Any advice welcome
Hi Everyone hope you all had a good Christmas!
I am new on here and was hoping for some help/advice regarding my diagnosis and medication.
I was diagnosed with a very mild form of COPD and asthma in April of 2019 after taking a spirometer test following a couple of incidents involving shortness of breath earlier in the year. The test showed me right on the cusp at FEV70 and I was given at that time just a blue rescue inhaler for my mild symptoms. I am an ex smoker who stopped in December 2018 and at that time despite having a bit of a smokers cough I had no issues with breathing and didn't even own an inhaler.
However in the proceeding months my breathing continued to worsen and i was put onto long acting bronchodilators such as Spiriva and Eklira (not together I should add) neither of which have had much of an effect in slowing the progression of my breathing problems or providing much in the way of relief. The only inhaler that seems to provide any relief is my blue Salamol inhaler which I am using 3-4 a day every day which from what i gather is a sign my symptoms are being poorly managed.
The frustrating thing is that my lung x-ray was relatively clear, my oxygen and blood levels are good and my general health overall is good. I have no cough or mucus It's just this constant shortness of breath which is beginning to affect my day to day activities. I feel that overuse of my rescue inhaler is contributing to my symptoms and was wondering what other medications you guys use that are affective at getting breathing under control.
Sorry for the long post but thank you for reading. I would appreciate any and all feedback
Darren
Hi dalbass72 (Darren) - Welcome! And thanks for your post!
As you may be aware, we cannot provide medical advice or diagnostics over the internet (for your own safety), but your expressed concerns certainly warrant a reply.
You have mentioned several of your concerns (above), and I will try to address each one as best as I can.There is such a diagnosis known as asthma COPD overlap - is that what your physician has provided as a diagnosis for you? You may find out a bit more about the condition here: https://copd.net/?s=asthma+COPD+overlap.
At this point, I will extend 'congratulations' on your being smoke-free now for about a year. This is really the best thing you can have done with both COPD and asthma - keep up the good work!
If, despite the medications you are on, you find yourself to still have difficulty breathing, and these symptoms are persistent or worsening, you may want to discuss this at length with your prescribing physician. Sometimes, persistent or worsening symptoms can be indicative of either an inadequate medication regimen or, something else happening medically. Your physician will be the best health care provider to assess this with you.
There are quite a variety of medications that can be used to treat COPD and/or asthma. I thought this article would provide you with a good overview: https://copd.net/treatment/medication-overview/.
I do hope this brief reply was helpful for your expressed concerns at this point. Please, if you don't mind, keep in touch and let us know how you are progressing.
Wishing you well,
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)Hi melaniem. Sorry for the very late response. Following the previous message i posted here I had a terrible Christmas where my breathing continued to worsen to the point that I contacted my GP and told him I was going to stop taking the bronco inhalers I was using just to see what happened as I had become convinced they were making the problem worse rather then better. Within two weeks my breathing had improved immeasurably and has continued to do so. I have been moved from powder inhalers to a steroid inhaler which i use once per day (supposed to use twice but once seems to be enough to manage my symptoms) and have not used my rescue inhaler since August 2020. I had another FEV test which put me at 67% last year but i'm sure it would be better now as my breathing has continued to improve. I have no idea why I was having such a negative response to the dry powder inhalers but thankfully once I realised they were the root of the problem and I was moved to an alternative medication I was finally on the path to recovery. Thanks for reaching out. 
, wow, that is incredible- I am glad to hear you are feeling so much better as a result of discontinuing the dry powder inhalers! Thank you so much for taking the time to update us! ~Melanie (team member)
It's our pleasure, dalbass72 - glad to have been able to assist. I imagine you are looking forward to the next diagnosis scheduled for January 7 - you should be able to have more of a definitive diagnosis provided by the physician.
We'll look forward to hearing back from you again.
Good luck!
All the best,
Leon (site moderator COPD.net)
