Quick question. Do you know what your peak flow is right now?
If yes, how close to normal is it?
If no, why not?
Interesting that many of you experience bad coughing during an asthma attack; this never happens to me. During an asthma attack it simply becomes more and more difficult for me to inhale and exhale, both of which causing pretty audible wheezes. Triggers are cold are and allergies, but honestly, my body doesn’t seem to need a trigger. At least mild attacks happen daily for what appears to be no reason at all.
I don’t measure peak flow like I should. When I was a child I don’t remember going over 300 or so. As an adult, I believe last time I was at a doctor’s office - while not experiencing an attack - I blew around 650, which is about normal.
I have asthma but I don’t think it limits me to much it was good in Junior High for getting excused from any P.E. activity I didn’t want to do but most days I forget I have it. It’s only after something triggers an attack is when I am painfully aware that I do indeed have asthma. It feels like having a gigantic weight on your chest, I remember having an asthma attack on a field trip and not having an inhaler with me the chaperone actually let me take a hit off of her son’s inhaler, which was a “no-no” but it saved my life possibly.
Now when I go to school the inhaler is always in my backpack and after that fieldtrip incident I had one teacher that would make me carry my inhaler in my pocket while at school and he would check me every now and then to make sure I had it.
It is not to hard to stay calm if you know that you have an inhaler or a nebulizer nearby but the main thing is that you are trying to make yourself breathe eventhough your lungs are saying different.
What’s asthma like? Well, it gives one the inexplicable urge to belt smokers over the head. 
Seriously, I have mild/moderate asthma, and have had since I was about 10 (I’m 24 now). It’s very stable - I haven’t had a fullblown attack since I was 12. I take inhaled steroids, and Ventolin every now and then. I’ve been told that if you have to use your reliever more than 3 or 4 times a week, your lungs are inflamed and you need a preventor (steroid inhaler).
The attack I had aged 12 came on very gradually. I was in the school orchestra and we had been practising all day for that evening’s concert, in a Certain Opera House which tends not to be excessively well-ventilated in the dressing-room section (which consists of a series of concrete, below-ground rabbit warrens) where we had to sit with our instruments for periods of time. Dust is one of my triggers. By the time I got home that night, my breathing was constricted. I fell asleep anyway. Woke up the next morning and could barely breathe (my peakflow measurement must have decreased from about 450 to about 50). I was grey. Mum rushed me to the doctor’s. I was shown into the doc’s room, sat on a chair and promptly fainted. :eek: The Doc picked me up and put me on the nebuliser, and sent me home with his nebuliser. I had to get on the nebuliser everyday for a week after that. Then I was fine.
Basically, I’m otherwise very healthy, I get lots of exercise (including swimming, which is great for your lung-capacity), so my daily life isn’t much affected by it. When I go out with friends and end up in a bar/pub/nightclub where people are smoking, my chest later feels a bit tight, but Ventolin relieves that. I just try to avoid smokers (FOR THEY ARE EVIL!)
I want to keep my asthma stable so that I never need to take steroid tablets, which are about 100 times as powerful as inhalers and thus have way more side-effects.
I do not have asthma, and I have a question for asthma sufferers. I started to wonder about this during the “Amazing Race” shows, when at least two contestants (both young women) had apparent asthma attacks while they were doing strenuous tasks. What can a bystander do to help someone during an attack, especially if they don’t have an inhaler? Presumably feeling unable to breathe would incite panic (it sure would with me, anyway). Would it help if someone said “keep calm, breathe slowly, count to 10” etc.? Does it help to be patted or slapped on the back? Should the sufferer sit down, lie down, lean forward or something else? How do you know when to call 911, and what should you do until help arrives?
As to inhalers, chances are in a large group of people somebody would have one. Is there any danger in using somebody else’s inhaler, if that’s all you can get?
Find an inhaler. 
I don’t think trying to calm someone would help - at least it certainly wouldn’t help for me. I don’t think that there’s anything psychosomatic about my bronchial constriction. If the attack is serious enough and no medicines are available, the asthmatic should either be taken to an emergency room or 911 should be called. It’s never been that serious for me; I’ve never been caught without an albuterol inhaler.
None. The only danger would be a medication allergy, and hopefully the sufferer will be in sufficient control of his faculties to realize what medication he’s taking.
A cup of very hot black coffee can help, but won’t stop, an asthma attack if there are no other medicines around. Basically it can buy you more time. Certainly you want to keep the sufferer calm, as panic can exacerbate an attack.
