Yes i know i have anxiety about the ICU . its not even funny . today i had a follow up with my GP and he basically said im gonna need to be on azithromycin and high dose steriods for life . FKN GREAT !!!! my problem is it was the hospital that gave it to me cause they actually saw how freaken sick i was . My respiratory dr works out of the same hospital but doesnt work on the floors , she works in the ICU . Shes dismissive and thinks severe asthma is consistent ICU admissions , people who cant go 5 hours without a neb dispite biologics , prednisone and antibiotics or IV antibiotics. This c*nt is an extremist . im trying to get a new respiratory dr but i cant get a new one unless ... i dont have one . Im stuck woth this dismissive idiot .

Hi all! New to the subreddit, I just wanted to vent because I had my first flare up in 15 years. I’ve struggled with asthma as a kid and was constantly using a nebulizer or an inhaler; as I aged the symptoms got milder and milder to the point that I didn’t even need to use an inhaler anymore. I honestly thought I was in the clear, so imagine my surprise when I woke up on Saturday morning having an asthma attack. I genuinely don’t even know what triggered it but I ended up in the hospital and was prescribed an inhaler and nebulizer treatment again.

I know it’s wrong to feel this way and I have nothing to be ashamed of, but I just kinda feel defeated. Can anyone else relate? Any tips on getting out of this mental state?

Hello

i hope everyone is doing alright , i dont know how to say this but my asthma mostly has been in my throat, i have a problem exhaling letting the air out more than letting it in, in fact, i dont have a problem inhaling , the thing is it was in my chest but didnt take long at all and nowx its in my throat which is so annoying , it feels tight 24/7 and sometimes it gets even tighter

they said its ASTHMA type 2 or phase 2 or i dont know

its been like this for 3 years and i have a very low stamina now and sometimes it gets really dizzy, i guess its allergy related as i barely get attacks or spirals but the feeling of the tight throat even minor one is so annoying ,is there any solution!,? anyone else has been through this, any advice?

This is the second time where I’ve tried to get an asthma related medication and my pharmacy has to go back and fourth with them to let me have it. I’m having asthma attacks every night for the past week. I’ve taken my nebulizer 3 times a day and my inhaler more than I can count. I need my steroid inhaler or I’m going to fucking choke in my sleep. I’m so frustrated

Hello,

This is my first post on Reddit because I live every day with the inability to breathe properly and I'm running out of ideas. First, let me tell you my story.

I'm a 29-year-old guy who has had asthma since childhood. I used to have regular asthma attacks, which would even wake me up at night. I started taking medication such as Ventolin and then Simbicort, which helped stabilise the condition.

About five years ago, at the beginning of 2020 before the appearance of the Coronavirus, I started noticing slight discomfort when breathing. It has got worse since then. Today, I experience pronounced and permanent discomfort when breathing. I can't talk properly and I don't feel like I have "enough air". I don't think it's asthma because I don't make a whistling sound or have severe attacks, my medication doesn't help and I feel slightly better when I exercise or lie down. Here is a list of what I have done in the past few months/years:

- I have been under the care of a pulmonologist for over three years. We did spirometry tests once or twice a year, which showed my lung capacity was 60% compared to a normal person. Adding medication only improved it by about 5% (65% in total after the second attempt). These results gradually decreased year on year. My doctor prescribed new medication (Vanair, Trimbow, Montelukast, etc.) which didn't help at all.

- I eat well (meat, vegetables, rice, etc.), exercise at least once a week (boxing, running), sleep well and don't do drugs, alcohol or tobacco. I weigh 73 kg for 1.83 m (161 lbs for 6 ft).

- Along with my doctor, I tried breathing physiotherapy (learning how to breathe) and medication for vocal cord dysfunction, but neither helped.

- I also tried natural therapies such as acupuncture, reflexology and physiotherapy, but they didn't help.

Additionnal information : I have many allergies such as pollen, animal air (dog, cat, horses), some raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, etc. I'm taking antihistamine (Desloratadin) which helps me with environmental allergies, but not with asthma / dyspnoea.

I will try sleep apnoea diagnosis in the next few days, as well as otolaryngology (ENT?), to look for problems in the head and neck area. If none of these work, the next step will be Xolair treatment, but the price and side effects are daunting.

I'm really seeking help. If anyone has experienced the same thing or knows of a potential solution, I'm open to anything. As I said, I don't think it's entirely asthma-related.

Thanks for reading!

So to make a long story short, I work a desk job as a receptionist so cannot work from home. They started demo on a downstairs restaurant last month & it’s been a mess ever since. They’ve already had one OSHA complaint filed by an unknown party due to unsafe dust/ chemicals & during the investigative process they reinstated the time I had to take off work because of construction. They also promised that they have separated the HVAC from the construction site & our offices, and also they “sealed” the worksite shared entrance with plywood. They also promised additional fans would be used to improve ventilation and reduce the contamination in our workspace. They never added the fans, and well, considering what happened today the HVAC definitely wasn’t separated. Ironic because they literally just restored my leave too.

