, which showed I had emphysema... only they made an admin error somehow and told my doctor I had “no emphysema”. This empowered my doctor to be even less interested in my protests.

So eventually I moved to a new country and one day my lung collapsed again. Ironically this was the luckiest moment of my life, as they sent me off for a scan (not having my U.K. files) and found my emphysema. The specialist also did allergy tests and a camera was inserted into my lungs.

After all the tests, I was told I was allergic to milk and of course the above mentioned emphysema. I was given the correct medication and I can tell you that I am now able to live a fairly normal life and very rarely get the attacks.

So my advice is not to give up. Be respectful of professional opinion, but also know that they can be wrong. If you feel that your symptoms are not asthma, continue to research and ask questions. If you’re convinced of it, then keep on making a fuss until someone sends you for proper tests. You know your own body and you’re the one feeling the symptoms, which makes you the best person to make the call.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi FatherJack,

Thank you for your reply. It sounds like you went through hell until they got you properly diagnosed. I'm glad you're able to live a normal life now. I've looked up emphysema and the symptoms do sound similar to mine. I did have a CT scan done a couple of years ago but I'm not sure whether that would show up. They just said I had allergic asthma and mild bronchiectasis from it. It can be really confusing because when I asked the asthma specialist about asthma drugs causing my heart palpitations, he said Fostair wouldn't. After googling this, it says palpitations are a common side effect! Perhaps the internet can be a dangerous thing I understand what you are saying about being respectful of their opinion so can only think he said that because he was worried I'd stop taking the Fostair. I'm taking your advice and not giving up, I've managed to get on a waiting list to see a respiratory expert in London who I hope will clear the whole matter up, fingers crossed.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Good luck with it. I was thrown in at the deep end too and my experience has been that there is a great deal of guesswork involved and I’m sure most people would just walk away with whatever diagnosis they are offered, no matter how little it resembles their experience. You just have to keep being a thorn in the side of your doctor get to the bottom of it. It’s a hassle for both you and your doctor, but getting your condition under control is well worth it. Your symptoms certainly don’t sound mild and I can 100% relate to the descriptions you give of them.

[Griffon]

Hi , Asthma is an inflammation and consequent restriction of the lungs airways . This causes wheezing breath and coughing up the mucus that the attack produces . These are classic symptoms . There are other things that can cause tightness of breath , one being anxiety , but anxiety attacks do not produce mucus .

[Hidden in reply to Griffon]

Thanks Griffon, I feel like I'm drowning in mucus when I have these attacks but no wheezing! It's like a cement mixer has just poured its load into my lungs and I can't cough it up.

[Griffon in reply to Hidden]

If you are producing mucus it suggests that what you have is indeed asthma . Coughing it up can be quite painful and a serious matter . I choked myself once doing this - not an experience to repeat !

[Hidden in reply to Griffon]

There are 5 gel forming mucin’s found in mammals. 2 are present in the lungs and airways. One is always present and the other is formed in response to inflammation. All 3 types of COPD produce this second mucin.

[Ken6]

Hallo,

If you google "asthma vs COPD" you will get links to charts written in English not "doctor speak". They are fairly easy to understand. My doctor told me I had COPD. I later found out it was asthma, I changed surgeries.

Ken

[WheezyNanma]

I've had similar issues. Started to feel breathless, shallow breathing, constantly yawning etc. and doctor told me to increase Fostair 200/6 from 2 puffs a day (1 morning, 1 night) to 4 puffs a day.

I've done this and the shallow breathing, breathlessness has gone, however I'm not totally convinced it was my asthma. I think it may well have been stress / anxiety due to lock down, virus etc. The symptoms of asthma can be very similar to those of anxiety. I'm not talking about a panic attack, but chronic anxiety which can lead to palpitations, breathlessness etc.

It's really hard to know the difference in my case. I was really happy taking the Fostair twice a day but now I'm loathe to try to decrease my dose. Swings and roundabouts, because with the higher dose of Fostair I'm also taking double the amount of formotorol, which can cause the palpitations. But so can the anxiety!

[Hidden in reply to WheezyNanma]

Hi WheezyNanma, I find that so weird too, I keep feeling the need you yawn but when I do it feels completely unfulfilled, like it's not working. It feels like my lungs are blocked and I can't get air in to my blood stream. I also wonder if it's not being able to get rid of the carbon dioxide building up inside and sometimes get a burning sensation around my body. Just about to start my 200/6 Fostair but worry after a while it might not work (like I found the 100/6) and I'll have to go on something stronger. My asthma nurse kept telling me they like to reduce the steroid inhalers, but how can you when you're struggling most of the time. I think it could be anxiety too, for me it might be the fear that I can't breathe properly, probably the worst thing to do when you're trying to control your asthma. I do think air quality also has a lot to do with it, especially given the amount of dust and soot in my street at the moment. I've found historically I've felt these feelings/problems when I've been exposed to large amounts of dust or smoke.

[WheezyNanma in reply to Hidden]

Yes it is weird. I think you're right in that your obvious anxiety over these issues, totally understandable, will cause a vicious cycle. For this the Fostair will help, because the Formotorol is a muscle relaxant which will relax your lungs. Sounds to me like your lungs are tense and unable to function as they should because of this.

Also you should try proper deep breathing when you start to feel this way - breathing in deeply through the nose, hold for 5 seconds, and then breathe out through the mouth. This will certainly help to relax you and bring your heart back into a slower rhythm if there are palpitations. It always gets rid of mine.

It's true the object is always going to be to try to reduce your medication, no matter what it is, so that the body can take over and not lose the ability to do so. Having said that, your asthma diagnosis is important and that comes first. Get that on an even keel and keep it that way for a few months, then you can consider reducing inhalers etc.

I'm not a doctor but from what you describe you're very anxious, and that by itself causes problems such as you describe, as well as perhaps exacerbating the asthma. All of this combined will make you feel short of breath, unable to catch your breath etc. Good luck anyway.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I’ve suffered from this earlier this year, but I also suffer from silent reflux and either could have been responsible for the problem. I’m sure anxiety over the current situation wasn’t helping at all, but my asthma meds weren’t hitting it (and my peak flow and oxygen sats were fine so...), plus the fact that it was definitely worse after eating or drinking (drinking in particular) made me think it was most likely silent reflux. I went back on the reflux meds. It took seven weeks before things got back to something resembling normal, and the first three weeks were horrendous! I’m under consultant led care for my digestive tract and he now wants a gastroscopy done to see what’s going on.

[Karenhskippy]

do you have a hiatus hernia?