Sinusitis for Asthma Suffering users

So, I have been just reeling from this cold I have that became sinusitis. Then there are these bouts of coughing up a lung, coughing till I cannot breath, cannot even take the next breath to cough again because I need to cough again. I have mild asthma but have never really had an "attack". Its just the wheezing when I breath out and a little shortness of breath sometimes. I was diagnosed years ago because I kept getting really bad bouts of bronchitis that held on for weeks. So we did the lung function test before and after proventil dosing and what do you know I have asthma. And, since fixing up most of my GERD by elevating the head of my bed, my asthma symptoms have nearly disappeared. I got off the advair inhaler long ago. I still take singulair but no need for the inhaler. With those two treatments, I never really have had a so called asthma attack. However, I keep an albuterol inhaler perscription filled and handy for just in case. The doc suggested taking a couple hits before setting off on my hikes and it does make a few minutes difference up a hill. So, what with the GERD mostly fixed, I have not used an inhaler in almost a year.

So, I am coughing up this lung a few minutes ago and in desperation I search for and grab the inhaler and with some difficulty force myself to take a couple hits. Difficult because I cannot breath in. Suddenly, my cough goes away, I can breath without it starting the cough. OMG I am as dumb as a post! Have these actually been asthma attacks brought on by having this cold? Is this what its actually like. Because I do get these coughing fits that go away after 15-30 minutes. I figured it was asthma related but I never felt the need to try the inhaler while having the coughing. Dang, its like magic. I am so dumb. Shoot me now.

I have mild asthma too. I do take the Advair 100/50 once a day. Doing so elimates me having to use the Pro Air ( rescue inhaler) I too keep one for just in case. I have suffered from a stuffy nose now for 2 weeks. Live in Texas where its 70 one day and 28 the other. I use a saline spray from Wal MArt before bed. It seems to help keep me clear through the night and i bumped the humidity up one notch to 3 and that helps too. I have had the coughs too, but seemed to be breaking up the crud in my chest. Alot of chicken soup and rest. Hope you get better soon.

Hello! You have the classic symptoms of asthmatic bronchitis. This is not what we tend to think of as bronchitis caused by a virus or a bacterial infection, it is an asthmatic response to a trigger--often the trigger is a seemingly mild upper respiratory viral illness (in other words, a cold), or other asthma triggers (in my case fragrances and smoke are big triggers).

I didn't understand this at first either, until someone sat down and explained it to me. What happens is that when your respiratory system encounters a trigger (in this case your initial upper respiratory infection), your body goes into immune overdrive (an autoimmune response) and your lungs fill with mucous while your bronchials spasm and tighten up. Hence the coughing.

This is serious, because all that yucky mucous pooling in there is a great breeding ground for bacteria, and left untreated you may end up with a secondary pneumonia. Furthermore, all that mucous can cause scarring in the alveolar sacs and leave permanent damage.

You need to see your doctor, who will probably put you back on inhaled steroids (Advair and possibly something in addition to get enough steroid into you) and possibly even oral steroids to knock this out. Antibiotics generally are not needed unless you have a secondary bacterial infection. Meanwhile, you should use your rescue inhaler every 4 hours or so to try to get those bronchials to relax so that you can have some hope of coughing out some of that mucous. Drink lots of warm fluids, it helps relax things too.

If you have urgent care available today, you may want to go in. But go in to see a doctor tomorrow for sure. I'm notorious for leaving this too long, and it's REALLY HARD to shake once that mucous is nice and settled in there. And the risk for a secondary infection increases the longer you leave it.

I seem to head for asthmatic bronchitis every time I get the slightest cold now, so as soon as symptoms appear I have to start taking a very brief course of oral steroids. I hate the side effects from the steroids, but last year I kept waiting too long to start them and I was pretty sick--it interferes with my ability to work and earn a living as I'm self-employed. So far this year I've had one cold that started to "go south" and the oral steroids knocked it right out when it started to head toward my lungs. But I had the worst side effects ever. I probably sustained some lung damage from letting this problem get out of hand in the past--my advice to you is don't let that happen!!!

CPAP, BTW, helps so much. I've had far fewer colds since starting CPAP, and it keeps me comfortable and able to sleep without coughing when I'm having a bout of bronchitis.

