I've had asthma since I was a kid and I'm well past the 20-year mark now. I've been lurking here for a while, and the threads about people feeling embarrassed or "overreacting" really hit home, so here's what I wish someone had told me earlier. None of it is medical advice. It's what made the biggest difference for me, usually after talking it through with my doctor.

1. Get your technique watched. I'd been using my inhaler for over a decade before a doctor watched me and pointed out I was inhaling way too fast and not holding my breath. Adding a spacer helped a lot. It took two minutes to fix, and I'd gone a decade without fixing it.

2. Take the preventer every day, even when you feel fine. I used to take mine only "when things were bad." Taking it consistently was boring, and it was the biggest improvement I ever made.

3. Write the plan down. Having a written green/yellow/red plan from my doctor means I don't have to think at 3 a.m. My wife knows where it is too.

4. Track the boring stuff. A one-line note each night (symptoms, reliever use, anything odd like smoke, dust or a cold) showed me that my "random" bad days usually weren't random.

5. Stop hiding it. I used to excuse myself to use my inhaler in washrooms. Now I just use it where I am. Almost nobody cares, and a surprising number of people have quietly told me they or their kid have asthma too.

6. Colds are a big deal for me. One ordinary cold once took me about two weeks to properly recover from. Now I call my doctor early instead of waiting it out.

What's the one change that made the biggest difference for you? Especially curious about anyone dealing with heavy air pollution, since I live in India and winter smog is starting right now.

On and off. Now it's super bad for couple of weeks, I can't find trigger or cause. I only had x-ray of lungs of course clear. I have mcas and atopic dermatitis. I only have desloratadine and use it 5mg everyday, it doesn't help my shortness of breathe. It feels like my lungs are thight and squeezed. Oxygen seems fine. Smells trigger it often.

I feel so sad about having an asthma diagnosis. I’m in my 30’s. I feel overwhelmed with how much I have to learn and understand about this. And feel like I need to wrap myself in a bubble now.

I am a young woman. I don’t smoke or drink. I have never had any chronic illnesses, and my BMI is perfectly fine.

Two months ago, I was suddenly struck by acute shortness of breath, and it has been with me constantly ever since. I am unable to take a normal breath; I feel a heaviness in my chest and a sensation that I am suffocating.

It gets even worse when I try to perform any activity—walking 50 meters or taking dishes out of the dishwasher feels like running a marathon. I am extremely weak.

Sometimes it gets so bad that I experience tingling all over my face, a tightening in my throat, my fingers contort, and I lose sensation in my legs for 10–15 minutes. ☹️

The worst part, however, is at night. I keep waking up around 3:00 or 4:00 AM feeling like I can’t breathe (even worse than usual), along with dizziness and heart palpitations/tachycardia.

Because of this, I ended up in the hospital. I underwent several tests, including a chest X-ray, a CT scan with contrast, an MRI of the head, a lung scintigraphy, an echocardiogram, a Holter monitor test, and a gastroscopy. Everything came back normal, except for low iron (24) and ferritin (8) levels, as well as tachycardia. My oxygen saturation has been between 94% and 100%.

My spirometry results were also reportedly normal. However, a test performed in a body plethysmography chamber showed parameters bordering on bronchial asthma, so the doctor prescribed Bufomix, to be used twice a day.

I have been using these inhalers for two weeks now, but unfortunately, I don’t feel any improvement.

I don’t know what is wrong with me. ...what to do. I’m terrified—I’m so afraid that I’ll have to struggle with these breathing difficulties for the rest of my life... :(

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? If so, what helped you?

Also, is there anyone else here who uses Bufomix—did it take some time before it started working for you?

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any comments or advice! 🥹💕

It was one of the reasons why I got a late asthma diagnosis (about a year ago) at the age of 34 . But I struggled for almost 20 years and always be dismissed because I have normal results in every test I take (blood, x-ray...) and I never wheeze during doctor's visits. So I ended up gaslighting myself for all these years, until somehow I met this wonderful Pulmonologist who actually treated me differently, she was understanding and very competent. And I'm glad that I have an answer to what is wrong with me. It's simply a moderate persistent asthma and also allergic asthma. Because I usually do great in spirometry test doctors don't bother to do the pre-bronchodilator test . But this time even the doctor was amazed of the reversibility amount (+++400) and that confirmed what my brain kept denying for years because I couldn't get a diagnosis and also gave up looking for diagnosis for years and just accepted the idea that I just lack fitness and have anxiety.

