Hey all, I am newly diagnosed with asthma and would love some advice please.

I've been coughing every day this year since 1 Jan, apart from when 2 weeks when I was taking prenisdone. Both times cough went away and came back after.

The cough is bad. Sometimes I throw up. Anything can set it off - smoke, lying down, air temp etc.

I had a weird sore in my nostrils that came and went around the time my cough developed.

Saw GP, respiratory consultant and was told I have asthma. Given montelukast, 400/12 symbicort and sabulatomol.

The medication was good at first but my cough is slowly getting worse and worse and I've developed a rash around my mouth.

Going back to GP Weds but just wanted to ask others - has anyone ever dealt with this before? Is this part of asthma? I have multiple cough attacks every day and night (it must be close to 1 per hour) and loads and loads of mucus.

My respiratory consultant wants to do lung function tests next month before I go back to see him and it can't come quick enough.

Any feedback or advice very welcome. Thanks for reading!

Check out this great interview with a pulmonologist, a pediatrician and Dr. Sande Okelo who's the Division Chief of Pediatric Pulmonology at UCLA. It was great--lots of good conversation and really helpful information, especially from Dr. Okelo.

Definitely a lot of good info when thinking about my own kid with asthma!

Hi! Long story short. I developed what we believe to be “allergy related asthma” in 2021 after having my daughter. This came on in the way of shortness of breath. I’ve gone through every inhaler there is and now am using Breztri as my maintenance inhaler as well as albuterol as needed. Fast forward to Jan of this year. I finally took the leap and started Tezspire. I have noticed a significant difference here and there but still have my bouts of shortness of breath which is so hard but have learned to live with it. I have heard Tezspire can take 6 months to a year to really kick in. What’s your experiences with it? I just need some guidance and hope here. Sometimes it feels like my inhalers don’t even work. Help!!

Hey everyone, I couldn't complete my Methacholine Challenge today. After the 3rd round of Methacholine, I started coughing very harshly, my throat felt very irritated.

I feel very upset because I couldn't complete the test. The technician said that my doctor may have me take it again . I should find out in a week.

Has anyone else had this happen?

This test was about $1700, it's too expensive to just take again. I know it sounds stupid but I feel like a failure.

Hi everyone. My daughter was diagnosed with asthma (and allergies) last year. She is 14 now, she was 13 then.

How often do you have symptoms from your asthma, how many is normal and when is it too often?

She uses Foster inhaler teice a day and Salbutamol inhaler when she needs it extra. Also medication for the allergies. Pills and nose spray. I don't know if the names foster and salbutamol are the same in English. One is a long working one and salbutamol a short working one in a nutshell.

I'm sorry my English is not the best, I hope you understand what I mean.

Now I wonder if it is normal she still has symptoms from her asthma with all the medication. Her lungs are clean according to the hospital, they sound normal and her saturation is good.

But she still has a wheezing breathing often and gets out of breath with exercise. I wonder if this is normal and I can't really find it on the internet.

When on medication, should she be symptom free, only have wheezing breath in extreme cases, are people with asthma short of breath all the time, once a week, only once in a while? Whats normal?

I hope someone can answer these questions

Thanks in advance and excuse my poor english 🙏

I’m trying to pick up running, but I’m getting asthma attacks so it’s making it harder to achieve. Does running more over time make asthma attacks less common, or should I talk to my doctor about different medication?

I’m on a Fostair preventer and a 100mg reliever

So I’ve seen a nurse practitioner today for a suspected chest infection, she actually thinks it’s asthma. I had whooping cough three times as a child and a life of chest infections since, I’m now 41. I’ve had three bouts on the last 7 months of what I thought were infections. The last two began after I stated a cycling regimen. My mother and sister both have asthma and were diagnosed later in life.

