In being surprised adult can get asthma?

[shesalady]

Just been told I have adult onset asthma after X-rays and blood work.

Everyone I've mentioned it to said it's not possible to just suddenly develop it as an adult and it's something you have from a child.

I've been referred to an asthma centre next week to test for allergies and discuss treatment. Treatment?! I'm a little in shock and don't really know a thing about asthma. Googling it briefly scared the living piss out of me!

I've got a horrible suspicion after having cats all of my life I've just become allergic to them.

Anyone else have adult onset asthma? Or suddenly develop an allergy to their beloved pet?

Dh is being really 'oh well it's not anything serious at least' which is pissing me off a little as I feel it might be and I'm going taking steroids for a few months in the best scenario.

I was diagnosed last year aged 42. Crept up on me over a couple of years but got much, much worse leading up to and after a house move. I crackled and wheezed all night long and then I developed a chest infection. My GP gave me antibiotics for that which helped a bit but I was still wheezing away at night.

Was given for a lung function test then told to make an appointment with my GP to discuss results. The appointment was a 4 week wait. At that point I went private, had an x-ray, another lung function test and a prescription for Seretide. It worked instantaneously. I’ll be on it for the rest of my life but I don’t care. I never want to go through that again as it was terrifying.

OP apparently some preservatives in alcoholic drinks can exacerbate asthma symptoms.

I developed a nickel allergy in my late 30s. Just as I grew the gut necessitating a belt.

So should I start licking the cat? Or rather tongue kiss? Hmm. May wait until the tests are done.

I've always taken asthma seriously. The only experience I've had of it was a girl at school having it and really having some scary and bad attacks.

Enough of you have said alcohol can be a trigger that I can't ignore it.

There aren't sulphates in ALL wine though?

auditqueen I did a First Aid course where the instructor suggested that the best way to treat an asthma attack was to get the sufferer to sit down and calm down. That was it.

Another adult asthma sufferer though I think I had undiagnosed asthma as a teenager cos I had to come off the basketball court a few times in fast and furious matches.

Cats: my asthmatic son was ok with ginger cats. He loved cats.

I have had the worst bout ever this year. I was off work for three - four weeks and still taking double meds since January.
I hope you feel better soon.

shesalady wine always seemed to trigger me. Not any more. All hail to Seretide. Bloody marvellous stuff.

I am perfectly happy living with my cats and drinking wine.

Sadly I do seem to be allergic to horses now and I was a childhood pony obsessive.

So don't panic about the cat/dog/wine just yet.

What do you do for a living? Have you ever worked with wood, chemicals, dusts, in dusty environments, bakeries etc? Exposure to lots of things can lead to asthma.

@MissClareRemembers bloody hell. It's hard to calm down when you can't breath!!

It's the ginger cat I'm having the problem with.

Wine and cats? Fml.

Never worked in dusty environments. I was a nanny for 20 years.

Living in central London May well have done it.

Thinking about it, cleaning out the chickens would make me itchy and throat scratchy too. There's a ton of dust in there.

Load up on your salbutamol/ventolin. the Blue one. DOn't be scared of it

I developed asthma in my early 40s. It can happen at any age.

The human immune system is not at all well understood, and it isn’t clear why allergies and intolerances suddenly appear, or get worse in adults. I have always been allergic to cats, grass pollen and horses but in my 30s, my body decided that list was a bit dull so it randomly decided to add oil seed rape pollen to it.

You will probably need to keep your asthma under control by means of daily steroid inhalers. Don’t worry about the word ‘steroid’, it’s a tiny dose. You’re not suddenly going to grow big muscles and a beard.

I strongly recommend keeping a blue reliever inhaler (Ventolin /salbutamol) with you at all times. I keep one in my bag, one in the car, one in my desk and one at home.

Good luck!

shesalady I know. Ridiculous advice! Last Easter (and before I was prescribed Seretide) we went for a long walk culminated in a very steep hill. We got to the top of the hill and I realised I’d left my reliever inhaler in the car. By the time i got back to the car I was a wreck and the panicky feeling lasted much longer than the asthma attack. No amount of ‘calming down’ was going to sort that out.

I have zero tolerance for idiots who say asthma isn’t serious. If anyone is ever stupid enough to say that in my presence, I ask them if they have ever been unable to breathe properly.

Rape seed?!!! I've ALWAYS been allergic to that. It the only thing I can think of that I have actually. Fucking stuff makes me itch thinking about it!

I've told dh Mumsnet say he's a bastard (artistic licence). He said "again?"

Although we have a family history of asthma and my brother has had it since childhood, I was never affected. Until I hit 25.

Turns out mine was allergy-based - I had had hamsters since school days but always male. At that age, when DS was little, I got a female to do some breeding. Turns out I am allergic to female hamsters! Something in their urine apparently.

Anyhow the hamsters were re-homed and my asthma went away again. Have not had any hamsters since!

I thought allergy based asthma was just dust. Our bodies are bloody odd things.

My friend had a horrific reaction to prawns when she was 31. Nearly died. Had been eating them her whole life up until then!

yes my dad got it about 10 years ago

my dsis got amild asthma when she waspregnant

Information on alcohol and asthma:
www.asthma.org.uk/advice/triggers/alcohol/

Useful graphic regarding alcohol:

Petal cleanse might be worth trying on your cats?

www.allersafe.co.uk/bio-life-petal-cleanse-cat-cleanser/p12

I was asthmatic as a child and "grew out of it". It came back when I was pregnant with ds, and brought its friend hay-fever with it, you can imagine the surprise and irritation at that one!

So not only can it be adult onset, it can also apparently be intermittent.