asthma for over 30 years finally found trigger - Asthma Message Board

onthenelson · 04-24-2009, 06:14 AM

Hi. I've had asthma most of my life (I am 38) and spend long periods in hospital due to many chest infections. I've had all the tests imaginable, none of the allergy test came up positive except for birds and cats.

Yesterday I had to start taking cortisone because I've got a bad flare-up of arthritis. I have had bad sinus the last weeks, but we have stepped into autmn so I was not surprised. Almost every time I have sinus it leads to a chest infection and I end up in hospital for a lenghtly stay.

After taking the cortisone I was horrified last night when I had an asthma attack. I'm on continuous o2 at night, so I nebulized and went off to sleep. This morning my chest was terrible. I had to have nebs first thing before I even got up and then took another dose of cortisone for the arthritis flare up.

This morning I wrote down everything I ate yesterday to see if there was anything different from any other day which might have triggered the attack and the terrible chest I have now despite the cortisone, and I had eaten half a chocolate!!! I seldom eat chocolate as I have type I diabetes and am insulin dependent, but I ate it because my sugar was low. There was absolutely nothing else I ate or drank which was out of the ordinary, so I suspect that chocolate may be a trigger for my asthma attacks!

I don't really mind this as its not one of my great favourite foods, I can easily live without it, its just convenient to eat if your sugar drops and its all you have. When my chest clears I will try eating chocolate again to see what happens, but at the moment I don't want to add to the problem and end up in hospital.

Has anyone else found that chocolate triggers asthma attacks???

Ginger9909 · 04-25-2009, 09:38 AM

Hi,
Did you know that acid reflux can set off asthma? Whenever i eat high carbs, chocolate, or just have a day when i overeat, it will set off my asthma very badly. I have found when i eat a sensible diet and stay away from the bad carbs I am much better but overeating definitely sets me off. Also if i eat at say a fast food restaurant and have the fried chicken sandwich with fries or i have a few slices of pizza i notice the difference.
Also if you are type 1 chocolate is not the best thing to raise your blood sugar as chocolate has fat in it and is slower to absorb. My 5 year old daughter has type 1 and was told a few times quick acting sugar is the best thing, no chocolate for low blood sugars.

MountainReader · 04-25-2009, 02:10 PM

I second Ginger's post. Acid Reflux can trigger asthma.

If your this is what is happening in your case and your asthma is cannot be brought under control with medication and lifestyle changes, you may be a candidate for reflux surgery.

I ended up going that route last October when my reflux could not be brought under control and was constantly triggering my asthma.

By the way, my ENT says there is no coorelation, but I've only had one sinus infection since my reflux surgery. Typically I have at least 4-5 per year (or one that just never fully goes away.)

doloresmc · 04-25-2009, 03:29 PM

Hi, my 6 year old's pulmonologist/allergist claims sinus infection is an asthma trigger for my child. He confirmed the infection with x-rays and sure enough both times he had it going!.
I don't know about chocolate though..
I hope you find your trigger soon!
Dolores

JewelryJulie · 05-04-2009, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onthenelson

Has anyone else found that chocolate triggers asthma attacks???

I would be very interested to know this as I eat chocolate like most of us drink water. I can't live without it. It actually helps my chronic pain, believe it or not. I do not have asthma as bad as you as mine is controlled with 2 times a day symbicort puffs. I haven't had an attack where I needed to be hospitalized-yet. I recently had tests and found my lung function to be nearly back to normal now. So, I don't have it like you do. I don't use o2 or a nebulizer either. Just adding to the dialog. I hope you find what makes you ill and get better soon!
Julie

P.S. I have GERD that is controlled by daily protonix meds. So, not sure if this triggered my breathing issues or not....(haven't been given an answer as my dr. thinks we live in such a polluted place that anyone could have breathing issues...)