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Anyone get adult-onset asthma????!

S

SDKath

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Ugh. We just got back from our dream vacation of 2 weeks in Alaska (cruise) and about midway through I started getting short of breath. I had to go to the ship's doctor, who told me I had bronchospasm, maybe from the cold air. I was wheezy and feeling really weak. He gave me a rapid prednisone taper and some inhalers.

I got better initially but now I am back in San Diego and wheezing again and my chest is really tight. I ended up going to the ER 3 nights ago because I just could not breathe. They ran a bunch of tests (heart, blood clot, infection, etc) and confirmed that I probably have asthma.

They doubled my prednisone so now I am on 40mg a day plus 3 inhalers. I am slowly better but still feel really limited in how much I can do without getting short of breath.

Anyone have this happen at an older age? I have never experienced anything like this and I am NOT liking the idea of all of a sudden turning 40 and getting asthma! I have no allergies or anything. DD has mild, exercise induced asthma but this seems pretty extreme for me. YUCK.

Katherine
 
Holysmoke said:
read Doug Kaufmans books about mold and fungus.

you may have been exposed to a mycotoxin

http://www.knowthecause.com/KnowtheCauseFUPO.aspx

http://www.epa.gov/asthma/molds.html

read up on mold and asthma
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I thought I may have been exposed to something on the cruise ship too, so attributed it to something that will pass. Now I have been home for another week and my symptoms are back again. Doubt it's exposure again at home (we have a 3 year old home too so we have no mold yet). But thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely look at the website and read the article because all info will hopefully help me.
 
I developed asthma about 10 years ago. I don't remember exactly. Mine is not as severe as yours. I use Advair daily but never have to use a rescue inhaler. Asthma runs in the family so I feel lucky to have dodged the bullet for so long and then to only get a minor case of atypical asthma.

I hope you get to feeling better and can get a good routine in place to manage your daily care. It may take awhile to find what works best for you.
 
SDKath said:
I thought I may have been exposed to something on the cruise ship too, so attributed it to something that will pass. Now I have been home for another week and my symptoms are back again. Doubt it's exposure again at home (we have a 3 year old home too so we have no mold yet). But thanks for the suggestion. I will definitely look at the website and read the article because all info will hopefully help me.
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One of my DIS buddies, who sometimes posts here on TUG has adult onset asthma. She was diagnosed a few years ago.

On the other hand, my eldest had allergy induced asthma when he was younger. From about 2-6, it was kind of scary but luckily he out grew it at about age 7. Still has allergy problems, :cheer: he's done with the open windows of the jr high this week(tree pollen and ragweed).
 
I get frequent sinus infections and bronchitis. About 3 yrs ago my PC Doc told me he thought I had asthma. I told him I have never wheezed and he said you don't have to wheeze to have asthma. I have loads of allergies.

In April I had a perfect text book asthma attack, wheezing and all. Was prescribed advair and ventolin to take until July 4th. Developed severe laryngitis for 3 weeks. Doc said probably yeast infection on vocal chords from advair. Off advair. Ventolin makes me shaky so I stopped taking it. Hands trembled terribly. Now just suffering through.
 
I developed asthma in my early 30s. I'd had both pneuomia and whooping cough as a child and after that every cold turned into a "chest thing" with bouts of pneuomia and bronchitis so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.

My asthma is not that bad, other than this time of year it seems to flare up. Definitely stress will make it worse. It's definitely an ebb and flow thing where I'll be fine for a while and then have a really bad bout for a bit.

I use advair and have a ventolin inhaler which I try not to use - it gives me the shakes like the last poster.
 
I started getting slight asthma in my early 30's (seasonal, normally between November and February, but can happen other times of the year especially when it is cold)... before that, healthy as an ox (well, AFAIK)
 
Kathy - are your symptoms responding to the asthma meds? If they are not, ask to be tested for Histoplasmosis. It is a disease caused by exposure to bird droppings. If you are in an area where it is rare, doctors will never think to test you for it. I was misdiagnosed with adult onset asthma for 10 years before an eye doctor correctly diagnosed me - because of a loss of vision caused by the disease.

elaine
 
I too developed asthama as an adult (around age 35) due to allergies (cats were my trigger that landed me in an ER).

Ironic for someone to mention Histo . . . I picked that up in the UK from infected bat feces in an old castle. My symptoms from that were far worse than anything with my asthma, as I had no loss of lung/breathing abilities. My symptoms were largely muscular/joint soreness and an inability to get out of bed. The pain was terrible, with vicodin and bed rest for nearly two weeks.

