Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

[PrincessY]

I suspect that I have mild asthma (and will be checking with a doctor as soon as my insurance kicks in). Meantime, can those of you who do have asthma tell me what the symptoms are? I know about the extreme of asthma attacks and not being able to breathe (which I haven't had, thank goodness).

Right now, I cough all the time, but it is a dry cough - very unproductive - with a little "rattle" (for lack of a better word) now and then. Breathing in deep brings on coughing and my lungs feel kinds tight, but not always. I do have seasonal allergies and at one point I had walking pneumonia (and had to do the nebulizer/inhaler thing), and the doc said that may cause me to develop asthma at some point in my life.

Thanks for the help!

[cerpin taxt]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

I've had asthma my whole life, so it's kind of difficult for me to distinguish between what kind of breathing is normal, and what kind of breathing is normal for me. But yours does sound like a mild form, my dad developed it late in life the exact same way. I don't have much advise to give about it since there are so many types and everyone has different triggers. Just be careful not to push yourself until you see a doctor, if you do find an unexpected trigger, even if you don't go on a regular medication you want to at the very least have an albuteral inhaler for emergencies. Even mild sufferers who never have attacks should always keep one just in case. I had known almost all of my triggers for years and was very careful at avoiding them, then when I turned 21 I found a whole new one and it could have killed me if I didn't have my rescue inhaler. I'm not saying you should live in fear, I don't, and I do have attacks occasionally. It just can sometimes be unpredictable, so it's always good to be prepared. If you don't have access to an inhaler, sometimes really strong black coffee works a little bit.

As for the symptoms, besides full blown attacks, they usually involve wheezing, tightness, dry cough, shortness of breath. But asthma is a disease that affects the upper respiratory system, so any tightness or pain that's asthma related will usually be closer to your throat than underneath your ribcage. Otherwise it may just be a prolonged chest cold. When I push too much when I run, all the tightness and burning pain happens right at the top of my sternum. Coughing fits happen either when I'm stressed, or breathing not so clean air. Mucous buildup and subsequent wheezing happens when I eat or drink certain things, especially alcohol. All those things have led up to attacks at least a few times. At that point it's just a struggle for air. I don't get them all the time though, just when I'm not being as careful as I should.

[Hippie]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

What you have sounds more like a chest cold or bronchitis to me. I used to have some asthma problems when I was younger, but only had the wheezing and trouble breathing, not any of the other symptoms cerpin is talking about. From my experience, what you are talking about does not sound like asthma, but i am not a dr.

[Hakuna Makarla]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

Sounds like what happens to me, I take an inhaler and it goes away. Yes I have asma.

[PrincessY]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

Thanks to those who tried to help here! Appreciate the answers!

[PrincessY]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

What you have sounds more like a chest cold or bronchitis to me.

It does feel like bronchitis (which I've had plenty of) but it has been going on, off and on, for at least a year.

[QuietViolet]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

I have asthma and the only way I can describe it is, I get a sharp pain when I try to breathe in too deeply, I get wheezy and cough at random times throughout the day, and I get winded doing easy things because my lungs dont take in enough oxygen...

[hollywood1939]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

Sounds like bronchitis to me. I have asthma and usually when I have an attack it's just that I can't breathe without a cough. Usually a doctor will give a steroid inhaler to help you out, it did for me.

[stinkerbell]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

My husband wheezes seasonally or when he's sick. Luckily, the older he gets, the less often it is. Can't remember his last attack.

My daughter coughs when sick, winded, or when it's really cold and crisp out. Early morning soccer games this time of year are really tough on her, but we usually spruce her up ahead of time with her steroid inhaler. God bless albuterol. She's only had one wheezing attack and that was when she was five and it was really scary--she couldn't catch her breath at all and she spent the night in the hospital until it was under control.

[Alice's Wonderland]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

I'm severely asthmatic and have currently lived past my life expectancy. It sounds to me that you may be having some mild asthma like symptoms but it doesn't sound like you have asthma. Asthma is forever, there isn't a cure so I really hope that you don't truly have it. Now if you've been having asthma like symptoms for awhile, a steriod inhaler taken for a little while can really clear that up.

For me, it literally hurts to breathe. Breathing in, breathing out, that hurts. It's something I think about constantly, and I'm at the point that my rescue inhaler no longer works. It totally sucks. So I have to avoid anything that could cause an attack. Because it is no fun spending time in the ER in an oxegyn tent. I also am so severe that I don't wheeze anymore. I just can't breathe. When I'm having trouble with my oxegyn levels my nails will turn blue and then purple and I know that I have to do a treatment. Then because I have a lot of lung damage and really low lung function, my heart has to beat faster in an attempt to get all the oxegyn I need. So my heart beats almost twice for every normal person's once. It is a medical miracle that I'm still alive.

I personally think you'll be fine. Good luck though!

[QuietViolet]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

^^^ I'm sorry your asthma is so bad...

[PrincessY]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

I''m so sorry Alice's, that you have to live with such a debilitating condition. Sux.

Here's what I think I'm dealing with (from WebMD):
Cough-Variant Asthma


What is cough-variant asthma?

[Tracy98]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

Sounds like asthma to me, but also could be associated with chronic bronchitis.

[stinkerbell]

Re: Asthma sufferers - please help with ??

Here's what I think I'm dealing with (from WebMD):
Cough-Variant Asthma


What is cough-variant asthma?

This is exactly my daughter's form of asthma. She has two very bad months of coughing a year in our Oregon climate. The month of October is bad and then again in February. It's also bad after running. My husband is the same, but he also sometimes wheezes.

We control her symptoms by prevention as much as we can. She has an inhaler that we use before she exercises or on really crisp mornings before school.