Asthma/shortness of breath with MS

[celloyogi]

I see an allergist regularly for asthma and for allergy shots. As usual at my follow-up this morning, he yelled at me (well, gave me a stern talking to) because my asthma is not under control. I use my Advair every day, take my Singulair, and still am using the rescue inhaler 1-2 times a day average. I feel short of breath on a regular basis, sometimes to the point of getting a bit dizzy/light-headed. The allergist knows all the symptoms.

So for the third time in 8 months, I'm on a round of low-dose steroids to get my airway calmed down. The allergist wants me to see my cardiologist for a full cardio work-up, and if the steroids don't help they're going to send me over to the hospital for pulmonary testing. Yay.

The allergist doesn't think this has anything to do with the MS or the drugs I take but I wonder. Do any of you have treatment-resistant asthma and if so, how do you deal with it? I used to be a long-distance runner and even the thought of doing that now makes my lungs ache.

Stupid steroids. Even the low-dose makes me jittery.

[Sequoia]

It's conceivable that the shortness of breath is from MS, not from asthma. Respiration can be affected if the autonomic nerve system is involved, leading to shallowness of breath and air hunger.

I have this myself intermittently, and I've encountered other MSers online with similar problems.

Hope you get it sorted out soon!

[photomama]

I have asthma, and while it is usually well controlled in the climate I live in now, it was not well controlled when I was in high school. Even now when I go back to visit my family (in a humid climate), I have a harder time controlling my asthma.

I also find that there are times where my asthma tends to flare up for no apparent reason (no real triggers, sickness, etc) and I just have to be more careful- and still end up doing a round of steroids.

So I guess for me, I don't know. I think it may just be the nature of the beast. Maybe a combination of the asthma & MS. I think my immune system just hates me and goes through peroids where it has to really make me suffer.

Hope they can get yours under control and figure out what is going on. It is so hard on your body when you aren't breathing properly.

[celloyogi]

So I guess for me, I don't know. I think it may just be the nature of the beast. Maybe a combination of the asthma & MS. I think my immune system just hates me and goes through peroids where it has to really make me suffer.

I've joked for years that my immune system better hope it never meets me in a dark alley, because I will beat the **** out of it (just returning the favor it bestowed on me!).

Thanks for your input. I can ignore most of my MS symptoms, meaning I can hide them or they don't completely screw up my activities, but difficulty breathing kind of puts a damper on pretty much everything.

[As4OurHaus]

Breathing Issues

I have some breathing issues (not as bad as yours) that I know I can distinctly separate from asthma. It seems like asthma...but it isn't anything that asthma medication can touch. it just comes on and stays for a week or two and then leaves. I just have to try to remain calm with my breathing, and I get headaches from the effort to breath right. I know the doctor doesn't understand it, but it makes sense to me. I have asthma too, but this seems more like my muscles not cooperating. Does that make sense??

[palmtree]

I have years of experience dealing with uncontrollable asthma. Your allergist is a real jerk to yell at you because your asthma is not under control. What are you supposed to do anyway? First, please get a copy of your records and get out of there.

Thank goodness I have an allergist who has gone the extra mile to help me conquer this suffocating condition.

Advair and Singular are wimpy treatments. I use a nebulizer with Pulmicort Respules, Brovana [a long acting broncodialator] and abuterol. There are so many different combinations of treatments and everybody is different so you need a doctor who can help you with this trial and error process.

Even with this combination of inhaled treatments, i still have times when I can't breath. He puts me on a HIGH dose of Prednisone and tapers it as my symptoms improve.
I use the short acting abuterol whenever I need to [every 4 hours if necessary]. Then, he has kept me on a low maintenance dose of pred. every other day. Using the steroid every other day minimizes the damaging effects of steroid use, but is still effective for the inflammation of respiratory problems.

Yet, even with all this aggressive treatment, the asthma kept popping its head up.

As a last resort, my doctor put me on a new treatment called Xolair. It's a shot one a month. It costs big bucks so it's hard to get approved for it. I've been using it for about 5 years and it has made a tremendous difference.

