I have just been told that I may have Asthma. I am 35 ye...

I have had asthma most of my life as a chid ,a teenager and now as an adult. It was always worse in the summer when it was hot and humid, I carried a ventalin inhaler around with me during the hot months, although as I got older the winter months didn't seem to be much of a problem.

I was also over weight about 2.5 stone 35lbs. I reduced this weight down to the correct weight for my height, by walking, about 1hr per day. Each day increasing the speed over the same route. My diet stayed about the same but as the weight reduced over a period of time my breathing improved. Since the year 2000 I have not used the inhaler infact it ran out along time ago. I still keep up the walking but at a more leisurely pace. I hope this is some help to you.

Hi

As an asthma sufferer since i was 8 i feel I can really help you focus on the future................ It is absolutely imperative that you take control and listen to the people who prescribe your medication.

Your life is not over!!! I am cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End 2008 and live a full life because i take care of my chest and take my preventative medication!!!

At the mo I am having my first acute espisode in 4 years and have two dogs too (supposed to be allergic) Its due to having a viral infection but now well under control.

Ventolin or salbutamol is a broncho dilator but it also dilates or opens up the arteries or blood vessels this makes you feel like your heart is beating very fast............... not nice I KNOW!!!

It is a short term answer and if you do have asthma you will need a preventer or low dose steroid that you can inhale every day to prevent your attacks and lessen your shortness of breath.........and yes you do need to take it every day.............................

YOu should make an appointment to see asthma nurse or someone like this in your GP surgery to help you thru the stages.

you can email me privately if you like as I am 45 years old and have had status asthma on one occaison (very scary)

my daughter had asthmas until me and hubby stopped smoking (long long ago)

it was thru passive smoking so beware of smokey places

hope you go on ok

Sandra

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I was diagnosed with asthma at about 16 and have lived with it for nearly 25 years. I take a daily preventer inhaler (Becotide in my case but there are a range of others).

Provided I take this regularly I can live a normal life. I'm now very active and work out and climb which helps me keep my weight down and feel well.

The only problem I have is if I catch proper flu which can make me very wheezy so I make sure that I have my vaccination yearly. I have a device that I blow into to measure the peak flow of my lungs and know to double my preventer if it starts to drop below a certain point.

One of the most useful things that I have had was a course of respiratory physiotherapy. They taught me to breathe properly. Because my lungs felt tight I was hyperventilating from the top of my lungs, rather than breathing gently from the diagphragm. It's really useful to stop and do my breathing exercises once a day.

Another thing that I have found useful is to sit down and have a nice cup of tea when I feel wheezy. Obviously it's not a replacement for reliever drugs but it can help if I've been rushing about.

The most important thing I can say to you is that you're not wasting the G.Ps time if you return to him/her and explain that your control isn't good enough. If you have any concerns make an appointment - it's what they are there for. You should get and annual checkup with an asthma nurse as well. Mine is fantastic.

There is also something called the expert patient program which teaches you to manage long term conditions. It's not something I've done but I've heard good things about it.

Don't give up like you I was diagnosed following bad cold and chest infectio at the age of 32. I have various inhalers and tablets for my chest and am also under a consultant and specialist hospital. Its hard sometimes not to get a bit fed up but try the asthma uk website we are a friendly bunch.

Hi

I'm 45 and have had Asthma all my life. There has been a lot of old tosh written and said about Asthma. It is not a psychological illness, it is a treatable condition, probably to do with the immune system which when treated well is almost not noticable for most people.

For years (about 39, actually) I was hopeless, I didn't take the brown puffer regularly and tried to control everything on Ventolin....Oh dear! Then i saw a consultant who said that I should not accept this. I started taking the becotide, and then went onto seretide (A classy tooti-frutti colour). Now I hardly use the blue puffer at all.

I still get breathless in the very cold weather initially. It's about being aware. Properly controlled (and this is maybe two preventative puffs once or twice a day) it's easier than wearing contact lenses, and less hassle than cleaning your teeth. It is not as complicated as diabetes. You have late onset so presumably your lungs have worked well until recently.

It may take some time to find the treatment combination which works for you, but stick with it.

The aim is to reduce the use of Ventolin, and to achieve that you need to wheeze less. This may mean using initially more ventolin in the short term until it's controlled. Don't be brave and let the wheeze build up. They're like fires, much easier to control when it's little.

So many sportsmen and women are asthmatics. There is a lot of prejudice, and this is the ill informed leading the ignorant. i suggest you take no heed, and don't make a big deal of the illness either with yourself and others. You can overcome it and it's treatable. You active disposition will be a great help.

I wasn't active and under treated, and a lay g*t to boot! But now have never felt better, and enjoy pleanty of outdoor activities like biking and camping.

Good luck

i have had asthma for so much years but i failed to give in to the doctors advice. finally i have had to give in. for the last three years since taking the advice, i have been able to live life with my kids, run the race of live for cancer research, non of which i thought i would ever be able to do because i thought i was just unfit. out of breath, fat and unable to do what fit people were able to do. until i used my inhalers then i felt as though i had been breathing through a straw once i had done anythin exertive. i realised i was not strange but had a breathing problem. you should give your husband a straw to breath through for a while, whilst holding his nose, not to scare him but to enable him to experience not only the inability to breath in but inability to breathe out which i find more scary. you are not alone. i am 35 and only not being able to live my live as i should do, with asthma. learn to live with it, not it live your live!!