Feeling frustrated

[Bernita]

Hi, I was diagnosed months ago by my GP with COPD. At that time I started taking Advair, which helped a lot. Problem was it caused me to have vertigo so I had to change meds. Recently I went to a pulmonologist and she did a thorough breathing exam. The test results that she obtained indicated that I have asthma primary with mild COPD. She has change my meds again, I now use a rescue inhaler, oral prednisone and dulera. I am not seeing a lot of improvement and she advised me that if there wasn't a major improvement I might have to be referred to a cardiologist. Has anyone had similar experience? Why is it so difficult to diagnosed and treat? I have also been told if asthma is treated as COPD and visa versa that is not good. Any ideas out there?

[Darob63]

COPD and Congestive Heart Failure (right side) have really similar symptoms. Best to be certain so you treat the right ailment.

[LORBIC]

Hi Bernita; I do have asthma that has turned into copd and also recently found out that I have heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. For meds I use Combivent Respimat as my rescue inhaler, Dulera but I use 2 puffs twice a day, this way I don't need prednisone and Tudorza Pressair for inhalers. I also take Daliresp which is a pill form for the copd. I also have heart meds on top of these. Did your pulmonary doctor do a x-ray or Ct Scan of your lungs? Yes, most of the inhalers are used for both Asthma and COPD. There are a few that it say's not to, I know it's the new combo inhalers that you have to be careful with. You may have to change meds several times until you find the one that works best for you. Glad you are being treated by pulmonary as they are the ones trained to treat the lungs, not the GP. Make sure you are drinking lots of water and I take Muscinex to keep the mucus thinned out so I can get rid of it. keep us posted on how your doing.

[OmaIndia]

My cardiologist both diagnosed me (CT scan) and is treating me. I saw several doctors over several years before I found him, and I found him strictly by chance. An Internal Med doc said to me "your job is to be patient". I was irritated by that advice, as I didn't feel anyone was attempting to get to the root of the problem (lack of oxygen to the brain) and I was impatient to move forward as rapidly as possible. As I turns out, I kept pushing for more tests and finally was referred to my current doctor. So the Internal Med specialist was correct. Keep advocating for yourself and switch doctors if you hit a brick wall. There are answers. Good luck.