Does this sound like i may have Asthma, please help?

07/30/08

klee

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Hi,my name is Kiri and i am a 24 year old female, ive been a non smoker for the last 1 1/2 years, it is currently the middle of winter & i am awaiting an appointment to see a dr in a few days..but i just wanted some earlier advice. I have been feeling this way for the last month or so and have experienced this a few times before in the past. I had Asthma as a child and i think grew out of it when i entered my teenage years. Asthma is also in my family. For the last month i have been experiencing these symptoms on & off daily; Tightness in the chest & my throat(neck) area, shortness of breath, achyness all over my entire chest & through to my back when its at its worse, i feel it all over my lungs, its making me fele very tired at times...my chest feels restricted like theres a band around under my breasts and a band around the top of my chest. i cant stand to wear a bra as it feels too uncomfortable and tight even when its not actually on tight. Usually it feels worse at night and in the morning, but the last 3 days i have been getting it during day as well. I dont have much of a cough, only sometimes when i feel irritated...no wheezing at all so far. I am not sick with a cold or flu that i can tell. Feeling this in my chest makes me feel anxious & worried, i feel like i have to breath in deeply because of the tightness and it feels uncomfortable, sometimes this feeling goes away for a while & then later on in the day will act up a again. I have been under a bit of stress this month and i am a mother of 3 young children. When i feel stressed this can trigger the chest tightness etc as well. So my question is; Does this sound like Asthma at all to you? or do you have to have wheezing as well for it to be asthma? thank you for your help and advice. My doctor appointment is tomorrow, so hopefully it will get sorted...and i will know what is wrong with me.

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Answers (1)

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Vicki M

Hi Kiri!

First of all, congratulations for quitting smoking. That is a difficult task to do. By now, you have seen your doctor, and I believe you might have been diagnosed with asthma, but there could be other circumstances too. In the meantime, here is some general information for you. You can read a good overview about Asthma here. If your doctor diagnosed you with asthma, you might be prescribed a medication. You can read about many medications commonly prescribed for asthmatics here in the drugs database. Managing your treatment is something that you and your doctor work together on. You can get information about some of the treatments available here in the treatments database.

An asthma attack usually looks like this:

You wheeze when you exhale (or breathe out).
Your breath is short. Shortness of breath is a major source of distress in patients with asthma. Some patients are not even aware that they are experiencing shortness of breath. Such patients are at particular risk for very serious and even life-threatening asthma attacks, since they are less conscious of symptoms. Those at highest risk for this effect tend to be older, female, and to have had the disease for a longer period of time.
You cough. In some people, the first symptom of asthma is a nonproductive cough (nonproductive means there's no phlegm or muscus).
Your chest may feel tight or painful.
Your neck muscles may tighten, and talking may become difficult or impossible.
Your heart might race.
You may sweat a lot.

I hope this helps. Take care and let us know how you are doing!

Vicki M