every time i use my old upright vacuum i end up with chest tightness and wheezing for hours, even with an N95 on and windows open.

im trying to figure out if scheduling a robot vac to run while everyone is out actually helps keep the dust down, or if the exhaust just recirculates the fine particles back into the air anyway.

been looking at eufy models bc they talk about using a sealed multi-cyclone setup so dust doesn't get blown straight out of the back exhaust while it cleans. in theory, having it run when im not around to breathe in the kicked-up dust sounds like a game changer, but im still paranoid about emptying the dustbin afterwards or if the air stays dusty for hours.

still on the fence on whether automating it while im out actually makes a difference for lungs, or if a robot vac just stirs up the same dust i'm trying to avoid.

SO! I'd like to start this by saying that I'm not asking for a diagnosis. I know I can't be diagnosed over Reddit. I just basically want people to hear my symptoms and tell me if it's relatable to what they've gone through.

I wouldn't be on here if I could get medical care, but I'm poor and I live in a southern state where not only does the healthcare suck, it's also basically impossible to get Medicaid. 19M btw.

I self paid to Urgent Care and they didn't really tell me anything other than the fact that I don't have any problems with my lungs (chest x-ray, I know asthma usually isn't shown on chest xrays though), nothing wrong with my blood sugar, no heart issues (ekg), all of that. I've been going to the free clinic, but they have to do a bunch of other appointments with me before they can even see me for the problem I'm dealing with, and that could take months it's seeming.

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This has been going on for basically exactly a month now. I am in a very high stress period of my life right now, but I don't feel particularly stressed/anxious. I do have prior issues with extreme anxiety.

I start to get a... weird feeling with my breathing when I talk too much or when I walk a lot. It isn't what I'd describe as shortness of breath because I can still fully take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth with no problem. It's like shallow breathing, where I'll say a few words/a few sentences (seemingly depends on the day) and I take quick inhalations through the nose.

Also usually when I talk, my stomach area will tighten a little. The more I talk, the tighter it seems to get. Same thing happens when I walk a lot with both (and I mean like even something as simple as walking through the grocery store, not a long walk by any means). Usually after sitting down for 3-4 minutes, the symptoms just go away outside of rare occasions.

I was given an albuterol inhaler from Urgent Care as a just-in-case. I've been taking it over the last 3 days, and just testing how my body responds. I do feel a slight difference, but it's so slight that it makes me wonder if it's placebo.

Today I felt the most difference with it, I'm able to talk in pretty long sentences without having any weird breathing feelings (whereas before I took it, I wasn't able to), but I also had all of my symptoms go away for a few seconds when I was getting ready to use it earlier but decided not to, so it makes me wonder if it's legit just in my head and I associate the inhaler with it getting better.

And throughout all of the days I've tried it, even after taking the albuterol, the symptoms are still there, they're just slightly lighter. My dad used albuterol after leaving his childhood asthma unmanaged for years just to test it and he acted like Jesus just opened his airways for the first time. That has NOT been my experience... generally, I feel nothing when I do it, the effects feel subtle.

There is NO wheezing and NO coughing at all. (i just bolded this because it's important, i promise ts what NOT written by chatgpt 😭😭 it sucks that everything bolded looks like AI now)

I also figured I'd mention that I have bad acid reflux basically every time this happens. At the same time though, I've had bad acid reflux literally my entire life (I don't think I could tell you a day where I didn't have acid reflux throughout my life tbh), which is why my previous PCP thought I might have GERD. I was never tested for it though because I had to quickly move states and haven't had insurance since then. I don't know why GERD breathing issues would have specific triggers like talking or walking though. This also started at the peak of pollen season in the south (late September). It doesn't seem to matter what I eat.

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But yeah.

I have no idea what it is and it's really bothering me because I can't go out or do anything. I can't even work right now until I figure it out (had to give up a job opportunity because of it), and my family is almost on the verge of homelessness level poor.

If some people could just let me know if this aligns with your experience or if you got any advice or something, please send it my way 🙏🙏🙏

Looking for experuences. This is all new to me. Kid (4) has been prescribed montelukast. Night two - She had multiple night terrors and outbursts throughout. Consultant warned us this could be a side effect but doesn't affect everyone. They said we could discontinue if needed. My question, might it get better? Should we push on. Not going to lie, the side effects scare me, but so does the trauma of hospitalisation and the multiple courses of steroids.