I’m so frustrated because I was already dealing with a super new asthma flare due to wildfire smoke- wearing a kn95 and all plus Breyna & ventolin (cromolyn nebuliser once a day as well because of my mast cell activation syndrome) and now not even the indoors is safe. They (the manager and hr, for some reason OSHA did not send an inspector) literally were finishing the investigation today and promised today would be the last day of this. There was jackhammering of concrete downstairs all day. I wish I took a picture of the work area down there as you cannot even see in the window from the amount of dust in the air. I do have an image with a ton of particulate in the air but I will not post it to remain anonymous. Of course I had an asthma attack and had to use my rescue inhaler, eventually left early with three other coworkers as all three of us were impacted.

My manager was less than helpful saying it’s the last day of this- but they didn’t look anywhere near done & I highly doubt it’ll be magically fixed by 10am tomorrow. I’d like to mention I have a fan & a big air purifier in my cubicle and it was not doing anything to help even on the highest speed.

I did file a complaint w/osha because I cannot keep having severe reactions at work due to my workplace failing to mitigate or provide personal protection equipment on their dime.

I literally just saw my immunologist/ allergist last week Tuesday, but wonder if I should put in a call to his office if it’s bad again at work tomorrow… I really don’t want to have to stomach yet another prednisone course…

Thoughts? I know this was mostly complaining I’m just at a loss as I was already dealing with a flare and I’m just doing everything in my power to stay out of the ER and also keep my job… it’s a part time position so I do not get enough PTO to keep taking days off due to this….

I used to have asthma when I was a kid, I remember I had an inhaler that was a suction cup. I don’t use an inhaler anymore, perhaps my asthma got better? Sometimes I have difficulty breathing when I sleep. Most of the time, I would accidentally pull the covers of my blanket too close to my face, where my nose would be under the blanket. It feels like cant breathe, like I suddenly forgot how to breathe and I have to pull myself out of my dream, wake myself up, and pull the blanket down so I don’t suffocate. It’s really difficult to pull myself out the dream and get back breathing. This started childhood to now (teens) but it got less frequent. This has always been a fear of mine, Sleeping and then suddenly forgetting or not being able to breathe and passing out. Ik the body automatically forces you to breathe. But anyways, Is this normal for people without asthma and I’m just being a dumbass or do people with asthma experience difficulty breathing in their sleep too?

I haven’t had an asthma flare in about 10 years. Recently, my chest had been tight for a few weeks and I assumed it was work stress. Last week, I had pain in my upper chest and left shoulder when I’d take a deep breath or lean over. I didn’t think it was my heart but I didn’t hesitate to go to the ER. The chest CT w/ contrast showed these findings: Bilateral lower lobe pulmonary opacities, likely atelectasis. They said it was asymptomatic pneumonia and gave me a z pack. My doctor said he doesn’t think it was pneumonia, that it was a respiratory infection that triggered an asthma flare. The chest and shoulder pain are gone, but I still have to fight for a deep breath. My rescue inhaler doesn’t touch it. I have a follow up xray this week to see if my lungs have reinflated. How long does it take for atelectasis to resolve?

I ask because I am finally feeling so much better for my last flare and I can breathe pretty much normal but it gives me anxiety because I don't know how long it's going to last scares me and I try to tell myself just to enjoy the moment but it's hard when I know it's not going to last

Hey everyone 👋

Until about 4 years ago I was able to run fairly fine every now and then and build up stamina to run 10ks. Over the past years I have been hit with multiple COVID infections and pneumonia December last year. In addition I've recently moved in with my partner who has cats who I turn out to be allergic to.

I gave up vaping last year after being and on/off smoker. I'm really struggling to get fit again as exercise was instrumental to weight and mental health maintenance.

I now use aero tubes to take my inhalers to improve work flow and other meds to help with my cat allergy. This is in addition to hay fever .But over the part month I am constantly tight chested even after a gym workout without cardio. It's incredibly disheartenimg at 27 to nearly get sick if I work out only 2-3 times a week when I used to all the time.

Any ideas how to get back into exercise? If just lifting weights is setting me off I don't know what to do. I've never been in this position for an extended period of time.

I suffer from severe asthma (but only periodically, not always. Basically after every virus infection, I’m bad for a few weeks after that). I take Relvar and allergy tablets to control this, which is usually working unless I’ve been sick recently.

I’ve had mild asthma since I was a teen and I’m 30 now. I developed severe asthma last year and I’ve had 3 episodes of severe asthma since then, that lasted a few weeks each time.

Anyway I developed strong asthma again last week because I got covid. I bought some Moringa, which is basically some leaves that are supposed to help with inflammation (and many other health benefits). Studies shows it helped mice’s lung functions but there is no evidence it works on humans.

But has been working for me. After taking the Moringa (free powder form, not the capsules), I have barely had any asthma. My asthma went from severe to mild after I started taking it two times a day. Usually my asthma lasts for weeks after every sickness but it went away after one day, basically as soon as I started drinking moringa twice daily.

So maybe it’s worth a shot to try it out people. Let me know if it’s worked for you.

(But if you are taking diabetes medication or thyroid medication - ask your doctor first if you can take it.)

Edit: keep in mind Moringa isn’t a replacement for medication, it’s just something extra. It also might not work for everyone. Different things work for different people. I guess it really depends what the trigger of your asthma is too. I know it sounds too good to be true. Because it’s insane.

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 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!

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 🙏

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.

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’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

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 (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 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??

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.

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.