Possible asthma in teenager?

[CottonEaster]

My 17 year old dd has a tight feeling in her chest the past few days. She has not left the house in 5 weeks and has not seen anyone but us, only I have been out, to the supermarket so imagine if I had picked up CV19 and passed it on I would have symptoms too (I dont). She has had extensive heart monitoring recently (a stress test, ECG and consultation with specialist) following fainting during exercise. She has low bp. She was on an inhaler as a child as a "preventative measure" and has eczema. Her father has asthma (daily inhaler and steroids at the moment). She gets breathless during exercise, used to be very fit and played competitive sport but has struggled over the past few years hence the tests.

I would have thought the GP checked for asthma but I can't remember it being mentioned. I'm guessing it could also be anxiety causing the tightness. Obvs the first stop cannot be the GP at the moment but has anyone been diagnosed with asthma in their teens? Is it possible?

Did the inhaler help when she had one?
There is such a thing as exercise induced asthma which is harder to diagnose because you’re not exactly exercising while waiting to see a doctor.
Yes, it’s possible to develop and be diagnosed with asthma at any point in your life. My mother developed it in her 50s.

Yes it did! She had two puffs and felt great after. She said she felt she needed to break open her chest to breathe and the inhaler solved that

I would get a peak flow meter so that you can keep a record of her breathing, for any future doctors appointments.

The pollen count has apparently been it's highest for 70 years in the past week. I have asthma which is greatly exacerbated by hayfever. Have you tried antihistamines?

So yes, when lockdown over take her to the GP and tell them how she had an inhaler when younger due to suspected asthma and it really helped her manage her symptoms. Explain that exercise is definitely a trigger for her.
You can be very fit athlete and still have asthma, there was this Olympic runner Paula Radcliffe that has asthma. Also exEnglish footballer David Beckham has asthma.