What does it feel like to have a cold?

[Aparecium]

I was diagnosed with asthma a few years ago. I'd lived with it, undiagnosed, all my adult life. One of my triggers is the cold virus.

Feeling absolutely awful, breathless and drained when I have a cold has been my norm for so many years. I didn't expect to feel any different, and it took me a couple of years to understand just how much I need to increase my preventer. Now when I feel a cold beginning, I increase my preventer. The difference in how I feel during the cold, and how long the cold lasts, is incredible.

But what I still don't quite understand is how it feels to have a normal cold without asthma. I don't know what I'm aiming for.

Can anybody describe it?

I'm interested in this as I have lung disease.

I currently have a virus with some of the mildest snivels. So far I've had chest pain, chest ache, general fatigue, flatness. I also just feel like there isn't enough breath. Like my breath is full of empty air. It's not pleasant.

You've reminded me I need to look into a preventer.

Edited to add - I'm getting confused with preventer and spacer! I read somewhere about spacers being helpful.

Have you been medically advised that you should increase your inhaler when you have a cold?

I think it depends on the cold? There really isn't a universal 'I have a cold' experience. Some are snotty, some come with sore throats,some are chesty, some come with blocked sinuses, some a temperature, some fatigue, some a tickly cough and you can any combination of the above. I have had times where my chest is tight and I can't stop coughing, others my nose is running all over the place and I can't stop sneezing but my chest is fine. It really just depends.

Yes, and it makes a massive difference.

I currently have a virus with some of the mildest snivels. So far I've had chest pain, chest ache, general fatigue, flatness. I also just feel like there isn't enough breath. Like my breath is full of empty air. It's not pleasant.

Exactly!

And before I was daughters I would then cough for months after every cold, whereas now Ai cough for 2-3 weeks, if at all. As long as I increase my preventer.

A space BTW is a device that helps you take your inhaler. If you have the pressurised metered dose spray (classic blue Ventolin reliever, for example), taking it through a spacer maximises the amount of medication that reaches your lungs. Without it, a lot is wasted in your mouth, which doesn't help your lungs and increases the risk of side-effects in your mouth.

I never knew that people with asthma struggled with colds too.

I have a wierd inhaler, it doesn't look like a ventolin, need to look into whether spacers work.

I do have a blue ventolin but it was prescribed for talking before doing cardio exercise I.e. just one puff before a class.

*taking

Im so glad I’m not the only one who wonders about things like this! I’m asthmatic and it massively impacts me when I’m ill. When I get a cold it feels like I need to consciously remind myself
to breathe or I won’t. Heavy chest, breath going in but not really achieving anything. Then my back, ribs etc all end up sore from the sheer effort to breathe. I usually end up with steroids. When I was describing this to my mum, who also had a cold, she looked at me like I’d grown 2 heads! Same with a friend when she also had a cold. It didn’t occur to me that other people didn’t have these issues when they had a cold. Because my breathing becomes the biggest issue I always just think how ‘easy’ it must be to experience a cold without the breathing issues that comes with it. I know that’s irrational and people can really suffer but I can’t wrap my head around people feeling ill but breathing ‘ok’.

This is how I get and I never understood how people can giggle if I’ve had to call in sick for a cold or understood how people can function their daily lives with one, I’ve only just realised people without asthma don’t have the same symptoms. This being said, I struggled with my asthma for years, I could never go anywhere without my blue inhaler, I relied on it so much. A few months ago I was switched to symbiont, apparently they’re going to switch everyone to this eventually and my life is changed I rarely need it and I just had a cold and it was no where near as bad as before

I find this quite fascinating, although I wish it didn't come at that cost for you.

For me, the life of a heavy cold is as follows:

Start - blocked nose, mild headache & temp

Middle - temperature, streaming nose but also bunged up, red nose skin due to wiping, frequent sneezing, can't smell unless I blow my nose. As well as streaming water-like mucus, thick greeny brown stuff.

End - cough that coòuld last several weeks. 'Choking' coughing fits due to post-nasal drip. Mucus can still be still thick and discoloured or like clear/ cloudy jelly afterwards.

Hope you feel well soon.

A spacer is a game changer - it makes me take my preventer properly so it actually works effectively. Recommended to me by an asthma specialist and think I was either prescribed it or bought it over the counter at the chemist.

For me (no asthma/lung problems) a cold is more of an annoyance. Either a blocked or constantly running nose, occasionally a scratchy throat and usually a dry/tickly cough. Never feel like my chest is impacted and breathing only if nose blocked but breathing through my mouth feels fine.

My OH (COPD) is completely knocked for six though and often needs his recovery packs. Completely different experience.

I don’t know what inhaler you’ve got/have tried, but ask for this:

DuoResp Spiromax 160micrograms/dose / 4.5micrograms/dose dry powder inhaler (Teva UK Ltd)

That inhaler has saved my life (many times). My asthma was so out of control until I had that inhaler prescribed to me.
I have a cold right now and reality is, it’ll never be what “normal people” experience. It is what it is. But get that inhaler!

Not asthmatic. If I have a cold it’s usually runny nose, sneezing, green snot, coughing and sometimes expectorating phlegm, slight temp, tired, taste different, sometimes sore throat. Don’t usually get chest pain/tightness and can work through with taking paracetamol. Lasts under a week.

It varies. A mild cold might just be a slight sore throat and a few sneezes. A bad cold might have me bedbound for a few days and with earache, headache, difficulty swallowing, runny nose, chesty cough.

Like Covid. The first time I had it I wouldn't have known if I hadn't had to test. I felt fine. But the second time I had it I was in bed for a week and felt exhausted for weeks more.

I get a blocked or runny nose. Sore throat and my sinuses and ears feel blocked. General fatigue and fuzzy headed. Towards the end of the cold I get a tickly cough that lingers for a couple of weeks at most. Occasionally a productive cough, bringing up mucus, but not always.

I never get chest pain or breathing difficulties.

It depends colds are what you describe but they vary in how bad they are. Tiredness, blocked nose and headaches. Colds we catch from others are not as bad as colds we get from the fir and environment. But tablets are very helpful.

I have a cold right now and reality is, it’ll never be what “normal people” experience. It is what it is.

Fair enough. But understanding that the breathlessness, for example, is not normal with a cold helps me to understand that I should use my inhaler when I feel it. Yesterday, as a result of this thread, I took an extra puff whenever I felt breathless. I also took a little rest mid-afternoon, rather than just trying to power through on the 'only a cold' mentality.

I think how a cold affects you, depends on your "weak areas".

For example if I get a cold I get the usual - sore throat, sneezing, runny nose.....but I also get raging sinus and head pain and blocked sinuses.

My son doesn't get this. He gets the first three ^ and a bit of a wheezy chest (which I don't get)

I'm not asthmatic. A cold for me either starts with a tickly feeling in my throat or sneezing and a runny nose; often accompanied by a headache Whichever it starts with, the other one then follows. I get a raging, painful sore throat and cough, where it feels like the cough is stripping the skin from my throat, and my sinuses swell up so I can't breathe out of my nose at all and I can't hear properly. My breathing is laboured during this stage of the cold and I do get breathless. In addition, I feel achey and tired, my skin feels painfully sensitive all over. I am usually left with a productive cough for at least a couple of weeks after the other symptoms have subsided.

Colds really do knock me for six and I feel rage if I'm stuck in a confined space with someone who has one, such as in the office or on public transport, because I know there's a high chance I'll get it and it will write off a good week of being able to do anything useful,