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Are you on a daily maintenance steroid inhaler? That may help a lot. When you get an actual cold, though, you may need additional oral steroids to damp things down, unfortunately. The airways in asthma are hypersensitive to irritation, and there's little that's more irritating than a viral respiratory infection.
(I speak from personal experience here. I've spent the past two weeks hacking like a 3-pack-a-day smoker because of a simple cold. It's not fun! I should have gone in to get started on prednisone, but like most MDs what I advise isn't always what I do. I don't need to see no stinking doctor, I AM one! )
Not yet. The doc that figured this out (asthma vs heart) said if it happened one more time (three times total in one year -- this one is my third time), we'd need to have a discussion about a long-term maintenance plan (i.e. daily meds to prevent common colds from turning into asthma every several weeks).
She is on vacation, so we haven't had the discussion yet, and to be honest, from what I'm reading, I have concerns about that. I understand that people on regular asthma medicine are at a 60% increased chance of having a heart attack. I can't recall the details now, since I'm in a state of sleep-deprived fog from all the asthma coughing for two weeks going on 2-hour sleep each of those nights, but it made sense when I read why that was.
I'm also not big on meds, but will take them if I have to. Just wish there was a better way. That's not looking likely.
lol Just saw the bottom of your post. After many meds, that is the *only* one that has worked. And it worked instantly, I could feel my chest opening up. For a person that dislikes meds, I was in love. lol I am a caretaker of others, but slow to care for myself, so you know if I'm that doc office, I have had enough. lol
lol Yes, I sound like a smoker now too! We can cough together. lol You really need to get that taken care of. You shouldn't have given yourself up like that. Now I'm going to hold you to getting it done. When are you going in, doc?
Adult-onset asthma is a different beast than childhood asthma, which is often allergic in etiology. The current thinking is that adult onset asthma may the result of a maladaptive response to a respiratory illness which leaves the airways permanently "primed" to overreact to future irritations (you can think of it as similar to a scarring process; they heal, but not in a "normal" way, and the aftereffects are permanent). There IS no way to "go back to the beginning," unfortunately, but an aggressive approach as soon as the first cold symptoms manifest can keep things damped down to a tolerable level until you recover completely from the illness, and you may well be entirely asymptomatic between bouts of respiratory illness (as I am: no need for any inhalers at all unless I become sick with a respiratory bug, then WHAM!).
Adult-onset asthma is a different beast than childhood asthma, which is often allergic in etiology. The current thinking is that adult onset asthma may the result of a maladaptive response to a respiratory illness which leaves the airways permanently "primed" to overreact to future irritations (you can think of it as similar to a scarring process; they heal, but not in a "normal" way, and the aftereffects are permanent). There IS no way to "go back to the beginning," unfortunately, but an aggressive approach as soon as the first cold symptoms manifest can keep things damped down to a tolerable level until you recover completely from the illness, and you may well be entirely asymptomatic between bouts of respiratory illness (as I am: no need for any inhalers at all unless I become sick with a respiratory bug, then WHAM!).
Ah, gotcha. Now that's making sense. So you're saying, as soon as I get a sniffle from the cold, use the asthma meds to prevent the inevitable asthma from hitting in the first place?
That's me too. Totally without symptoms until I get a cold then WHAM!
What's even scarier is that with my regular doc out, I had to go to Patient's First. That doc had never even heard of this! Took an xray, gave me antibiotics and some other meds, and sent me on my way. Needless to say, the meds didn't help. How is it possible there are doctors that know so little about something as common as asthma? That's concerning (and contributes to mine lingering for so long while I wait for the wrong meds to not work lol). I even clearly told him I needed prednisone (sp?) but he wouldn't prescribe it. It's not a controlled substance, so what gives? Even the other doc in my PCPs office wouldn't prescribe it. When I tried to make the appt. with her, she sent me straight to the ER to have my heart checked.
I did finally get some (because I'm persistent), and begin them in the morning (since she said they apparently keep you up -- not like I'm sleeping with all this coughing, though lol).
Should I see a specialist, or is this in the realm of my PCP and I should give her more time to work it out? She is newer so that concerns me too. I suppose I ask that because I read that adult asthma can often be a wrong diagnosis for other airway diseases so to see a specialist, but what kind?
OP, I want to caution you that chronic coughing can damage your spine. It happened to me.
I'm an asthmatic. My allergist put me on Symbicort, an inhaled corticosteroid, when other inhaled steroids proved ineffective. Unfortunately one side effect of Symbicort is that you're more prone to lung infections.