Janknitz wrote:Hello! You have the classic symptoms of asthmatic bronchitis. This is not what we tend to think of as bronchitis caused by a virus or a bacterial infection, it is an asthmatic response to a trigger--often the trigger is a seemingly mild upper respiratory viral illness (in other words, a cold), or other asthma triggers (in my case fragrances and smoke are big triggers).

This is serious, because all that yucky mucous pooling in there is a great breeding ground for bacteria, and left untreated you may end up with a secondary pneumonia. Furthermore, all that mucous can cause scarring in the alveolar sacs and leave permanent damage.

You need to see your doctor, who will probably put you back on inhaled steroids (Advair and possibly something in addition to get enough steroid into you) and possibly even oral steroids to knock this out. Antibiotics generally are not needed unless you have a secondary bacterial infection. Meanwhile, you should use your rescue inhaler every 4 hours or so to try to get those bronchials to relax so that you can have some hope of coughing out some of that mucous. Drink lots of warm fluids, it helps relax things too.

If you have urgent care available today, you may want to go in. But go in to see a doctor tomorrow for sure. I'm notorious for leaving this too long, and it's REALLY HARD to shake once that mucous is nice and settled in there. And the risk for a secondary infection increases the longer you leave it.
.

Yup, Janknitz is telling my story. For my chronic AB I take allergy shots, Advair, Guaifenissen (Mucinex) and Spiriva. That may be the best. It replaced the nebulizer solution I used to drag around with me when asthma was upon me. I agree with all Janknitz's cautions.
I also suggest you ask about Xoponex HFA, it's an inhaler that does NOT cause -me anyway- the heart racing and humongous headache I got with Proventil. And if you have access to an old-fashioned steam room, that's my first and best choice for quick relief. Lacking that, heating a damp towel in microwave and breathing in the humidity -careful! Hot- can relieve the thick mucus some.

Do get seen ASAP, and try the things we have suggested. The dry air of winter has always been an irritant to me, as are perfumes, smoke.... I do not go down the grocery aisles with laundry detergent or perfumes because it irritates me all the time. Hope you get well soon and get to enjoy the Christmas season. earl

Thank you for the responses. I was really surprised when the inhaler stopped it. Now I have an idea why. I will set up an appointment ASAP tomorrow.

Edit: Also, its been really hard to get any sleep other than sitting up on the sofa. The inhaler gives me a respite of a couple hours and I actually managed to mask up a couple times last night. This makes so much more sense now. Thanks again.

also check that your inhaler isn't expired... expiration date should be on the cylinder. I find that I don't get as good of a result with an expired inhaler... though I will get some.

Mr Bill wrote: Have these actually been asthma attacks brought on by having this cold?

Yup. I have mild asthma and had a similar episode last spring. My doc put me on oral steriods, a steroid inhaler and Xopenex. Felt better almost immediately, but needed to stay on the stuff for about 10 days. Please see a doc, as you probably will need some medication for the next week or so.

Yep asthma attack - usually referred to as "cough presenting asthma"
I got the same reaction after they injected me with iodine. The official diagnoses was "Bronchial spasms". so it doesn't have to go any where near your throat for you to have a reaction.

howkim wrote: I have mild asthma and had a similar episode last spring. My doc put me on oral steriods, a steroid inhaler and Xopenex. Felt better almost immediately, but needed to stay on the stuff for about 10 days. Please see a doc, as you probably will need some medication for the next week or so.

Mr Bill, IF you haven't had asthma bad enough to have regularly been prescribed steroid series - shots and/or oral- then a word of caution. When I first started the Decadron shots and the Z-Pak steroids, it would wire me so much that I couldn't sleep at night. You may be used to them as I am by now, but if not, you might take the steroids earlier in the day to give you a chance to come down some before trying to sleep. Just a thought.

Okay, so this is sounding a LOT like my experiences in past years. I'm finally starting to accept the fact that I most likely have asthma.

BUT, my doctor has been very hesitant to diagnose me. I've heard this from other people as well. And people I know in the medical and insurance industry tell me I do NOT want an actual asthma diagnosis from my doctor.

Can anyone explain to me why this is? What are the ramifications of being actually diagnosed with asthma?

BUT, my doctor has been very hesitant to diagnose me. I've heard this from other people as well. And people I know in the medical and insurance industry tell me I do NOT want an actual asthma diagnosis from my doctor.