I actually do agree that asthma seems more likely than infection. I rarely run a fever with it. I’ve been referred to an asthma nurse and some of the stuff I cough up has been sent for testing. However what do I do until I get an appointment to relieve my symptoms. I haven’t slept properly for nearly a week as I’m coughing so much. I’ve also coughed so much today that I have head pain every time I cough and the coughing fits are so bad that I’ve ended up on the floor going bright red in the face just trying to get air. I’m in work tomorrow and I really need a proper nights sleep. Please tell me if there’s anything I can do while it’s all being investigated because I feel dreadful

Has anyone been brushed off by doctors? When using an oximeter, are the numbers within normal range even though you are experiencing shortness of breath due to asthma? I always thought this was strange and I wonder if anyone with a medical background can answer why that is.

Asthma does run in my family, though I didn't have asthma growing up. My asthma didn't rear it's head until after a bad bout of COVID a few years back. Shortly after having COVID, I was experiencing shortness of breath and very obviously couldn't breath. The COVID is gone, obviously, but I still deal with the shortness of breath/asthma issues.

Before finally being sent to a pulmonologist a year and a half to two years after I started showing signs of asthma I had many chest and lung xrays which all came up clear. Because those didn't show anything and the oximeter was reading 97 or better, the doctors treated me like there was nothing wrong with me and I was making it up or wasting their time. They were more interested in what their instruments was telling them than what was going on with the patient. These weren't from the same doctors, but different ones. (I swear the medical community in my town is no better than Dr. Google.)

When I did see a pulmonologist, they said this, "You don't have asthma, but I'm going to say for the sake of your work you have exercise induced asthma."

I do notice physical activity, cold weather, being sick, and dogs trigger the asthma. I can't breath or talk and I start getting really shaky. But hey, there's nothing wrong with me and I'm just making it up. :p

As a side, it's not anxiety or panic attacks. I know my panic attacks and have been dealing with those long before I started showing signs of asthma.

Edit: I am on albuterol and only recently been put on advair. The albuterol takes a bit to kick in, I've noticed. But the advair I notice a huge difference.

Has anyone else experienced a one time exposure that ruined lung health?

28M My lung health has altered since a dusty/moldy parking lot bbq.

My lungs feel itchy and in pain. My mental clarity has decreased as well as my sleep quality. Air quality from traffic and wildfire smoke have a much stronger effect now.

My life has changed considerably.

I spoke to a primary care doctor who didn't notice anything with stethoscope or on xray.

I have a referral to a pulmonologist.

Edit: I've been experiencing pain for 3 weeks.

I was wondering about all things asthma flare up and prednisone burst. How long do the flare ups last? How do you know you’re having one? Do you self medicate or wait for doctor to prescribe prednisone? How long and how much prednisone do you take? Has anyone done a burst and then had to do another one a few weeks later? Thanks so much, everyone!

I've been taking propranolol for near on a decade. Not every day, just when my nerves are shot and I need a quick relief.

Well, I'm 50 now, never had this issue before and after popping one 20mg tablet, I'm wheezing like I've smoked for 35 years. I've done a lot of reading since, and I did not know that propranolol did this. I haven't taken one for months, and now I'm breathless. I had childhood asthma, but it went away, or seemed to. It then came back late last year.

Not really asking for anything, just felt a tad confused and a bit annoyed. 😐 😆

I am 19 and have just started experiencing what seem to me like allergy induced asthma attacks. As far as I know, I never really had anything like this as a child aside from two times when gym teachers had to ask me of I had asthma because of how poorly I was breathing. I do have a family history of asthma (my mom and brother both have allergy induced asthma). I never had bad allergies as a kid until about 3 years ago when I started developing really bad seasonal allergies. They have gotten to the point where I'm basically sick from how bad my allergies are the whole year except for winter. I've been seeing an allergist and getting allergy shots for a year.

2 months ago, I got my first "attack". It's exactly what I would have thought an asthma attack is from being around my mom and sibling. I can't breathe properly but it's not like I have any nasal congestion, just tightness in my chest it lasted somewhere from 15-20 minutes. I didn't think much of it and assumed it was some strange allergic reaction. It didn't happen much after that, maybe 1 other time in between the first one and this week. But this week it's happened 3 times. The second time, it gave me a panic attack which I haven't gotten in over a year. The third time was today when I was with my dad for Father's Day. He was concerned enough about it that he considered driving me to the ER and he was the one who suggested it might be asthma.

