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Author Topic: Has anyone used reliever inhaler for their anxiety related shortness of breath?  (Read 2310 times)

loonarider

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Has anyone used reliever inhaler for their anxiety related shortness of  breath?
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jaypo

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What kind of inhaler? If you use inhalers long term without having asthma you can damage your lungs,only know this as this is what happened to my sister so be careful
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loonarider

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What kind of inhaler? If you use inhalers long term without having asthma you can damage your lungs,only know this as this is what happened to my sister so be careful

It's the blue in haler. I ave used it on and off, very rarely. That's worrying, I think I won't use it this time and just focus on my breathing.

Thank you  :D
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menomope

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I am asthmatic and have two inhalers- preventative and a reliever.
I dont need to use my reliever inhaler very often.
I also ocasionally have a tight chest if I am anxious. It feels different to when I have an asthma flare up. i dont use my reliever inhaler when I am anxious and when I once did it didnt help.
Breathing exercises and stress reducing techniques work better for anxiety JMO
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loonarider

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I am asthmatic and have two inhalers- preventative and a reliever.
I dont need to use my reliever inhaler very often.
I also ocasionally have a tight chest if I am anxious. It feels different to when I have an asthma flare up. i dont use my reliever inhaler when I am anxious and when I once did it didnt help.
Breathing exercises and stress reducing techniques work better for anxiety JMO

Maybe I need a spirometry test. They say the difference between anxiety breathlessness and asthma is there's wheezing and coughing with asthma, however, I get dry coughs sometimes, and dryness feeling my airways when short of breath. Usually the cough comes on the exhale   :o

I need to know if sohrtness of breath can causes dryness in throat and coughs too... :(
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Ju Ju

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Have you got a peak flow meter? Much easier than going for a spirometer test! Not expensive to buy on line.
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menomope

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Hi Loonarider
There are two types of asthmatics. Wheezy type and cough type- or cough variant.
i cough with asthma but rarely wheeze. i only wheeze when I am very bad which is hardly ever.
My cough sounds like a seal barking or it is loose. If I was to   exhale deeply I would cough. I thought that was true of all asthmatic? To be worse on the exhale. My GP surgery always does an annual asthma check to see how things are. If your surgery does too perhaps you could ask about anxiety/ having a tight chest and using your inhaler? Sometimes it can be hard to separate an asthma flare up from anxiety. And an asthma flare up can cause anxiety!
I had a bad cold recently and some cold viruses make my asthma flare and this one did. It has been so long since I had a cold I got very worried about the asthma symptoms and sure enough they got much worse. Once I stopped thinking too much about them they cleared up and I was fine.

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loonarider

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Have you got a peak flow meter? Much easier than going for a spirometer test! Not expensive to buy on line.

Oooo thanks! I didn't know could be bought one. Will definitely get one since it's so hard to get an appointment at the docs these days.
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loonarider

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Hi Loonarider
There are two types of asthmatics. Wheezy type and cough type- or cough variant.
i cough with asthma but rarely wheeze. i only wheeze when I am very bad which is hardly ever.
My cough sounds like a seal barking or it is loose. If I was to   exhale deeply I would cough. I thought that was true of all asthmatic? To be worse on the exhale. My GP surgery always does an annual asthma check to see how things are. If your surgery does too perhaps you could ask about anxiety/ having a tight chest and using your inhaler? Sometimes it can be hard to separate an asthma flare up from anxiety. And an asthma flare up can cause anxiety!
I had a bad cold recently and some cold viruses make my asthma flare and this one did. It has been so long since I had a cold I got very worried about the asthma symptoms and sure enough they got much worse. Once I stopped thinking too much about them they cleared up and I was fine.

Thanks thats some helpful info menomope. Interestingly, what's caused much confusion is one doc has said it's OK to use the reliever inhaler for anxiety while another advises against it. I need a consensus!  ;D
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jaypo

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I'm sure you're ok on that one loonrider,my sister was put on inhalers when she didn't have asthma and ended up using them too much,the steroidal ones that is,so don't worry too much about using them occasionally
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Ju Ju

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Have you got a peak flow meter? Much easier than going for a spirometer test! Not expensive to buy on line.

Oooo thanks! I didn't know could be bought one. Will definitely get one since it's so hard to get an appointment at the docs these days.

Look on Amazon. Not sure if you can get it on prescription, though I was given one in hospital. With me, it doesn’t give a true picture all the time. I get a very poor reading 1st thing in the morning, but it doesn’t reflect how I feel, so I wait a couple of hours. I also march up and down to get a better reading and feel proud when I can get a better reading! If bad, I can’t do that anyway! But it can give you an idea how things are and be reassuring.

I’ve had asthma all my life. When I was young, I had classic wheezing attacks, but the nature of it has changed. Now I feel my breathing tubes are being squeezed and as if there is a weight on my chest.
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loonarider

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I'm sure you're ok on that one loonrider,my sister was put on inhalers when she didn't have asthma and ended up using them too much,the steroidal ones that is,so don't worry too much about using them occasionally

Thanks Jaypo  :D
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loonarider

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Have you got a peak flow meter? Much easier than going for a spirometer test! Not expensive to buy on line.

Oooo thanks! I didn't know could be bought one. Will definitely get one since it's so hard to get an appointment at the docs these days.

Look on Amazon. Not sure if you can get it on prescription, though I was given one in hospital. With me, it doesn’t give a true picture all the time. I get a very poor reading 1st thing in the morning, but it doesn’t reflect how I feel, so I wait a couple of hours. I also march up and down to get a better reading and feel proud when I can get a better reading! If bad, I can’t do that anyway! But it can give you an idea how things are and be reassuring.

I’ve had asthma all my life. When I was young, I had classic wheezing attacks, but the nature of it has changed. Now I feel my breathing tubes are being squeezed and as if there is a weight on my chest.

Sorry that sounds terrible and hope you're able to find relief with your medication/inhalers. Yes, saw one on Amazon, exactly like the ones at the clinic and not expensive. Have bought it. Thanks!
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Ju Ju

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Well done!
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