Found out I don't have asthma

[JDC1]

I posted a few months back about how to deal with your asthma and skating and many of you replied and it was great and I felt encouraged to go to a specialist and figure out just exactly what the best course of treatment for me would be since my coughing had gotten worse.
Well, to make a long story short, I saw the specialist he asked me tons of questions and started nodding alot and I thought he had figured something out. He then sent me across the hall to have the breathing test done, I have better than average lung capacity. Then he told me he was almost 100% sure it was acid reflux, he explained that the brain doesn't always understand the differnce between acid reflux symptoms and asthma syptoms that was why I have a horrendous cough but no wheeze. So I had MORE tests done (the Methacholine challenge) and it is official, no asthma, I have very healthy lungs!! Ofcourse acid reflux treatment is no picnic (literally) I can't have fatty foods, chocolate, alchohol, caffeine, mint (which I love) and I think a few more foods I like too! Anyway I wanted to say thanks for answering my initial thread your responses all got me curious and I decided to FINALLY investigate my "condition" after being treated for asthma for 7 years. :-)

[flo]

Hi,
I'm glad you had the methacholine challenge to confirm. There is a cough variant asthma where you will not get the wheeze, but a cough. Also athletes can have exceptional lung capacity and asthma. The key is the difference/decrease in lung capacity during an attack. This is also why flow meters in cough variants are not a good indication.

[JDC1]

There was a small dip in my capacity once I began coughing but nothing that the tech thought was asthma. My doctor and I will meet next week to discuss the results and what they mean, I'll be sure to ask him about cough variant asthma. My symptoms have gotten better with the Prevacid and strict diet, I still do cough a little, it's not totally gone, and during the test I coughed, by the 3 & 4 th doses of methacholine. The tests are pretty tiring! It was comforting for me to know that my lungs were in good shape, considering all the air polution around me (I work in DC and live in Arlington) I was getting worried about what damage was being done to my lungs.

[SusanaO]

I've had a horrible cough for more than 3 weeks. I finally went to the doctor a week ago and he gave me some allergy medicine, since he thought that allergic rhinitis was the cause of my cough (some sort of cough variant asthma). I'm doing better now, but it hasn't gone away so he prescribed Nexium and explained the same thing about the acid reflux. I'm on a diet and he told me to raise the head portion of the bed to help with the reflux at night (I can barely sleep due to the coughing). I have to take Allegra and another medicine for 2 weeks and check back with him if it still doesn't go away.

[JDC1]

It's tough diet to follow but I have to admit I do feel better! I do cheat though and have about 1/2 cup of decaf cofee in the morning and in the afternoon. The good part is I'll probably slowly lose weight but it's a big life style change. :-)

[flippet]

Ooh. Good it's not asthma, bad it's acid reflux. Please make sure you're treating it and you right---my dad had it for years, before they were really diagnosing it, or had medications to treat it. It caused the cells in his esophagus to mutate, and he died of complications from esophageal cancer three years ago next Monday. He lived a clean life, so the cancer was a total surprise and shock.

Take care of you, ok?

[Mrs Redboots]

Yes, do make sure they check you for helicobacter, and treat you for them if you have them. They are not nice beasts, and are responsible for my father only having 1/6 of a normal stomach (although it has stretched back to if not normal, something pretty near....).

[JDC1]

Wow, I guess maybe I'll go see a gastrointernolgist (?) next. This guys just a pulmonary/internist so the esophogus and company are not really his terrain. I have some fairly intense pain in my chest at times that I thought was/were my bronchial tubes acting up but now I realize it was my esophogus, I've had this a long time, I've never been able to drink citrus fruits in the morning and I've gone to the doctor once because my stomach hurt so badly I thought something must be terribly wrong. I've always just called it "my funny tummy" but I guess I better take it more seriously. It's tough but I haven't had any alcohol in over a week and except for a baby shower I haven't had any high fat food either.

[Mrs Redboots]

Go and see a gastric specialist forthwith, if you can, since it's probably something very simple that can be dealt with, and then any diet restrictions can be lifted.

If it's any consolation, I had appalling indigestion for several weeks, and took it to the doctor (ordinary GP - here it would have taken six months to see a specialist, and not worth it) who had all sorts of tests run but couldn't find anything wrong. However, he gave me a prescription for a brand of antacids that you can't buy over-the-counter (and would be too expensive if you could! My parents take them, so I knew about them), and two weeks or so on them did the trick. I suppose suppressing the stomach's acid production for a bit made it stop over-producing, whatever the reason for that was! I carry o-t-c indigestion tablets with me, but haven't used them for ages.