I'm new

[Esad]

Hello, I'm new here, and feel a bit of a fraud as I havent actually been diagnosed. I've been having some symptoms, and research on the Internet suggests asthma might be a possible cause of my symptoms.

My symptoms include waking in the night feeling out of breath, coughing during the day that I can't stop, a tight feeling in my chest.

I've been to the GP and had some tests, but they've been inconclusive, and they think I'm experiencing anxiety.

I know this is quite vague, but I'm just wondering if I should go back to my GP, or if it does sound like anxiety.

[SenguineGritt]

Hey Esad, no fraud to worry about in searching for understanding. As someone whose lived and done his best to manage asthma his whole life, hopefully I can give you some food for thought.

I always recommend going to an allergy and asthma specialist for diagnosing asthma. Nothing against GP's at all but a specialist would know more specific questions to ask you to help diagnose you as well as checking for allergies and other triggers. They can even perform a peak flo test where they use a small device to measure your lung capacity and then administer an inhaler (Albuterol) and check for increased capacity that would indicate asthma.

Anxiety itself can mimic asthma as well as trigger asthmatic exacerbation in those with asthma. So you may have either or both or neither even if it's something else.

A smartwatch like a Samsung ( I have one ) can measure your blood oxygen concentration throughout the day and night including your heart rate. People don't often consider your heart rate since it varies so much but generally as your lungs struggle to circulate oxygen, your heart rate increases to compensate.

You can show the data the watch collects to your GP or a specialist. In case you go this route, here's a basic breakdown of blood percentages.

96-100: ideal healthy levels

93-100: not uncommon while sleeping

92 > x : concerning and a reason to ask a doctor

Bellow 88 you need to go to a clinic for medical assistance

Around 76 you'll likely lose control and your bladder and should be in the hospital (this is an informed statement if you can't tell from the specificity).

Bare in mind that while frightening, chest tightness and difficulty breathing are worsened by stress and panic. When you wake in the night or struggle in the day, take deep and slow meditative breaths to keep calm and provide your lungs with as much oxygen as possible to work with. If you keep waking in the night, the vapor from a hot shower or pot of boiled water can soothe the lungs as well as anxiety. Adding a few drops of eucalyptus and tea tree oil to the pot can provide additional relief.

The meditation bit sounds gimmicky but has helped to save my life before when I've wound up in the ER from asthma or anaphylactic shock. Highly recommend learning some SIMPLE techniques and using them throughout the day.

If your insurance isn't very generous for a specialist you can ask them to pay in cash. This usually gets a pretty good discount so long as they have nothing on file for you, though you'd need cash. If cash is hard and a watch out of the question (you can finance one on Amazon for like 15 bucks a month) I would say the symptoms you've listed are reason enough to keep investigating with your GP.

More than anxiety can mimic asthma including seasonal allergies, pinched nerves in your chest (more common than most realize), heart arrhythmia, fatigue, respiratory infections, sighting a celebrity and etc.

What you need to pay attention to is how well you can intake air. Not all asthma has wheezing and silent asthma occurs deep in the lungs and is quite common. Swelling ventricles in your lungs typically indicate asthma and can be momentarily released with a rescue inhaler and prevented more long term with other medications a specialist will prescribe depending on your specific triggers.

When you start to feel unwell check your fingernails for a purple coloration as this can indicate low blood oxygen saturation. If your skin is fair enough and you neglected the summer tan, you can also look for purpling/browning around the joints of your fingers. A pallid face and bluish lips are also signs of dangerously low blood oxygen.

Best of luck and feel free to shoot all the follow up questions you need. My brother wasn't diagnosed with asthma until his late twenties. Guess my shining death star overshadowed his a bit in childhood 😅