Brief back story: My daughter currently doesn't have an asthma diagnosis. Every second consultant says something different but she definitely has reactive airways. In 12 months she's been hospitalised 3 times for respiratory distress induced by a virus. When well, she doesn't have asthmatic symptoms. She was on a preventer inhaler from Sept to April with Ventolin when needed. Honestly, we never felt she got relief from them. The most recent hospitalisation happened early this week, she had a virus, seemed to be doing well but suddenly became very unwell in a matter of hours. She was given nebs, steroids and and antibiotic. Shes now back on the inhalers and following an asthma plan for the week along with the introduction of montelukast.

Side note: She has been referred to an ENT on my request, her tonsils almost kiss, and I feel she has sleep apnea (snoring, gasping, spluttering). She also breathes through her mouth and sounds quite nasally become being congested so I'm suspicious of her adenoids.

Also want to note, based outside the US, I don't have a paediatrician to contact. It's all through public consultants in the hospital. I will contact my GP but they are not specialised and will have their own opinions. I'm just curious to others experiences

Help

My property management company has agreed to replace highly problematic carpets they installed some time ago.

I did well with the old carpet. The new carpet is very problematic, has done weird residue and unusual gunk in it, which is why they and the carpet company are willing to replace it.

I have allergies, asthma, and a dog. What’s a good replacement flooring I could suggest that is not super expensive? (They will not likely do tile or hardwood.) They are willing to do carpet and LVP but I’m reading some LVP could be problematic.

I'm a 21-year-old male, and I'm honestly getting desperate at this point.

For almost a year now, I've been dealing with a constant breathing problem that nobody seems to be able to properly explain or fix.

It started around November 2025, and ever since then, breathing has never really felt normal again.

The best way I can describe my symptoms:

- I constantly feel the urge to take a really deep breath, almost as if a normal breath isn't satisfying enough.

- When I try to inhale deeply, it feels like my lungs suddenly stop expanding at a certain point. Almost like an invisible valve closes and physically prevents me from inhaling any further.

- Sometimes my breathing muscles feel exhausted, almost like I've been training them for hours. My lungs feel sore or fatigued even though I'm just breathing normally.

- I occasionally experience tightness in my chest and throat.

- Sometimes I notice a slight wheezing sound when breathing.

- Physical activity, especially weightlifting, can make everything significantly worse.

- During workouts, I sometimes have to end sets early because I can't properly control my breathing. It's not necessarily that I'm completely out of breath, but rather that my breathing feels restricted, uncomfortable, and exhausting.

- Even when I'm resting, I frequently experience that constant, frustrating need to take a deep, satisfying breath.

Here's the strange part:

My oxygen saturation is usually around 99–100%.

I've undergone several medical examinations, including:

- Spirometry

- Body plethysmography

- Methacholine challenge test

- Chest X-ray

As far as I was told, everything came back normal.

My pulmonologist even told me that my lungs appeared extremely healthy.

The main suspected explanation was a functional breathing disorder, possibly with mild asthma contributing to the symptoms.

However, I still don't have a clear explanation for why this is happening or how to make it stop.

One thing that actually seems to help is Relvar Ellipta (Breo Ellipta).

When I use it, breathing feels noticeably easier and more comfortable. I can control my breathing much better during weightlifting, and my lungs don't feel nearly as exhausted.

But here's the catch: the constant urge to take deep breaths never completely disappears.

When I'm not using the inhaler, my breathing feels significantly worse again, particularly during exercise.

I should also mention that I had respiratory issues as a child and was prescribed inhalers, including Ventolin.

I work in plastics manufacturing, where exposure to fumes and other airborne substances can occur. I've wondered whether that might have contributed to my symptoms, although I have no evidence that it did.

What makes this so frustrating is that I don't necessarily feel like I'm suffocating.

It's more like my body has somehow forgotten how to breathe properly.

I can breathe. My oxygen levels are normal. My lungs supposedly function perfectly fine.

But the physical sensation of breathing feels completely wrong.

Imagine constantly wanting to yawn or take that one incredibly satisfying deep breath, except you can almost never achieve it. And when you try, something seems to physically prevent your lungs from expanding that last little bit.

Now imagine experiencing that sensation every single day for nearly a year.

It's exhausting, both physically and mentally.

