Hi everyone.

My name is Kirsten and I just got diagnosed with asthma today after I had a methacoline test done. My breathing dropped to 20% on the second dose of methacoline. It made me short of breath and cough, and feel tightness in my chest like I sometimes get. Afterwards, they gave me ventalin and it made me feel better. My breathing went back to normal right away..

I have been having shortness of breath and tightness, feeling need to yawn alot and trouble getting like.. satisfying i guess deep breaths. It's been like over a year of this and my family doctor told me it was anxiety because my pft was normal, and she didn't hear a wheeze.

So now finding this out I am happy to know whats wrong but angry no one diagnosed me before this!! Anyways.. I got some medications, one is Flovent its orange and looks like a disk, and you click a thing down then breathe it in. I think its a steroid one.

The other is a ventalin puffer.. also i got a steroid nose spray.

Anyways. Is there anything I should know about? I have taken all the medications and I haevn't had any side effects yet. When I took the ventalin at the hospital where I had my test my heart pounded a bit but not for long. And i felt pretty good.

Any tips or info.. would be so welcome! Thank you.. :)

the dr who sent you for the test should explain the meds, any inhalers that are steriod, rinse your mouth thoroughly and I even brush my teeth to avoid thrush. Some inhalers may make you jittery, you may want to let the dr know/
Wheezing is not required , the dr did the best thing with the test. I don't wheeze, my symptom was an annoying cough that never went away. 4 days on advair and its gone. When I get sick, thats a whole different issue. the pft only shows part of the picture, I think I'm like normal low but had the chronic cough and holy cow if I get sick its all out the window!! Need the rescue inhaler for ME when sick and one day when air quality was bad. Good luck and rinsing your mouth is important.

Thanks alot for your reply!

My specialist didn't explain alot about asthma to me, so I am feeling a bit confused.. he didn't say anything about finding wat triggers are, or a peak flow monitor thing, or anything.. am I supposed to go back to my family doctor and talk to her about it do you think? Or do I go back to him?

Man doctors are icy sometimes! Any ideas?

since everyon eis different, it will take you a while to get your meds down right. I have a mild case of asthma. I use my Flovent daily and albuterol as a rescue inhaler. I started on the Flovent with two puffs twice a day. I am down to one puff a day. If I get a cold or have allergy issues, etc, I up my Flovent to one puff twice a day until the cold is gone or I generally feel better. I'm a jogger also and I have to use two puffs of the albuterol 20 minutes before I run. I rarely need it otherwise as my asthma is well controlled.

If you continue to have questions, write them down and take them with you to the doctor. Don't leave till you get answers. Good luck!

Welcome Kristen.

I was recently dx'd with asthma. My doctor didn't give me a peak flow meter either. I have persistant moderate asthma, I wheeze almost constantly along with the tight chest feeling. I take pulmicort, albuterol and nasal spray, but like your doctor, mine didn't exlpain much either. He did check for triggers though.

Do you have a follow appt with him? If so, I would write down the questions you would like answers to and take them with you. You deserve to know, that's what they get paid for. Good Luck.

Tiercy

I found the peak flow meter to be useless. You know when you can breathe and when you can't. Since everyone's peak flow is different, it seemed sort of irrelevant to me. I'm assuming you went to a pulmonologist for the test and dx. You may also have allergies that trigger the episodes. You might want to look into that. I go to an immunologist at an allergy clinic for both issues.

Welcome Kristen.

I was recently dx'd with asthma. My doctor didn't give me a peak flow meter either. I have persistant moderate asthma, I wheeze almost constantly along with the tight chest feeling. I take pulmicort, albuterol and nasal spray, but like your doctor, mine didn't exlpain much either. He did check for triggers though.

Do you have a follow appt with him? If so, I would write down the questions you would like answers to and take them with you. You deserve to know, that's what they get paid for. Good Luck.

Tiercy

i didnt get a peak flow meter either and im on pulmicort, flovent, and advair im basically out of breath all the time or cant breathe especially at night. i go to the doctor once a month sometimes more than that if i have an attack and i have severe persistant asthma.:rolleyes:

well I got dx'd by a pulomonologist but things got out control when I got sick and found a dr who was covering convenient care who explained a lot to me. So even thought the pulmonongist was on the money , he didn'[t explain much, the other guy did, so I made him my pcp and I have a visit coming up. Maybe when symptoms are more clear like you really can't breathe they give you a flow meter. Mine didn't either but because I have muscualar spasms I thought some of my chest pain was muscular and when he listened to me lungs he said I was working very hard to breathe and that I was probably tired and he was right, he gave me the resuce inhaler and I used it that night, and about an hour later I could breathe much better. But living with chronic pain and trying to ignore it makes it harder for me to figure out what I'm feeling. He finally explained sob. I thought it meant I'd be gasping for air, for me it mostly has happened when I got sick and it was breathing much harder with just a walk and i had chest pain.
So in summary the specialist found the problem but didnt' spend a lot of time but he proved why I cough non stop and so bad when I get sick , so now I'm going to a pcp to work out the details. Now that I have the "official" dx from a specialist I feel more prepared going in with questions. I would do it, it is something you have to manage.

I read in the first post that you experienced a lot of yawning... I did too and didn't know what to attribute it to. I have since started singular, zyrtec, nasonex and shots and noticed I haven't been yawning as much. I thought it must have just been allergies, but does anyone know if yawning is a symptom of asthma? Just curious.

What is a PCP?

Where i live in Canada, i don't know if its different but i was referred to an allergy and respitory clinic, where the resp. doctor sent me for a methacholine challange at the hospital. Then i went back to his office right after the test, and he said it was positive and gave me my medication samples and prescriptions. I also got allergy tests and found out im allergic to grass, dust, pollen, birch trees and shellfish and he a prescrip. for an epipen ( i knew about the shellfish sorta, i haven't eaten any since i was a kid). Thank god im not allergic to my precious cats and dogs!

Is a PCP a regular doctor? I do have a family doctor. I asked the speacalist if he thought I should go to the Asthma Care Clinic to learn more buts hes just like.. "nah."

So maybe I should ask my family doctor about that?

Docs are so weird sometimes lol.

yeah the yawning thing is annoying! sometimes when my chest is tight too i feel like i want to yawn or sigh deeply but its difficult and it drives me a bit batty! Sorta like I just want to try to get a deep satisfying breath.

well you yawn for three reasons, tired, hungry and needing air so I guess it could be related. Sorry PCP here in the us with a lot of health plan you have to pick your "primary care practitioner" who is usually a family dr or internist.