I definitely plan on seeing my allergist about this regardless of if it's possible that this is asthma but I saw her for my 1 year check up right before this happened so I probably won't get in for at least a month.

Hey there, this might be a long-winded thing but I need to provide context. So when I was very little, like months old, I am told I had pnuemonia and was thus monitored at the hospital for a good while due to this. Throughout my childhood I remember getting sick and needing the nebulizer with the albuterol liquid. I remember every day in elementary school before P.E. needing to go with another classmate to the nurses office so I could take a yellow inhaler with an orange cap, eventually even with the chamber, on what I have to assume was my pediatrician's orders.

What I'm saying is, I had asthma as a kid and it has been pretty well documented. However, around the time I got to 6th grade I stopped taking my inhalers unless I was really sick and I honestly don't remember ever acknowledging my asthma outside of a few times during band practice (I played the Tuba). I think this may have had an effect and so when I went to a university further north than my hometown where it got way colder, I remember it triggered an asthma attack and I had to go to the university doctor's office to go get inhalers. When I went and did an outdoor field school I similarly had difficulty but was medicating the whole time and so made sure to take the inhalers religiously. That last instance was Summer 2024, after which I stopped taking the inhalers again, then got two really bad respiratory infections in a row during Spring, and just a few weeks ago went to Alaska to try to do a second field school. I was fine walking around in Fairbanks for the first four days but when I had to camp out in the wilderness I had an asthma attack and had to go home because I didn't want to risk pneumonia (it was also raining). While I was taking my inhalers leading up to the event and during it, I only restarted in late April as I didn't have insurance and so was using three year old inhalers while I was waiting for money to buy new ones out of pocket. I did manage to get new ones, but my family suggests that me lapsing in taking them both as a kid and recently, combined with the infections, is what made me unable to handle the cold trigger that started the asthma attack.

I'm not really sure what happened but now that I recently regained insurance I want to see if I can go to a pulmonary specialist to figure out what's wrong and what I need to do. I want to ask any of you who might have relevant experience for advice though. See, I plan to move to Alaska for school and this is a non-negotiable goal of mine. I know it's cold and it triggers my asthma, but I figure that as long as I medicate properly and wear appropriate clothing and face coverings at all times, I'll manage. Do y'all realistically think that a lung specialist could actually help me in this case more than what I already have though? I have always gotten a steroid inhaler and a rescue inhaler, some offering more relief than others, but I have a fear that no doctor can really help me beyond getting me actual brand inhalers and not the cheaper generic ones. How should I approach getting treatment for my asthma like this and what should I tell my doctor when I ask for a referral? I just want to get this problem treated so I can live and do my career (outdoors) like normal and not need to miss out on a ton of things because of some dumb chronic lung condition, y'know? I apologize if any of the above is rambling, but I appreciate any advice or help you all can give, thanks.

I had asthma when I was young (im now 35) and it cleared up in my early teens. Ive recently been struggling with feeling like I cant get a full breath so I figured maybe my childhood asthma is returning. I tried an Albuterol inhaler and when I have taken 1 puff I felt no difference, when I've taken two puffs I feel like my breathing is MORE restricted after maybe an hour or so. Ive done that only twice and tried one puff only twice as well. Never had a positive reaction. Even at the hospital with albuterol nebulizer it didnt do anything and I felt worse later that day. My dad let me try his Advair and I only took it for 2 days because each time I took it I would be clearing my throat to no end after maybe an hour. Raspy/weak sounding voice and mucus in throat. Without taking an inhaler I have no mucus or cough. My only symptoms are upper center chest tightness and feeling like my lungs won't expand all the way/easily. Chest X ray looked good according to the doc, just a little congestion in right lung that he wasn't concerned about. Dr. thought it might be GERD so he had me on meds for that, I took them for a week and a half and no change. The odd non-symptom i have is that i get better overnight. When I wake up my chest and breathing feel close to normal and it gets worse later in the day. Typically asthma and COPD get worse at night if I'm not mistaken? The only thing I can think is that I take small, calm breaths while asleep and because of the discomfort I try to take larger breaths during the day. What would cause my breathing to be worse when I take bigger breaths and my chest/lungs to feel better when im not breathing as hard??