A month of coughing -- thinking I could "cough it out" -- put so much pressure on my lumbar spine that a synovial cyst formed at L4/L5 in the facet joint. The cyst pressed on the nerve root for my left leg, causing severe pain. I had to have spinal decompression surgery to have the cyst removed. The bill was $72,000.
OP, I want to caution you that chronic coughing can damage your spine. It happened to me.
I'm an asthmatic. My allergist put me on Symbicort, an inhaled corticosteroid, when other inhaled steroids proved ineffective. Unfortunately one side effect of Symbicort is that you're more prone to lung infections.
A month of coughing -- thinking I could "cough it out" -- put so much pressure on my lumbar spine that a synovial cyst formed at L4/L5 in the facet joint. The cyst pressed on the nerve root for my left leg, causing severe pain. I had to have spinal decompression surgery to have the cyst removed. The bill was $72,000.
And I still have pain.
Oh my goodness!! I am so sorry you're going through that. Thank you for letting me know. Gosh, that's really scary. I can't imagine what you've been through.
I'm also not big on meds, but will take them if I have to. Just wish there was a better way. That's not looking likely.
With a toddler germ-factory living at home, maintenance meds (especially inhaled steriods) may be a necessity for a while. But when your kids are old enough to not be bringing one cold after another, you may be able to get by with simply a rescue inhaler plus a prescription for steroids on the rare cases when you DO succumb to a cold. Every asthmatic is different!
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lol Yes, I sound like a smoker now too! We can cough together. lol
And combo cough/vomit together. And for some REAL fun, cough and vomit and pee simultaneously! (Why is the human body so disgusting? )
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When are you going in, doc?
I'll go in if my home pulse-ox shows a pO2 of less than 90%, or if I decide to start myself on steroids from the Big Bottle of Self-Prescribed Prednisone I keep in my medicine cabinet. But my coughing's gotten markedly better over the last two days, so this time I don't think it's going to be necessary to resort to the big guns.
Seriously, though, one thing you should know is that if you find yourself needing to use an albuterol inhaler more than four times a day, that's a BIG warning sign! An asthma attack is biphasic; the first component (which occurs quickly) is caused by the airway muscles tightening down, and that can be reversed by the albuterol. But the second component is swelling of the soft tissue of the airways, caused by inflammation; this sets in slowly, and importantly there is absolutely no quick way to reverse it. Steriods do reverse the inflammatory response, but even a whopping big dose of them can take an hour or more to start working. Too many asthmatics have died because they don't notice that the interval between needing to use their albuterol inhaler is getting steadily shorter, and they don't go in until the inhaler isn't working at all, and then there's nothing left to use bridge the gap until the steriods start to kick in.
Have your primary care doctor get you a peak flow meter as well. A peak flow meter measures the amount of air your can breath out when you exhale as hard as you can; a drop of 20-25% or so in your morning peak flow can be a sign your asthma's beginning to act up before you're actually symptomatic, and the earlier treatment is begun, the lower the dose of meds you'll need to reverse it. It's a very handy tool, and simple to use.
Should I see a specialist, or is this in the realm of my PCP and I should give her more time to work it out? She is newer so that concerns me too. I suppose I ask that because I read that adult asthma can often be a wrong diagnosis for other airway diseases so to see a specialist, but what kind?
You'd want to see a pulmonologist. Most primary care provides get pretty good at treating uncomplicated asthma, but seeing a pulmonologist wouldn't hurt.
I like this theory, but I suppose I'm not following. Going back to the beginning...
The first time, the baby got a cold at play group, then I got his cold, which turned into bronchitis, which turned into pneumonia, which turned into asthma.
The second time, same thing: baby got a cold at school, I got a cold then asthma (with no bronchitis or pneumonia).
This time, same thing: baby got a cold at school, I got the cold then asthma (with possible bronchitis but no pneumonia per xrays).
How do I go back to the beginning? The beginning, the doctor said, was my hormones changing during giving birth to my son, and change in hormones can create asthma (since I'm a non-smoker and didn't have it as a child).
Here are a couple of ideas which may help you with your investigation:
Generally if a problem gets progressively (e.g. goes from a cold to bronchitis to pneumonia, to asthma) it is an indication that the pathogen is being suporessed and not being released properly.
The cold that you initially received is probably still lodged in your body. You may have been in a weakened state at the time and it has never been resolved. Other things may also have been happening at the time.
With my son, we never used any drugs. Mostly we used traditional methods such as eucalyptus baths to open up the lung channels as and allow the pathogens to be released via the normal channels (e.g. skin, mucous, defecation, coughing).