No and no. However, I found out by accident that my attacks would ease temporarily while someone was rubbing my upper back. I’ve never found out why this worked or heard if anyone else reacts this way.
My asthma is mainly exercise-induced. For me, it feels like I’m filling my lungs like normal, but it’s not helping at all, like the oxygen just isn’t passing through the membranes (which is true). I start to empty and re-fill my lungs much more quickly and deeply, which is my body’s natural reaction to not getting enough air. After a while my breathing starts to get scary and noisy and extremely frequent. My inhaler helps, as does sitting down and not moving.
My boyfriend also has asthma, and his is much more severe. He wheezes; when his breathing is bad he won’t lie down as it puts too much pressure on his lungs, and he won’t lie in bed because (and I’ve found this too) it DOES get worse when he’s thinking about it. Although it’s physiological, lungs can also be controlled by the sympathetic muscle system, which (in our cases, at least) doesn’t help at all.
Speaking personally, for the most part, I already know what to do. The best thing you can do is find me somewhere to sit (if I’m not already sitting) and find me an inhaler. Unless you’d touch me when I’m not having an attack, don’t touch me now. And don’t crowd me and make a big fuss. It’s happened to me before, it will happen again. I’m uncomfortable enough without being the centre of attention.
More generally, if they’re already calm, they don’t need to be told to calm down. If they’re starting to panic, helping them to calm down will help - or at least stop things getting worse. Sitting is better than lying. And sitting helps you relax more than standing, so sit 'em down.
For the most part, you can use someone else’s inhaler, but from personal experience, if you’re used to using the aerosol inhaler and get given a powder one, a little instruction and warning would be in order, as I’m probably not thinking most clearly at that particular moment.
The bystander should STAY CALM. Most asthmatics know how to handle their attacks - unless they pass out, or they say it’s an emergency, it’s serious but not life or death (usually). Jeepers, it’s the general public that freaks out more than the poor wheezer.
As a general rule of thmb, if someone can talk (even if out of breath) they’re getting enough air to live. They may not be getting enough air to feel comfortable, but they are breathing. If someone really can’t talk, or they pass out/become unresponsive THEN you call 911.
Well, yes, to some extent you’re hardwired to freak when it becomes hard to breathe, but unless it’s someone’s first attack they’ll be able to control their emotional reaction.
NO! It comes across to me, at least, as really condescending.
If you pat me on the back I’ll just cough harder. So please don’t.
Sit down. DO NOT try to force them to lay down - it only make breathing harder (yes, I once had something who kept forcing me back during an attack - almost cold-cocked the [expletive deleted]) Tight clothing should be loosened - usually the person with asthma will do this, but if they don’t you might suggest they do so.
If the person having the attack says to call 911, call 911
If they lose conciousness, become unresponsive, or unable to speak at all call 911
If the wheezing is accompanied by hives, full body itching, or swelling of the face call 911
It’s better to call 911 than to attempt to take the person to the hospital on your own. Ambulances have medications on hand and the guys driving them have been taught how to deal with this situation.
If the person stops breathing entirely start CPR.
DO NOT administer alcohol, or insist the person get up and “walk it off” or acuse them of being a whimp or less flattering term - all of which has happened to me in the past. There are many more athletes with asthma than people are aware of, and dimished capacity for exercise is one of the signs of an impending attack or increasing lung inflamation. Forcing someone to keep going can bring on a full blown attack.
It’s a judgement call - but the risk of using someone’s inhaler may be less than NOT using someone else’s inhaler.
The thing I absolutely HATE the most when having an attack in public (which, fortunately, has rarely happened to me) is how everyone else gets exicited and crowds around. Jeepers, people! Stand back if you have to gawk! I don’t need you using up my precious oxygen! It may be worse in my case because normally I keep a very tight control on my asthma (I use by rescue inhaler maybe 3-4 times in an entire year) and many folks are completely unaware I even have asthma. So they rush up, look me earnestly in the face, and exclaim “But YOU can’t have ASTHMA?!?!”
One more thing - if it’s cold outside and someone is having an attack take them inside - cold air is very irritating. If they’re someplace like a bar or restaurant that’s smoke-filled get them out of that. Minimize lung irritations, in other words.
>—Broomstick—
Wonder Woman and Asthmatic
(last big bad asthma attack October 1994)
That’s how I found out I had it when I was 21; I actually thought I was sick with bronchitis or something because I kept having coughing fits and shortness of breath one of the summers I worked for housing. (we moved lots of furniture). My doctor said, “Well you have asthma, so you ought to know-” I do?! No wonder I felt like crap in 9th grade when our sadistic PE teacher had us run laps all period for the first couple of weeks of class(every day…185 days of PE was a joy, I’ll tell you) .
