Anyone have a mucus problem?
I have just been diagnosed with asthma at age 70 after having trouble on and off throughout my life. I've always had a mucus problem. As I aged, I got bronchitis almost every year. I just had it for over a year and they finally decided to do a chest x-ray and a breathing test. The test was inconclusive and they said whatever I have is very mild. So they gave me an inhaler and that seems to help with the mucus. No one else I know with asthma has this problem. So have they misdiagnosed me? When I was sick for over a year, the doctor just said we all get these viruses and it will come back.
Hi CleanQueen, and thanks for posting your excellent question and concern.
While I hope others in the community chime in with their own personal experiences, you may be interested to know we have a wealth of material right here on our asthma.net website, all related to mucus.
For your convenience, here is a link to several of them: https://asthma.net/?s=mucus. I do hope you find them to be helpful to read. Please note, some are from community members while others are authored by some of our contributors.
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator asthma.net)
Hi CleanQueen,
I have airway mucous/mucous hypersecretion with my asthma. It can be extremely bothersome. I can't speak to if there has been a misdiagnosis but I would assume that they will rule out allergens, COPD, ABPA amongst other things or would do further imaging, bronchoscopy rule out immune connections etc . My experience is that they will rule out things systematically. Not sure where you are located but if you are US based Dr.John Fahy at UCSF has a specialty in mucous.I'm not sure. The inhaler is working so I'm fine. I'll see how it goes. They might be right, I've had this on and off my whole life, once for 10 years straight in my late twenties. So they said it could of be asthma that was never detected and the bronchititis I was getting every year was making it worse. And the doctor showed me the results of the breathing test and there was nothing alarming. Although the guy who gave me the breathing test said I was getting hardly any oxygen. Doesn't make sense, ha, ha. I'm old, I'm retired, my son just died. I don't feel like dealing with anything else, so I will live with it right now. One specialist said, you lost your job, you lost your son, you are stressed and it is causing health problems. He said that's all it was.
Bringing up mucous for several hrs a day is something that I have experienced. It is brutal but I am glad to hear that the inhaler has helped quite a bit. I will echo
that it is also helpful to get a second opinion or clarification when you are up to feeling up to it. If you are in Ontario you may want to investigate options at St.Michaels in Toronto, Firestone Institute of Respiratory Health in Hamilton ( at St.Joe's). There are also good speciality services at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary Dr.Mark Fitzgerald in Vancouver, there is also a specialty Clinic in Montreal that I have heard is excellent.
Hi again, CleanQueen - I do hope you're doing well.
Our asthma.net site published a brand new article today that I thought might be of interest to you - it's all about mucus!! For your convenience, here is a link to the article: https://asthma.net/living/mucus-management/.
I do hope you find it to be helpful to read.
All the best,
Leon (site moderator asthma.net)I definitely have mucus as I have both asthma and cystic fibrosis which is another lung disease. When I have bad asthma days I can tell I have more mucus which is the asthma aspect.
Hi
, and thanks for chiming in here and sharing your own personal experience with the community.
We appreciate your feedback and your input.
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator asthma.net)