Histo is very prominent (not rare at all) in Iowa and the midwest where farmland has been converted to housing developments. (It was even a case on "HOUSE" with a boy having it in Jersey.) My pulmonary doc in IA told me that back in WWII a lot of young men were rejected from military service because they thought they had TB due to the dark shadows in their lung(s). Turned out to be the histo scarring that resembled TB on xray. Mine is about a golf ball sized "mass" which does look like a dark TB shadow.
 
glypnirsgirl said:
Kathy - are your symptoms responding to the asthma meds? If they are not, ask to be tested for Histoplasmosis. It is a disease caused by exposure to bird droppings. If you are in an area where it is rare, doctors will never think to test you for it. I was misdiagnosed with adult onset asthma for 10 years before an eye doctor correctly diagnosed me - because of a loss of vision caused by the disease.

elaine
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My doc said that it is carried by infected bird (and bat) feces, that becomes airbourne. Not all bird/bat poop will carry histo.
 
On a trip to Disneyland one year my dad started wheezing, losing breath and we had to leave early. He had recurring bouts here and there over the next year, but no one could seem to diagnose it here in San Diego. Finally, they sent him up to UCLA Medical Center & they diagnosed him in one day with adult-onset asthma. This was approximately 1985, and he was around 60 years old. They had no idea why he contracted it, as no one in his enormous family ever had asthma, and he was the youngest of 21 kids. He & I attributed it to my mom being a nonstop chain-smoker who always kept the windows closed while having various cigarettes burning simultaneously. Doctors just sort of told us "Well, that could certainly do it." His asthma got progressively worse each year, and he died at age 67 from a cold/flu that turned into pneumonia. My mom never got asthma or any respiratory-related illnesses, but she died just 12 months after my dad of the same thing -- a cold/flu that turned into pneumonia, also at the age of 67. It just seems so young to go, especially with my father-in-law well into his 90's now.

All that to say, asthma is something to take seriously. I don't know if my parents ever got the annual flu shots or pneumonia shots, but maybe that would have made a difference. I would think that is something you should definitely make sure you get every year of your life from here on out. Any things you can do to strengthen your immune system & respiratory system would probably be beneficial, as well.

--- Rene
 
Yvonne,

Ironic is right--I just left a PM for Elaine after reading her post (before I saw your posts). It is a disease typically not recognized in my area. I was raised in the South and a doc saw a scar from a chest xRay taken in my early 20s.
 
Just a follow up to let you all know I went to see an asthma/allergy specialist today. He did some PFTs and said my lungs are wide open and not likely to be asthma. The problem is he said he doesn't know WHAT is causing my symptoms. He wants me to wean off my meds ASAP because of all of the side effects. All my tests are negative (heart, chest xray, blood clots, labs, etc) and he just thinks I picked up some sort of viral pneumonia and have as a result some sort of bronchospasm or something. Who knows.

So my next step is to taper off my prednisone.... I am happy to since it is giving me a LOT of side effects BUT I have no idea what to do if I feel that horrible shortness of breath and chest tightness. He said "just use the inhalers". :confused:

Katherine
 
My son was treated for asthma, which he never had while living at home, with such high doses of steroids, that he developed avascular necrosis in 5 joints.



SDKath said:
Just a follow up to let you all know I went to see an asthma/allergy specialist today. He did some PFTs and said my lungs are wide open and not likely to be asthma. The problem is he said he doesn't know WHAT is causing my symptoms. He wants me to wean off my meds ASAP because of all of the side effects. All my tests are negative (heart, chest xray, blood clots, labs, etc) and he just thinks I picked up some sort of viral pneumonia and have as a result some sort of bronchospasm or something. Who knows.

So my next step is to taper off my prednisone.... I am happy to since it is giving me a LOT of side effects BUT I have no idea what to do if I feel that horrible shortness of breath and chest tightness. He said "just use the inhalers". :confused:

Katherine
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Kay H said:
My son was treated for asthma, which he never had while living at home, with such high doses of steroids, that he developed avascular necrosis in 5 joints.
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Ok, thanks.
 
My dad told me recently that his cardiologist determined that the cause of his shortness of breath was high blood pressure in his lungs. I had never heard of this before.

elaine
 
glypnirsgirl said:
My dad told me recently that his cardiologist determined that the cause of his shortness of breath was high blood pressure in his lungs. I had never heard of this before.

elaine
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I have a friend with that. The drug used to treat the pulmonary hypertension is sildenafil (Viagra). IIRC, that is how Viagra was discovered for its more well-known usage. It was just one of the more positive side-effects.
 
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