Severe asthma mostly asymptomatic and bedridden
Hello all. I am miserable. Any hope or advice out there please ? Are my symptoms incredibly atypical ? 42 year old male diagnosed with severe acute asthma last week - symptoms started out of nowhere two weeks ago. I do have a history of chronic sinus infections but otherwise healthy. Ive been to the ER four times last week out of fear - they send me home of course because they dont see me wheezing coughing or turning blue - blood oxygen always 97% or above - heart lungs look fine on ct scans - no covid no pneumonia no infection - except i can NEVER catch my breath - ever - every second i am focused on telling myself to breath correctly - this is my life now - 100 to 0 in two weeks - My only savior is laying in bed on my side literally all day as to not engage in any physical exertion - none - going to the bathroom taking a shower eating talking - all instantly send me into varying degrees of breathlessness - on top of my baseline breathlessness. I am truly bedridden. My pulmonologist has me trying out different drugs and dosages - for now only taking 60mg prednisone a day - for the past six days - i am having sporadic results - for 3 to 8 hours a day (depends on the day) i feel it clearing things up to a moderate degree but when it wears off i fall hard back to my baseline which is persistent shortness of breath - and this is while i am laying in bed. Inhalers seem to have minimal effect. The prednisone seems mostly to work in the evening and overnight. My sleeping at night is moderately ok (atypical for asthma right ??) I wake up in the morning and the breathlessness sets in again. Any thoughts PLEASE - is this just asthma or something else ? Any drugs i should insist on trying with my dr ? I am grateful for your input.
MarkL
My story is similar. I was miserable for many months. Anxiety was mixed with my asthma symptoms and that made for one toxic cocktail. I was having panic attacks and could barely make it through the grocery store. And because my symptoms resembled COVID, my general doctor would not see me in person (video visits only). I spent most of my time lying on my left side on the couch or in bed (barely able to ever get up). Finally a well respected pulmonologist diagnosed me with Moderate Persistent Adult onset Asthma. My stats (oxygen, several chest x-rays, spirometer) were also normal. He has me on Symbicort and Singulair (one pill before bed) and I am improving. I still struggle with clear, sticky, excess phlegm that I have to “huff” up, yet that seems to be improving slowly. Maybe ask to try those if you haven’t already.