I still have to use my nebulizer and avoid asthma triggers. For me, it's dust mites [a carpeted room is out], dogs perfume, dust, smoke, mold and spring pollens. But I can breath now. I went years when the air never really got in completely. I didn't realize how much I was suffering until it stopped.

I don't know if my asthma is related to my MS. I am newly diagnosed. Sometimes I think there is a connection. So far, all of my MS flairs have been proceeded by an asthma trigger. Last July, the leaf blowers got dust it my air conditioners so I was breathing dust. All that fine particulate matter is really harmful. I couldn't breath and my right eye turned all red and I couldn't see. I was going to call my allergist so I could go on prednisone but I went to ER instead. It was ON.

They put me on Solumedrol while I was in the hospital. I have to say that my asthma has been much better since then. That strong steroid cleared up all that inflammation in my lungs that I had been living with for so many years.

The most important thing for you is to find a doctor who will help you with this trial and error process. This guy obviously knows nothing. You deserve to have your asthma properly treated. I really can't believe it the way doctors can be. Imagine a person living with MS AND asthma...%&*# Ask him how he would like to be in your shoes.

[ILL_in_ILLinois]

I have slight asthma meaning, I rarely use an inhaler. It'll happen every once in a while where I need it but its not common. The eye opener came when I quit smoking and decided to check my peak flow reading. I was very surprised at how poorly I scored, especially since I had quit smoking for 2 months. I was very disappointed and confused to say the least. I've been dealing with a lot lately and just had a "screw it" attitude and went back to smoking. Regardless whether I was a smoker or am a smoker, I had problems breathing as both. I never had a problem breathing as I've been a smoker since 15 and I just turned 27 on April 24th. It started around the time I quit...kinda. Actually, that's not true. It had been happening for a few months prior to quitting. Anyway I just usually use an albuterol inhaler when I need it which is rare. I was surprised to find MS causes respiratory problems such as trouble breathing, asthma, shortness of breath etc. Now it makes sense. I've been having severe shortness of breath and oddly enough, smoking does not make it worse. If I take a deep breath or sigh, I feel relief which is not typical with most severe respiratory problems. Nothing seems to help it or hurt it one way or the other. It kind of stays level but sometimes it'll get worse. Good luck and feel better!

[irene32]

trouble breathing

I have a hard time breathing a lot. It will come and go. It will last for a few days or even weeks a at a time. My doctor gives me an asthma inhaler and expects this to help but it doesnt. I truly believe it is from the ms. I wish I could figure this out. sometimes anxiety will cause it.

[celloyogi]

Thanks all for the responses. The steroids have helped the last few days but that doesn't make me hate them any less.

Just to clarify, my allergist doesn't really "yell" at me... he lectures. It's partly because he's frustrated that I will wait until the breathing's bad before going for an appointment (which obviously is my fault, not his) but he's also frustrated that so far his treatment choices haven't alleviated things. I don't doubt his doctoring - he is very highly regarded around here and I respect him. But as others here have mentioned, I think my situation has passed out of his specialty. It's almost a joke that we eyeball each other when he walks in the room at my appts, him waiting to see if I've waited too long to come in and me waiting to see what "I told you so" lecture I'll get.

I'm finishing the steroids, and going for the cardio work-up. My blood pressure has been getting higher over the last year, too, so that probably isn't helping. There are days when I would like to just pretend I'm perfectly healthy, and stop going to doctors altogether. But then I wheeze or feel dizzy or numb or can't see...

[salamandertom]

I have very mild asthma, that will act up significantly with a respiritory infection. I also experience breathing issues from my MS hug from time to time. It is pretty easy for me to tell the difference now that I have experience. At first I would mistake the hug for asthma, but now that I have a lot of experience with the hug - it is easy to tell. The breathing doesn't feel the same. It is hard to explain. LOL. Asthma is like you cannot get enough air. The hug is like your chest is being crushed. My best description - and it isn't very good.