New medical adventure
So, I've had this intermittent dry cough for about 6 months. Sometimes it would wake me up at night, and I would take an anaesthetic throat sweet that would stop it. It seemed to mostly happen when I was sitting or lying down.
Chewing gum seemed to stop it. And I now find that taping my mouth at night stops me from coughing while sleeping, and waking myself up.
I mentioned it to a doctor a few weeks ago, and he listened to my chest, and told me it was a bit wheezy, and that I had asthma.
All of a sudden, at 63, I now have asthma. WHY??? WHY ME????
The tickle in my throat/cough is my only symptom. He gave me a blue inhaler (salbutamol), which he said to use when it troubled me.
Then more recently, I went to my usual doctor with some other problem, and mentioned the asthma, and he had a look and said I should be using a brown (steroid) inhaler every day, to stop the symptoms occurring.
Apparently if you don't use this, your airway can be "re-modelled", causing the symptoms to get worse.
I've read that cool dry air is best if you have this, but I always feel better in warm humid air - eg. in the bath.
But I am reluctant to start on yet another course of lifelong medication, especially given that the brown inhaler can cause oral thrush!
I am scheduled for a breathing test in July, so that might clarify things.
Any of you guys have any experience of any of this?
Chewing gum seemed to stop it. And I now find that taping my mouth at night stops me from coughing while sleeping, and waking myself up.
I mentioned it to a doctor a few weeks ago, and he listened to my chest, and told me it was a bit wheezy, and that I had asthma.
All of a sudden, at 63, I now have asthma. WHY??? WHY ME????
The tickle in my throat/cough is my only symptom. He gave me a blue inhaler (salbutamol), which he said to use when it troubled me.
Then more recently, I went to my usual doctor with some other problem, and mentioned the asthma, and he had a look and said I should be using a brown (steroid) inhaler every day, to stop the symptoms occurring.
Apparently if you don't use this, your airway can be "re-modelled", causing the symptoms to get worse.
I've read that cool dry air is best if you have this, but I always feel better in warm humid air - eg. in the bath.
But I am reluctant to start on yet another course of lifelong medication, especially given that the brown inhaler can cause oral thrush!
I am scheduled for a breathing test in July, so that might clarify things.
Any of you guys have any experience of any of this?