Can anyone explain to me why this is? What are the ramifications of being actually diagnosed with asthma?

Because asthma is yet another pre-existing chronic condition that will give health insurers yet another reason to deny you coverage IF health care reform is not implemented in 2014 because Congress manages to eviscerate it. If healthcare reform survives, insurers may NOT deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.

But with OSA, you already have one denial-worthy pre existing condition, so you're already screwed. And if you leave asthma like that untreated, you risk bronchitis, pneumonia, respiratory failure, even death. So you may as well get diagnosed and properly treated.

I used to think my asthma was mild since my main symptom was occasional coughing and most of the time I felt fine. But I've had a few scary incidents where I coughed so much I could not catch my breath, and thought maybe I might die. So I guess it's possible!

Janknitz wrote:
Because asthma is yet another pre-existing chronic condition that will give health insurers yet another reason to deny you coverage ...

But with OSA, you already have one denial-worthy pre existing condition, so you're already screwed....

Actually, wouldn't a second denial-worthy pre-existing condition make it more likely that I would be denied? It seems like the more conditions you have, the more likely they will deny you. But maybe that's not the case.

Maybe it would be better to be treated, but not formally diagnosed. That's kind of what we are doing now. I'm on a twice daily med, plus my inhaler daily. It seems to be helping, but I still cough daily. Not the cough-up-a-lung kind of cough, but still coughing none the less. I see my doc again tomorrow for an unrelated reason, but I'm sure he'll ask me how this treatment is working. I guess I've been coughing for so long, I don't know what it would feel like to NOT have any symptoms.

You all were right! When I told the nurse y'all had suggested asthmatic bronchitis with the sinus infection as a trigger, she pretty much panned the idea. But my doctor said, "somebody is pretty clever". He checked my sinuses, listened to my lungs, did a pulmonary efficiency test (which despite feeling to me like a failure, indicated normal lung function) and said it looks like its viral and you are having an asthma like response to the sinus infection. He prescribed albuterol inhaler as needed, sinus rinse twice a day, and nasal steroid spray twice a day. To that I am adding a couple 25mg tabs of benaydryl and lots of water to drink.

So, since my first post, I am gradually getting better. Still cannot mask up but am doing tolerably well sleeping sitting up leaning against a pile of cushions on the couch.

what do you take for GERD? I'm trying nexium and aciphex but still the doc told me my throat was really red, tonsils.

I started xopenex but it doesn't help me right now. I just have had a terrible infection that won't cure after 2 courses of antibiotics and after #4 I am still wheezing. I don't really cough though or have mucus, just dry wheezing.
I take dulera/singulair also. I don't know why it's so difficult to get well- it's like my immune system was crippled somehow. I even got a flu shot. If you take too many steroids maybe it shuts down the immunity.

sickwithapnea17 wrote:what do you take for GERD? I'm trying nexium and aciphex but still the doc told me my throat was really red, tonsils.

I started xopenex but it doesn't help me right now. I just have had a terrible infection that won't cure after 2 courses of antibiotics and after #4 I am still wheezing. I don't really cough though or have mucus, just dry wheezing.
I take dulera/singulair also. I don't know why it's so difficult to get well- it's like my immune system was crippled somehow. I even got a flu shot. If you take too many steroids maybe it shuts down the immunity.

Its all here in my first post...

I got diagnosed with asthma in 1994 and nothing seemed to be able to stop this coughing when I was tired. Now, I was not particularly a snorer and preferred to sleep on my stomach. In May of 2008 my nephew had been getting migraines and crazy asthma like symptoms and he was not at all chubby. When they did an allergy panel on him, he was not allergic to anything! The Dr said it was GERD. I ticked off the symptoms and in a blinding Mentat moment realized these were mine. That same day, I bought three 2"x6"x4' boards and stacked them under the head of my bed to elevate just the head of my bed by 6 inches and I made myself sleep on my back instead of my stomach. After three days my heartburn and my asthma symptoms nearly disappeared!. I no longer have a sinus drainage problem. Apparently the vagus nerve gets stimulated by GERD and in turn it switches on your sinuses which give you allergy symptoms or make mild asthma worse.

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For acid stomach, which still flares up, I take any proton pump inhibitor. Prilosec is usually the cheapest. Its prescribed now as a prophylactic to prevent development of ulcers in hospital admissions. Because people often stress induced ulcers in that situation.