Chronic Undiagnosed/Untreated Asthma

[MyCatIsBonkers]

I've heard that asthma can cause fatigue and problems sleeping. If undiagnosed/untreated can this result in a misdiagnosis of a chronic fatigue syndrome?

Has anyone has this? If so, did correct asthma treatment 'cure' the chronic fatigue syndrome?

Nope didnt cure mine

That's depressing. I was hoping this was the start of getting my life back.

Oops Name change fail.

Have you been diagnosed? I did have more energy once it was under control with a brown inhaler.

Mine went under the radar as it's not allergic and I rarely wheezed till it was really bad following a very bad infection. I'd wake to cough every night around 2 am and had zero energy in the day esp the day after bad attacks (one day the plumber installing a new boiler set me off coughing all day due to smoke).

Yes I was diagnosed on Monday. I've never had wheezing but I've been complaining about coughing for 20 plus years. In the last few years though it's got worse and worse. For the last 6 weeks I've been coughing so bad I've been sick.

Last week my friend was so worried she got me to use her inhaler and it helped. Didn't get rid, just stopped the major coughing fit I was having. Now I have my own and it's beginning to come under control I can see that it's triggered by extremes of breath, full in or fully out. If I keep my breathing away from those then I don't cough. And I realise I've been doing that for years and avoiding things that make me breath heavier.

So I'm hoping that once it's under control I can start to do things again.

Sorry, post more later. Please ring asthma uk as a blue inhaler is not going to help.

Any other triggers? Eg smoke, chemicals, cold air?

Not going to help
Long term I mean.

I've been coughing all summer. I have other symptoms too but it's the cough that was the most troublesome. Hayfever was diagnosed. I had to go back to the doctor today. I was wheezing and not only that the way I described the cough, the doctor felt I could benefit from an asthma inhaler and I was prescribed the blue one. Already, I think there is an improvement. I was having a coughing fit earlier and the inhaler stopped the fit.

You wrote my experience with the cough - big deep breaths, in and out. That's one where my cough gives me trouble.

The thing is blues are just for occasional use, a reliever. If you're using it more than a couple of times a week, asthma isn't under control. The browns treat it as they treat the underlying inflammation.

To be diagnosed, you need to do a peak flow test before and 15 mins after using the blue inhaler. If the peak flow is improved by a certain percentage, you need a brown inhaler.

I actually found it was difficult to get diagnosed as it's nurses who now manage the asthma clinics and gps don't always have the knowledge of how this works. But you only see asthma nurses if you have asthma. So I had to cheekily ring up to see the asthma nurse to see if she would do the test.

Asthma uk really helped me, it's worth ringing them.

Extra energy didn't come till on the brown ones and all coughing stopped, even with my triggers.

If you were on a brown one you wouldn't be coughing at all even with your face buried in 100 flowers!

I was given two inhalers. One for 'as needed' and one to take every day. One is blue and white and the other is red and white. They don't look anything like the ones I've seen in the UK. I'm not in the UK.

How long should I be taking the every day one before I know if it's working? Is it instant or does it take a few days to fully kick in?

Might take a while to kick in, or you may need a diff one.( iv tried loads until i found one that worked)
Keep using your blue one whenever you feel wheezy.
I take antihistamines too to help with my asthma

Ah ok, that's great then. Usually takes a couple of weeks to build up to the required level, and you should find you stop using the blue.

I found that taking Clenil massively helped with feeling tired and run down (which I had done for years since having glandular fever). I had undiagnosed asthma for about 10 years probably. Now I take my Clenil every day and never think about it. I do sometimes get tired, but that's because I have small kids and anxiety which means I faff around at midnight finding reasons not to get in bed

But essentially I now feel fine after years of coughing and feeling rubbish.