Things like shovelling snow or running after erant dogs trigger it, and going by freshly mowed grass and hay not only makes me cough but makes my lungs feel like the grass, or maybe feathers, have gotten in there. Maybe the cold too, actually, I’ve been coughing a fair amount the last few weeks for no other apparent reason.
It’s not nearly as bad as my mother’s: I’ve only had to use an inhaler a handful of times and don’t have a standing prescription for one, but 1/2 of her attacks sound she’s going to suffocate any second like a fish out of water. OTOH, hers is triggered by far more things than overexertion and a couple types of plants.
See, this is the thing. Of couse being unable to breathe would scare you shitless 'cuz it’s never happened to you before. It happens to us all the time, so we know how to deal. While my asthma has certainly scared me a couple times in the past, I don’t panic when my breathing diminishes because I know how to solve the problem. (That Maxair stuff really works!) And honestly, asthma treatment now is lightyears beyond what it was say 10 or so years ago. (I remember when I was 12, having to decide whenever I had respiratory distress whether I wanted to just deal until it passed or take one of my alupent pills which would give me heart palpitations and cold sweats as well as keep me awake for the next 18 hours – plus it caused shortness of breath!)
Getting to the questions of the OP, I don’t typically have “attacks,” I just find myself short of breath (sometimes with a popping wheeze, but I unconsciously use better air strategies such as pursing my lips when it comes over me, so sometimes I don’t notice a wheeze.) I guess there’s a little tightness of the chest, but for me it’s more a feeling that my lungs just aren’t as deep as they normally are. I also feel constricted in my throat – although usually that’s with a gradual enough onset that I don’t really realize it until my rescue inhaler fixes it.
One thing I haven’t seen anyone mention is how sore your shoulder blades get when you’ve had an extended episode. When you get less air, the muscles that expand your chest cavity automatically work harder, and they get fatigued over time. What also happens to me sometimes is that I dream about not being able to breathe. Then when I wake up I need a shot of my rescue inhaler. This is a different beast than when your asthma wakes you up in the middle of the night – if that happens more than very, very rarely, you need a different treatment regimen.
I know most of my triggers, and can usually avoid them (except heat – like WhyNot, I hate going from cold to warm. Of course, dry cold on its own will get me going too.) Tomorrow, though, I’ll be at my friend’s house all day, and she has cats. Better make sure to grab that new rescue inhaler before I go!
–Cliffy
I was diagnosed with adult-onset asthma a couple of years ago (I’m 41). I had the tightness in the chest recurring after a bout with bronchitis. So, BOOM, I have asthma. I take flovent and albuterol. I’ve never had an “attack”, or felt the way I felt right before the diagnosis. I just get a bit wheezy at night, kind of like a bad case of smoker’s cough. Al in all, I consider it to be quite mild, and I never have problems with excercise or cold air.
One thing I’ve never been able to get a straight answer on is this: Is (mild)asthma a death sentence? Will your lungs’ condition eventually deteriorate because of this? Do asthma sufferers have a shorter average lifespan?
I’ve had asthma for as long as I can remember. In my case the symptoms increased drastically around age 12 (hormonal changes can really aggravate symptoms, as any female asthmatic can probably tell you) and were really horrible for about 10 years. I was hospitalized a few times during that period, usually for about a week at a time, had many dozen ER visits, and had to take really obscenely large amounts of steroids with unfortunate regularity. The last hospitalization–and the worst–was when I was 22. Since that time (I’m 29 now) I’ve been on daily maintenance inhalers that have kept my symptoms down to basic exercise induced asthma, with some flare ups if I have a chest cold or flu.
A trip-to-the-ER-bad attack is the most tiring thing I have ever experienced. (I don’t have any kids and so can’t compare it, but childbirth sounds like it may be worse.)
By the time you get to the hospital, you’ve probably been living with that attack for a couple of days already. You can’t sleep because you can’t lay down and still breathe, and even if you can get comfortable sitting up it takes so much effort and concentration just to keep the air moving that you don’t really get any rest.
You’ve probably spent at least a couple of hours sitting with your hands on your seat and your elbows locked in an attempt to straighten out your lungs while still resting your battered and sore chest muscles.
Depending on the attack, your throat and lungs may feel abraded or burned. You may be coughing uncontrollably. Or you may just be tight , with all the smaller passageways narrowed down to practically nothing.
Typically, you pull in air in short gasps and exhale in even shorter ones.
