Wellness

[LTT1]

Daughter was diagnosed at 18 months when we took her to the hospital and they could see her diaphram going in and out... the nurse declared "yep, she IS having trouble breathing."

Noticed her problem because nephew was found quietly lying on the floor of his bedroom quietly strugging to breathe. 

So, when I started noticing some problem that I had, I was started on an inhaler... both DD and myself it was diagnosed as "allergic airways."  Does this diagnosis still exist?

[pggoody]

Thanks for everyone's response. My daughter saw her primary care doctor yesterday and was given an inhaler. Her doctor thinks she is having lung spasms due to her allergies. She does not think she has asthma, and wants her to start with the inhaler.The weather  here in Southern CA has been rather funky for allergy suffers.  The chest tightness had lessened in the past few days so doctor put off running any tests for now. She has had this doctor for over 10 years thus the doctor is familiar with her medically history. My daughter has an appt with a new allergist  in late August .

hope this posts ok.........every few lines of  typing the screen jumps........

[Vivian]

I've had asthma since childhood. It's an awful feeling because you just can't seem to get enough air to breathe. There can be chest tightness and wheezing but it's that inability to catch your breath that is so scary. I would try to see a pulmonologist. Your GP can only give you a best-guess. Specialists can run breathing tests to determine what's going on. If your GP is wrong and your daughter does have asthma, she probably needs more than what's called a rescue inhaler. That's OK for emergencies but the key with asthma is to keep it under control to avoid attacks and damage to the lungs.

[bebe777]

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@Campion wrote:

I was wheezing after a bout of the flu in my forties. The doctor remarked on it. Previously, I'd had an attack at a restaurant that had some strong floor cleaner just used. Couldn't breathe or talk. When I ran out, I was better so didn't think to go see a doctor. As a kid, I'd fall over when running in gym. I was diagnosed as "lazy and weak" but it was exercise-induced asthma. Both my mom and grandmother have it, but no one thought to see why I was frequently out of breath. 

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I was an extremely athletic kid but when I went out for long distance running my throat would start to burn and it would get very difficult to breathe. I also played tennis for up to 4-6 hours at a time. I was fine when i was on a hard court but, occcasionally on a clay court, I would get a severe cough that very quickly made it almost impossible for me to breathe. 

During one particularly bad episode someone I knew at the courts, who was a nurse, told me to lie down on the bench, let my head fall back over the bench, and try to breathe slowly. Doing this forced my throat to open up wider so that I could take in more air. I felt better after about 10-15 minutes. 

When I went to see my doctor, he tested my breathing capacity and congradulated me on having an excellent pair of lungs. He just brushed off my concerns. That was 40 years ago and I was a teenager, so there was nothing else for me to do. A few years later, I read an article about exercise induced asthma and recognized all my symptons. I took it bakc to my doctor who just brushed it off again.

A few years later I happened to take a menthol/eucalyptus thoat lozenge when I was having a coughing attack on the court. As I sucked on the lozenge, I moved my head back to open up my airway. I was suprised to find that my normal breathing resumed in about a minute. -- Since then, any time my airway gets constricted I immediately (30 seconds to one minute) take a menthol/eucalyptus lozenge and pull my head back to open up my airway. It works like a charm every time. 

It's essential for me to do this immediately because, if I wait even 2-3 minutes before starting it, I can have a coughing fit and have trouble breathing for an hour or more.

Asthma runs in my family (three immediate family members). While exercise induced asthma is now a recognized issue, I've never bothered to discuss a treatment plan with my current doctor since my treatment method has worked perfectly for the past 40 years. I do make sure that I have Halls menthol/eucalyptus cough drops absolutely everywhere. And I always keep additional back stock on hand. 

-- bebe