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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Asthma / December 2003So.....Is This Asthma?
I am very curious to learn if a condition that I have experienced for years would "technically" be considered as asthma (as per the proper "definition" of asthma, whatever that is!).... I am a white male in my 30's, and have suffered from moderate to severe allergies since very early childhood (hay fever, eczema, various food allergies). I don't ever remember being officially diagnosed as having asthma, however, even though I have visited a host of allergists throughout the years. Anyway, to get to the point......every now and then (maybe once every month or so) I will experience a VERY uncomfortable episode of wheezing. This will always follow some exposure to either a very dusty environment (working in my attic, or, especially, mowing the lawn), or maybe exposure to a moldy environment (working in a basement, outside after wet weather, etc.). But, when I start wheezing badly, it is always many hours later (it has never happened immediately after exposure), and almost always very late at night following exposure to what i just mentioned (i.e., I will mow the lawn early Saturday morning, feel fine all day Saturday, and wake up late Saturday night wheezing and having great difficulty breathing). I don't really consider these episodes as "attacks" (of whatever it is that I have) since it happens many hours later and sort of "sets in" for the next 8 to 12 hours. In other words, I will be wheezing the next morning and into the next day. By the second day I'm back to normal (worst case....sometimes I'm fine when I wake up the next day, but not usually). I never experience coughing, chest tightness, or a complete shutdown in my breathing capability during these episodes......just very bad wheezing and, eventually, the ability to cough up thick secretions from my chest (sorry, I know that's gross!). So....would this be considered as falling under the proper definition of asthma? Is this just severe allergies? Acute bronchitis? I know I have many of the same classic asthma symptoms, but I lack many as well. Additionally, I can almost always predict when this is going to happen to me, too. For example, if I am forced to get a project done in my attic one day, I will be saying to myself (Oh boy, get ready to wake up wheezing tonight!). Any comments much appreciated! Thanks!!! >So....would this be considered as falling under the proper definition of >asthma? Is this just severe allergies? Acute bronchitis? I know I have [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >day, I will be saying to myself (Oh boy, get ready to wake up wheezing >tonight!). What you describe could very well be asthma. Now, any condition which results in difficulty breathing should be considered to be potentially life-threatening. Call your doctor and make an appointment for an evaluation - ASAP! "...there is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." H. L. Mencken > What you describe could very well be asthma. > > Now, any condition which results in difficulty breathing should be > considered to be potentially life-threatening. Call your doctor and > make an appointment for an evaluation - ASAP! Well, the last allergist I went to didn't get too excited about the description of my wheezing. It has been going on for many, many years, too. >> What you describe could very well be asthma. >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Well, the last allergist I went to didn't get too excited about the >description of my wheezing. It has been going on for many, many years, too. IMO, you need to find a new doctor. "...there is always a well-known solution to every human problem--neat, plausible, and wrong." H. L. Mencken >>> What you describe could very well be asthma. >>> >>> Now, any condition which results in difficulty breathing should >>> be considered to be potentially life-threatening. Call your >>> doctor and make an appointment for an evaluation - ASAP! Just because you have pulled out of a 'wheezing' attack in the past doesn't mean that each time is the same. Get checked! >> Well, the last allergist I went to didn't get too excited about the >> description of my wheezing. It has been going on for many, many >> years, too. > > IMO, you need to find a new doctor. Colin is giving Million Dollar advice. There are a few basic expectations that every Doctor needs to fill for every patient they consult with, regardless of the patients illness/condition/complaint, and they are that you should expect the Doctor you are consulting with (whether it is your first or fiftieth visit) to examine you, share his knowledge (and at times lack of) about your health situation, educate you about your health situation, leave you in a better health situation than when you arrived. Though personally, I'm waiting for the day some Doctor looks me in the eye and says 'Man, I never dealt with anything like this before, I better get "us" some help!' Roxanne "Question authority!" "Why?" Hi, how is it that you wheez but your chest doesn't feel tight? I get tight chest , have asthma and sometimes wheez but most of the time don't.. I always thought tight chest was the tell tale sign of asthma. Anyway I would see a Dr. too. Good luck > >>> What you describe could very well be asthma. > >>> [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > "Question authority!" "Why?" > So....would this be considered as falling under the proper definition of > asthma? "Not all that hweezes is asthma" - but it sounds like a pretty classic description to me. At the very least the doc should be giving you an inhaler to treat the acute attacks. SOme considerations hould be given to whether they are severe or frequent enough to warrant daily medication. BTW - if you try a leukotriene modifier, like Singulair or Accolate, for your allergies you may very well find out that it helps with this as well. > Additionally, I can almost always predict when this is going to happen to > me, too. For example, if I am forced to get a project done in my attic one > day, I will be saying to myself (Oh boy, get ready to wake up wheezing > tonight!). > > Any comments much appreciated! Thanks!!! That is all the nore reason to have an inhaler. That way you may be able to medicate BEFORE the attack and avoid or lessen it. Also, if you are about to do something that you know will trigger it then you could load up on your allergy meds before hand to try to stave it off. Of course, the best advice is to avoid the trigger whenever possible.  SignatureCBI, MD > I am very curious to learn if a condition that I have experienced for years > would "technically" be considered as asthma (as per the proper "definition" [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > Any comments much appreciated! Thanks!!! Many believe that wheezing can only be affected by medication, this implying that nature has no remedy, which seems a bit unlikely as an episode of wheezing is relatively frequent. You don't have to have asthma. Dr. Erik Peper http://www.i-breathe.com/thb12/Incentiv.htm and http://www.bfe.org/protocol/pro10eng.htm has shown that wheeze in asthmatics may turned off by diaphragmatic breathing. He has written many articles in medical periodicals, so that his word seems as least as good as the many authors and research scientists in the "medication only" camp. It is however unclear how many patients have been successfully treated by his particular method, namely "effortless diaphragmatic breathing" and awareness of the role of conditioned reflexes in asthma (which most patients don't want to hear about because this sounds too "psychological" and like a slur on their integrity). Dr. Peper shows that diaphragmatic breathing and relaxation of the chest muscles and upper lung airways, where the wheeze takes place, are interdependent. He uses special muscle sensors to get relaxation, but given the interdependence, it seems a fair guess that first concentrating on diaphragmatic breathing would help with relaxation without having to rely on hitech paraphernalia. The novelty with Peper seems to be firstly to deactivate the chest, do belly pushing in and out and then noting that this can mean breathing. Then the belly pushing in and out is trained so that one gets a feeling of substantial breathing in the bottom of the lungs and of their being filled with masses of fresh air. (Note however that belly pushing can be done without breathing at all.) Richard Friedel >Many believe that wheezing can only be affected by medication, this >implying that nature has no remedy, which seems a bit unlikely as an >episode of wheezing is relatively frequent. Who believes this? It is well know that an 'asthma attack' will eventually resolve on its own. The fastest, safest and most reliable way of controlling asthma symptoms is with the proper medications. "It's not American foreign policy, or the plight of the Palestinians, or America's longstanding support for Israel. A group of people with money and weaponry have simply decided that we, as a civilization, are unfit to live, and want, eventally, to exterminate us." 'Christian Century' magazine |
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