You’ve been focusing for hours on breathing in slowly through your nose and out slowly through your mouth, in an attempt to keep your traitor lungs from failing to exhale each breath entirely and making each breath shorter than the last.
You’ve practically drowned yourself in coffee and herbal tea, and it still can’t clear the taste of your rescue inhaler from your throat.
Finally you realize that you are too tired to fight your own body any longer. That’s a very scary realization. Time to head to the ER.
At the hospital you’ll usually be given tons of albuterol, which has an “upper” side effect, and you may also be given a shot or two of epinephrine (adrenaline). With all those drugs your heart rate will usually be up around 120 beats per minute. But that’s precisely when you are able to finally sleep.
Luckily, most people with asthma don’t have to deal with attacks of that severity, or at least not very often. It doesn’t impact the lives of those with mild or moderate asthma much more than would a trick knee; one just has to know what one should and should not do in order to avoid symptoms. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you will die sooner or have a lower quality of life than someone without asthma. However, if a very severe attack is not treated it can kill. A fellow asthmatic from my home town–he had been “the one who has it bad” when we were kids, the one was in the oxygen tent for a week in grade school, and later “the one who learned to successfully control it and lead a very active life”–had a severe asthma attack while climbing Mt. Rainier several years ago. He had his rescue inhaler, but the attack became more severe than could be controlled by the inhaler. A rescue helicopter was dispatched in response to a call from a friend’s cell phone, but it did not arrive in time and he died from lack of oxygen. Asthma is serious. That Lung Association slogan which The Devil’s Grandmother quoted earlier is the truth: When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.
Originally posted by An Arky
If I may hijack a bit: How about emphysema? I’m in phase 4 [FEV1 <40%]. No-one’s telling me how long I have. There’s hemming and hawing everywhere. Hey. I can take it.
Anyone here willing to answer? Please?
[I’ll ask this in GQ if needed. Emphysema being different from asthma and all. Sorry for the hijack]
Detritus nailed it.
I had an attack several years ago that almost killed me. I was not taking my medication like I was supposed to and was not avoiding known triggers (I still had two cats!). Near death experiences are very persuasive. After that, I got rid of the cats and took the medications as prescribed. The doctor I had in the hospital became my regular doctor and I’ve been in great shape ever since. In hind sight, it’s amazing what you learn to live with. I coudn’t take a deep breath, coughed frequently and unproductively. My back hurt cause I was trying to stretch myself out to get a deeper, fuller breath. I was like that for at least a week, if not more. I couldn’t sleep from the coughing and the wheezing. I forget what my blood O2 levels were at my near death experience, but on one of my ER visits I know it was under 90%, it’s supposed to be like 99%+.
Uncontrolled asthma sucks and can kill you.
Something else, which non-asthmatic readers may or may not have picked up on.
Asthma can be experienced differently by different people.
I have mild, intermittant asthma. That means if I take care of myself and avoid my triggers my asthma can go into a sort of remission. I may go years between attacks, and months between symptoms. I go long stretches without needing any medication (although when I get a cold or flu I frequently do wind up medicated to prevent problems). However, I can suffer an attack if I encounter a trigger, hence I do carry an inhaler most of the time. My attacks are less likely to require a trip to the ER or be fatal than someone with severe, chronic asthma.
Someone with severe, chronic asthma may have impaired breathing every day and require daily medications. They may require medications that cause significant side effects. They may go to the hospital multiple times per year. They may have an attack that causes severe damage or death.
The latest research I’ve seen indicates that the better you control your asthma the better off you are. If you control your asthma sufficiently that you use your rescue inhaler no more than twice a week then you may well prevent further deterioation. Thus, if you have mild asthma now, if you keep a tight control over it, there’s a decent chance it will never get worse (though it will always be a concern). If you don’t take care of the situation you may suffer from on-going lung damage that will make your later years miserable.
As to how you control it… well, it can sneak up on you in unexpected ways. I used to find housework exhausting. Then I started wearing a very heavy breathing mask while dusting and vacuuming - not one of the cloth ones but one of those heavy rubber ones that make you look like a bug-eyed monster. No more exhaustion! So yeah, folks think it’s weird and they laugh - let 'em. I breathe better, I feel better, and it doesn’t involve taking drugs. So you might have to do stuff like that to really help keep things under control.
Broomstick hit on something…somebody told me that I might be allergic to dust mites, since my asthma problem only involves getting a bit wheezy at night. I got hypoallergenic pillows, and though it’s only been a few days, I think it’s an improvement.