Since everyone is different there is no way to say for sure what will work for you, but if you are interested in more ideas, you can repost in the Alternative Medicine health sub-forum and I will try to give you some more ideas and links. Obviously an experienced health professional would be of great assistance. In our case we spoke with several alternative medicine experts to gather ideas. It was straightforward one we were headed in the correct direction. Finding the direction was just detective work. The result was permanent cure because the problem was totally resolved.
With a toddler germ-factory living at home, maintenance meds (especially inhaled steriods) may be a necessity for a while. But when your kids are old enough to not be bringing one cold after another, you may be able to get by with simply a rescue inhaler plus a prescription for steroids on the rare cases when you DO succumb to a cold. Every asthmatic is different!
And combo cough/vomit together. And for some REAL fun, cough and vomit and pee simultaneously! (Why is the human body so disgusting? )
I'll go in if my home pulse-ox shows a pO2 of less than 90%, or if I decide to start myself on steroids from the Big Bottle of Self-Prescribed Prednisone I keep in my medicine cabinet. But my coughing's gotten markedly better over the last two days, so this time I don't think it's going to be necessary to resort to the big guns.
Seriously, though, one thing you should know is that if you find yourself needing to use an albuterol inhaler more than four times a day, that's a BIG warning sign! An asthma attack is biphasic; the first component (which occurs quickly) is caused by the airway muscles tightening down, and that can be reversed by the albuterol. But the second component is swelling of the soft tissue of the airways, caused by inflammation; this sets in slowly, and importantly there is absolutely no quick way to reverse it. Steriods do reverse the inflammatory response, but even a whopping big dose of them can take an hour or more to start working. Too many asthmatics have died because they don't notice that the interval between needing to use their albuterol inhaler is getting steadily shorter, and they don't go in until the inhaler isn't working at all, and then there's nothing left to use bridge the gap until the steriods start to kick in.
Have your primary care doctor get you a peak flow meter as well. A peak flow meter measures the amount of air your can breath out when you exhale as hard as you can; a drop of 20-25% or so in your morning peak flow can be a sign your asthma's beginning to act up before you're actually symptomatic, and the earlier treatment is begun, the lower the dose of meds you'll need to reverse it. Tt's a very handy tool, and simple to use.
Ah, I like those ideas so I won't feel like I'm trapped on meds for the rest of my life. Thank you! You just really put me at great ease. I was feeling anxious about that.
Oh my gosh, I left that part out of my original post because I thought it would be TMI and I didn't want to scare anyone off from answering, but yes, yes, YES! I was like, when did I get so old *that* is now happening (I'm almost 40)?! lol!!!
lol Okay. Good girl. I'm so holding you to that. I have it in print. You can't back out now. lol
Ohhh, wow. That's really good to know. That is the stuff I was hoping to learn from the people that have had it longer. Thank you! I like to be prepared and know what to look for, probably because I am naturally so slow to treat, I need to know what the red flags are that I shouldn't actually ignore. Thank you!
Ah yes, they've been peak flowing me like crazy lately. I love the idea of doing it myself to reduce the meds! Thank you!!!! I can't thank you enough. I feel so less stressed by this. I really dislike meds and was really upset that this had happened a third time which meant it was time for the "daily meds" talk with the doc when she gets back. Which, in all honesty, I probably wouldn't have done. But I like the plan you came up with. I can handle that. It feels like less of a life sentence of a life on meds. lol
Here are a couple of ideas which may help you with your investigation:
Generally if a problem gets progressively (e.g. goes from a cold to bronchitis to pneumonia, to asthma) it is an indication that the pathogen is being suporessed and not being released properly.
The cold that you initially received is probably still lodged in your body. You may have been in a weakened state at the time and it has never been resolved. Other things may also have been happening at the time.
With my son, we never used any drugs. Mostly we used traditional methods such as eucalyptus baths to open up the lung channels as and allow the pathogens to be released via the normal channels (e.g. skin, mucous, defecation, coughing).
Since everyone is different there is no way to say for sure what will work for you, but if you are interested in more ideas, you can repost in the Alternative Medicine health sub-forum and I will try to give you some more ideas and links. Obviously an experienced health professional would be of great assistance. In our case we spoke with several alternative medicine experts to gather ideas. It was straightforward one we were headed in the correct direction. Finding the direction was just detective work. The result was permanent cure because the problem was totally resolved.
Hope this helps you.
Thank you for the information.
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)
When are you going in, doc? 
But when your kids are old enough to not be bringing one cold after another, you may be able to get by with simply a rescue inhaler plus a prescription for steroids on the rare cases when you DO succumb to a cold. Every asthmatic is different!