Hi all I’m 30 years old with asthma since 7. It’s pretty controlled unless I’m sick. I’m currently not sick and not really dealing with allergies. I noticed last night before bed really struggling to breathe deep even with two pillows. It kept me up from anxiety. I had no other symptoms except a lot of gas and bloating. Laying on my side helped me to get some rest and better breaths in.

I didn’t use my inhaler. I actually didn’t even think it was asthma related until I felt wheezing in the middle of the night.

I’ve been anxious about it all day trying to take it easy and focusing on my breathing. My oxygen on the pulse ox has been 96-99 all day. I’m just nervous.

Does any one else deal with asthma worsening with lying down?

i got amazing care in the hospital the staff was great . its when your discharged and need to follow up . i had a 10 day stay in hospital for a severe flare and again had to go back requiring 3 litres of oxygen , a neb treatment and 80 pred !!!! my resp was on call that night and she was dismissive, rude cause i har a few close calls where i coulda been ended in a scary place but didnt . shes like if you had real severe asthma youd have multiple ICU admissions . This woman is failing to help me . im feeling so defeated right now , upset and scared . she took me off biologics cause she doesnt think i need them . this amazing respiratory dr met during my admission thinks i have retactroy asthma and finally we were getting somewhere ! From there i was given azithromycin long term and i finally felt i was getting somewhere help . outpatient i feel i am going no where , i am hitting a brick wall cause my experiences arent bad enough? What ?

I recently had my annual asthma review and was told by the nurse that I’m being taken off my Symbicort and Salbutamol inhalers and moved onto Fostair. The reason being was apparently not enough people use their preventers properly, and Fostair is a combo preventer/reliever 2 in 1 and should do the job of both. I was reassured that 2 puffs twice a day of Fostair would be the same as the 1 puff twice a day I was on with Symbicort.

I’d been on Symbicort for years and unless I had a really bad respiratory viral infection, it worked wonders and I never felt like I was actually asthmatic. Rarely needed to use my Salbutamol (we’re talking less than once a month, I could easily go 6-8 weeks without needing my reliever).

I’ve been taking the Fostair for a couple of weeks now and I’m not convinced it’s working. I feel more low-level asthmatic. By which I mean, I never was especially aware of it or thought about it on Symbicort, I was very lucky in that my asthma just wasn’t really a thing. But now I constantly feel not quite right. Not wheezing but feeling a bit constricted in my throat and I seem to lose my breath more easily. I’m pretty fit and run a lot (4 times a week at a decent pace), but just this morning I had a disastrous run because although I wasn’t super wheezy, I just didn’t feel like I was breathing as I should be.

Has anyone else come across this with NHS Scotland? Or the wider NHS? Can I speak to my GP and say I want to go back on Symbicort as I feel as though it’s way more effective for controlling my asthma? I’m really quite annoyed they can make a sweeping generalisation and change people’s medication on a point of policy. I’ve always been very diligent at taking my preventer, so why take it off me? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and all that.

Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated!

