Asthma and Breathlessness

Hello,

I have been just diagnosed with Asthma. I am 48 years. I have been given nebulizers for my treatment. However, there are sudden times when I get the cough followed by "Breathlessness", during this time, I do not know what to do.

I have couple of questions around the same;

1) Can asthma lead to lung failures?

2) Can the "Breathlessness" be lethal?

3) During such stage of "Breathlessness" what can the asthma patient do? What can the family members do to help the patient come out of "Breathlessness".


Thanks In Advance,
John

John, I will experience breathlessness and coughing whenever the air is very cold or if there is a lot of particulate matter (pollen, dust, etc.) in the air.

I'm surprised your doctor didn't prescribe a rescue inhaler. These are usually albuterol or similar fast-acting drug that will dilate the airways when they go into spasm. The spasm is what causes the feeling of breathlessness. A rescue inhaler is used when that feeling appears and doesn't pass quickly; if your asthma is well controlled you wouldn't have to use it often. I think I've used mine once in the past year. You may want to ask your doc about this.

New to asthma. Started out with Singulair and Symbicort for
one month. Before I took these medications I only had digestive tract swelling, and mild breathing issues. After taking them, I had full fledged allergies to the extent I had to quit eating many things. Lost 20 pounds, but only because I was afraid to eat. My Liver enzymes went sky high also after taking these two medications. I could breath more easily, but developed chest pain when using the Symbicort, so stopped both. The Liver enzymes really concerned me. I tried Advair, which gave me relief for a while, then developed mouth sores and pain. Of course I stopped Advair cold turkey. 250/50. Was told I would not have problem stopping cold turkey, but have since not been able to breathe well at all. Total shut down at night. Pro Air is the only thing that would open airways slightly. Now I am using Pro Air every night and I have read this is not a good thing. My asthma exasperates and I really get into trouble. My family Dr. prescribed antibiotic and prednisone. Both bad for my digestive tract as I have major candida issues. I am trying Spiriva now because I read you should have a backup to quitting Advair cold turkey. That using the inhaled steroids causes your natural steroids in your body to stop producing. So now I am in wait for my body to try and develop it's own steroids again. The medications really concern me. Not sure what to do. I have stopped the foods I show I am allergic to. Mostly Wheat and Yeast. I am thinking Leaky Gut. MD's don't help much.

I wanted to share what helped my daughter's asthma go away so that hopefully others can benefit. She was diagnosed at age 6 but had slight wheezing on occasion. She tested positive for typical allergens (pet danger, dust, mold, dust mites) at an allergist and was given Singulair, Zyrtec, Nasonex, Albuterol, and Flovent. My search for a cure started immediately.

Over the next six years she got more dependent, it seemed, on these medications including needing a nebulizer at times. I researched for years and tried everything to cure her asthma. I finally discovered, after 6 years, that her gut was damaged from anitbiotic use when she was younger.

We went to a Naturopathic doctor and discovered wheat and dairy was causing her asthma. The proteins can leak into your body and cause allergic reactions. We took her off of wheat and dairy and her asthma was improved greatly. She also began taking gut healing supplements and slowly began removing her medications. I am excited to say that after just after 5 months she is no longer on any medications and she can eat wheat and dairy again.

I will say that if she eats a lot of wheat for a few days in a row, her wheeze comes back but we can stop it with a few sips of coffee or chamomile tea. Too many people are just given medications by their doctors like we were and told there is nothing else to do. But I refused to believe that. Even when she went back to her doctor recently for a physical he looked at me like I had 3 heads when I told him she was off the medications and doing fine.

It breaks my heart to hear other peoples' stories because I know how scary asthma can be. I just wanted others to know that what worked for us may work for them.

Hi Leavenless

I am fairly new to this forum too and just wanted to make a suggestion: have you considered sulfites as a potential culprit for your asthma ? My husband became asthmatic at the age of 40something like you and we only found out why last year. There are sulfites in many of the processed things you eat and also maybe in the medications you have been taking... You can look this up on this forum, there are a couple of people who have good advice on it. Mine: try to make your own food from scratch, because labels do not have to mention sulfites unless they are above a certain level. Hopefully you will become like my husband : asthma and medication free!

Just to add to this ... I had a continuous sore throat and used cough drops all the time. Whenever I told a doc about the throat, nobody seemed to care. Finally when I pointed to my throat, I saw an ENT. There was a cyst there and that was removed. This was after two years of complaining about my throat.

After an industrial accident I started to take a lot of systemic bronchodillators and my throat still hurt a lot. Again everybody said it was not much.. It was so called silent GERD.

It is a shame that the docs are so busy, callous or misled that they don't know what is going on. PLEASE don't depend on them completely. Buyer beware!