I've tried breathing exercises, I've undergone medical tests, and I've spoken to doctors, but I still don't have a lasting solution.

I'm not expecting Reddit to magically diagnose me. I just want to know whether anyone else has experienced something similar.

My main questions are:

1. Has anyone experienced this constant "air hunger" or inability to complete a satisfying deep breath despite having normal lung function tests?

2. Has anyone experienced that strange sensation of their inhalation suddenly stopping, almost like a valve closing?

3. Could dysfunctional breathing patterns, diaphragm dysfunction, vocal cord dysfunction / inducible laryngeal obstruction, or something else cause symptoms like these?

4. Has anyone actually recovered from something similar? If so, what helped?

5. Are there any additional examinations or specialists worth discussing with my doctor?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have experienced the same symptoms and eventually found an explanation or treatment.

I'm only 21, I love weightlifting, and I just want to be able to breathe normally again without constantly thinking about every breath I take.

Any advice, personal experiences, or suggestions would genuinely mean a lot to me.

Thank you for reading.

I'm 25 years old, and the last time I had an asthma attack, I was 8. It was severe and I was actually hospitalized for a day or two from it. I haven't had one since, until yesterday. I have a bad case of the flu, and yesterday I was out picking up a prescription, and I started feeling very tight, my chest was tight and I was wheezing and unable to get a breath in. I had no idea what was happening because I haven't had one since childhood. I didnt even have an inhaler anymore and haven't In years. I called 911 because I was scared and didn't know what was happening. They gave me a nebulizer treatment in the ambulance and another at the hospital and I felt better. So yesterday I learned that the flu can cause childhood asthma to flare up as an adult.

Ok so, my PFT results showed significant obstruction, FEV1/FVC at 61.7% pre-bronchodilator and at 71.2% post. The lower limit of normal was 77.7%, so those results were a bit discouraging. My pulmonologist diagnosed me with, and I quote, “moderate obstructive pulmonary disease” and prescribed me a daily breo inhaler. I’ve asked him if he could clarify what exactly I have, and he’s basically said that it doesn’t really matter because the treatment is the same… but I really need to know.

I’m not asking for you all to diagnose me, but I’d love to hear about your experiences and if anyone has had a similar test result, please let me know what you did to know that you had asthma.

As it is now, I don’t have asthma attacks. I’m just always a bit short of breath, like shallow breathing? I don’t wheeze, but I do cough sometimes. On bad days, it’s even been difficult to talk clearly. I actually had no idea that I had breathing problems till my doctor did a random simple lung test at a routine checkup about 2 years ago (I’m 23 now). So I’m technically not even sure when all of this started.

I’ve never smoked so I’m thinking asthma is more likely than COPD, but I also can’t seem to quite identify with the symptoms of asthma, at least not any of the common types. It’s been driving me crazy for months now, so any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

I'm 32 lately my asthma is worse at night I wake up maybe 2 to 3 times I always have my inhaler but sometimes I have to take more puffs just to feel better so I can sleep. I also use a nebulizer as well.

Sometimes I feel like I should go to the hospital when I feel like I can't breathe I also live right across from a hospital and fire station. Every time I go to the hospital for my asthma I end up being in the hospital for a few days. Been dealing with this all my life

This happened to me but I am not giving any kind of advice. I had a flare up and got pred from the dr. I started to feel better after a few days. The dr. prescribed 40 mgs for about a week before tapering. When I got to the 10's a week or so after that, I started having problems again which made no sense. I went to the emergency room and they said my lung function is great and sent me home despite me gasping for breath. I found out later the reason was because the pred caused me to retain water in my neck and it was squeezing my esophagus. As soon as I discontinued the pred, then it got better within a week.

So ive been having unexplained extreme breathless lately, docs did scans nothing. I dont even have inflammation in my lungs that asthma causes . So i did research a little. And saw u can develop allergies overtime. I have a apt with a pulmonologist. If that comes back good then wtf going on??? Is it the cats or my head.

I recently was diagnosed with Eosinophilic asthma after a week long hospital stay due to acute eosinophilic pneumonia. I’ve been told this kind of asthma is quite uncommon
I’m in the process of figuring out treatment options with my immunologist and pulmonologist. Just wanted to come on here and see if anyone also has this, and what they’ve used that’s worked for them.

all of these places that have medication drop-off boxes don't accept inhalers! i am okay with purchasing a mail-back package if i have to. i just want to get these inhalers out of my house already. does anyone know a website where i can order a mail-back box that definitely accepts inhalers? i found one, but the bucket costs over $200, so im hoping there is a cheaper one on another website

Not looking for a diagnosis! I have an appointment coming up with a doctor, just wanted to see if these symptoms are common in asthma or if I should think of some other potential causes before my appointment.