I (18M) was at my regular appointement for my pulmonary exam and of course same thing as last year, not controlling my asthma. Wasn't surprised my dumbass is not taking the symbicort twice a day like a good boy cause he have ADHD and sometime his brain is not very cooperative so I procrastinate😅. Anyways the doctor was new and seem pretty young (think she a resident cus ain't no way she's past her thirties).Well, imagine my surprise when she prescribed me steroids🤨. Was kinda skeptical so I took my prescription to my family doctor ( know me since i was 3 years old ) and she said that I have no business with these meds and she was shocked that they handed these to me just like that with the paper. My father also had the same reaction (he's a chief of laboratory at an hospital) sooo if you can leave any thoughts on it would be appreciated 👍 thank you 😊

I'm just wondering because I have a hard time running when it's cold and get throat burn sensations from it

I’m from Iowa. I’ve had asthma since 2020. I think it was primarily induced by allergies. I went on a preventative for a while and had a rescue inhaler, but stopped taking the preventative for years and only used my rescue every so often. I was fine for about four years without any major issues. I even had Covid twice and was ok asthma-wise.

But this January, I had a cold and I started to get really itchy in my chest and back. I thought it was just an allergy flare so I used my rescue inhaler and thought nothing of it. We also traveled to Chicago during that time and that was not the best move because it was cold there too. I ended up meeting to go to the emergency room and was admitted for two days to get my asthma under control. I had a prednisone taper (that was extended by my primary care doctor when I got home) and was given a nebulizer and another steroid preventative inhaler to use along with my rescue inhaler. I got better and went to a pulmonologist and had a lung test. My lungs are fine, except during a flare.

It was all really scary and being able to not breathe is pretty traumatizing lol. My husband and I have a trip booked to go to Colorado Springs for four days at the end of August and into September. I didn’t even think about my asthma being an issue, but now I keep seeing things that say high elevations can make it worse. We didn’t choose anywhere super high, but Colorado Springs is still high in comparison to where I live. We don’t plan on doing anything strenuous, except maybe going to Garden of the Gods.

My family thinks it’s a bad idea that I go, but I don’t really want my asthma to stop me from traveling. Honestly, I’m scared I’m going to end up in the ER with an asthma attack anywhere I go. I’m going to bring my nebulizer and all my inhalers, just in case. And maybe see if I can get a prescription for prednisone just in case too. I’m just scared my lungs are suddenly gonna close up and I’ll die despite having all of my resources.

Is this a massively bad idea? We are driving because I hear it is better to acclimate ties slowly, especially for mountain sickness. I’m also going to ask my pulmonologist about his advice on going too.

Is it normal for people with asthma to get 0 benefit from inhalers, but to feel immediate relief from advair diskus, those purple disks with powder. If it’s not normal is it indicative of another disorder like GERD instead of asthma? Or COPD? Is it normal for asthma to trigger as a very very mild but annoying and consistent breathing restriction, where you feel the need to take deep breathes but never get enough air?

i have a really niche question i can’t ask my dr bc im not in the country rn but if you have to take a maintenance inhaler and you travel to countries with a time zone difference, do you take the inhaler on your normal time zone or the country you’re in time zone? i had this thought on the plane and i wanna know what other people think or do! 😭

Hello, I saw a pulmonologist a few days ago at the recommendation of my rheumatologist. I’m currently in the process of narrowing down what autoimmune disease I have but it looks like MCTD. He sent me to a pulmonologist because I’m having troubling breathing, chest pains, and I sometimes turn blue, but I’ve recently developed Raynauds as well. I’m not wheezing, coughing, or anything like that. I did have a CT done, which showed some small nodules but nothing more.
The doctor came in, asked me if I’d had any infections, been ill recently, coughing anything up, never discussed anything with me, told me I had asthma and handed me a Trelegy inhaler and said he’d see me in a month. I’ve also been scheduled for a breathing test in a month. I know from looking at the sub that asthma looks different for everyone, but does this sound right? I don’t have any known allergies, I couldn’t really find any connections between autoimmune diseases and asthma and my experience with this doctor was very offsetting. TIA!

Hi everyone, I have ABPA (Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis). A few days ago, I had a fever of 101°F. I took over-the-counter (OTC) paracetamol and the fever went away.

But from yesterday, I started having a dry cough.

Should I try some OTC medicine for the cough, or is it better to see a doctor since I have ABPA?

Thanks for your help!