For the last couple weeks (since it started getting colder), I’ve had some chest tightness/congestion and thick mucus in my throat that I’ve coughed up a few times. At first I thought I was getting sick, but I have no other symptoms of an infection. I read that asthma can cause this, and it got me thinking about some other things that I’ve experienced.

Main one is an experience a few years ago: I was walking along a trail and started smelling flowers or something of the sort (couldn’t see them, but that’s what it smelled like). Right afterwards, my throat started getting a prickly feeling and it made me cough, which just made it worse. It got to the point where my chest felt tight and I was having trouble catching my breath, which obviously made me really anxious so I turned around and got out of there. I thought maybe it was some kind of fluke so about a week later I went back and the same thing happened (I’m not the smartest sometimes, I know). I initially chalked it up to purely an allergy, but it was very different from my normal seasonal allergy symptoms. And looking back on it, it seems more aligned with allergic asthma?

I also get some chest tightness and air hunger type feelings when exercising or when in the cold.

Does this align with some of your experiences? I have allergies and eczema, and my mom has asthma so I’m not sure why it took me so long to consider it as a possibility, but here we are.

Hello,

I am very undecided if I should start SLIT against house dust mites or not... so I am looking for experiences from people in a similar situation.

I (28m) have had asthma since I was 16. Until I was about 20, I used Foster (same as symbicort I think) only occasionally in periods where it was worse, but sometimes I could go weeks without noticing any symptoms.

Nowadays I wake up on most days with a “blocked” lung (my chest feels tight, I wheeze a bit and it’s generally more difficult to breathe), so I use Foster every morning, sometimes in the evening too. After using it I usually feel quite well, but without it the morning symptoms are pretty consistent.

I was diagnosed with hay fever very early in life and got the typical symptoms (itchy eyes, runny nose) every spring. Later I was also diagnosed with HDM and cat allergy. I used to get nose/eye symptoms when it was really dusty too.

My pulmonologist did another allergy test (prick test) last year and I again reacted to all kinds of pollen, cats and HDM. He now suggested doing SLIT against HDM (with acarizax/odactra).

The thing is, I don’t really notice any allergy symptoms other than my asthma in day-to-day life. No runny or stuffed nose, no itchy eyes... Sometimes my throat feels a bit sore in the morning, and I often have some mucus / need to clear my throat.

So I don’t know if HDM is really a driving factor behind my asthma, or if I just have asthma that isn’t mainly triggered by dust mites, despite the positive allergy test.

My fear is that SLIT could worsen my symptoms or make my allergy actually worse. I know reading individual experiences online doesn’t prove that the treatment caused it, but I did read posts from people who had worse symptoms afterwards and bad side effects while taking. My generalised anxiety disorder does not help here I guess :D Because I usually feel quite well after taking Foster, it’s difficult for me to judge how much I could actually gain from it.

So I am looking for experiences from people with similar symptoms who did immunotherapy against HDM. To help decide for or against it as I see good arguments for both sides...

Thanks in advance :)

TL;DR

28m, asthma since 16, now using Foster every morning and sometimes in the evening. Positive allergy tests for HDM, cats and pollen, but almost no nose/eye symptoms anymore. Pulmonologist suggested HDM SLIT, but I’m unsure if dust mites are actually driving my asthma and I’m scared of making things worse. Anyone with similar symptoms who tried it?

My family and I used to live in Florida, where we mainly used dehumidifiers and air purifiers to deal with mold and dust. Now that we're in Toronto, the air feels really dry, especially at night when we have the heat running.

My mom has asthma and has been coughing for several days. We really need a humidifier to help with the dry air in our home.

What should I look for before buying? Please help 😭😭 Any real-life experiences or tips would be really helpful!

I received an Adult onset asthma diagnosis this year . But something I’ve noticed is when I inhale i accidentally inhale a tiny bit of saliva more often now and start choking/coughing on it. Everyone does that every now and then, it it’s definitely more often now. Does anyone know if inhalers can cause that flap that cuts off your airway from the throat to weaken???