RE: Re: cough variant asthma

[Guest guest]

I wish I could send this most informative post to a doctor I know who told me my

" asthma " is not that bad because my lung function was above normal. I had one on

the bad episodes in my doctor's office in front of him, the coughing, spitting,

vomiting mucous and dizziness and he asked when I was going to snap out of this

because it had been going on long enough.

I too am having rib complications and vcd.

It is not very much fun at all and it disrupts your life.

I am looking to move to a less moldy area. Today my realtor took me back into

a house which has not been lived in for about a year--you never know what the

exact story is. So much dust and must--you can predict the outcome--I was

choking and vomiting before we went 10 feet into the house. I wonder how many

of you would have problems entering a house which had been shut up for a year or

more without heating and or air conditioning? Is it just me or am I crazy?

suzsummit <sdepaolis@...> wrote:

--- In , " Leena Grace " <leenagrace@...>

wrote:

> Not sure if that is what you mean as a cough variant but I

> am sure I'd qualify if you are labeling coughing as a main feature.

According to my asthma 'guy' the main symptom is coughing. We also

have bronchi spasms. People with cough variant asthama usually have

no wheezing at all and our lung function tests, unless we are in the

middle of a crisis tend to come back very high. We cough all day and

sometimes all night long. Our asthma attacks take the form of

non-stop coughing and bronchi spasms -- sometimes until we throw-up or

pass out. When we have brochi spasms we have trouble talking

Dr's have to rule out post nasal drip, something caught in the bronchi

tubes, pulmanary embolism, GERD, TB, and whooping cough. For the

first month of this thing the dr's were hoping it was whooping cough

for me. The cough is similiar to a COPD cough (makes us look like

smokers..... Two times I have been in Dr's offices and the nurses

assumed I was a smoker -- one was even very rude to me!)

This type of asthma can be brought on by all the regular asthma

triggers and in a large percentage of people it turns into the

wheezing type asthma in a few years.

Problem with all the coughing is that it does damage to your vocal

cords, and treachea. Plus the 'fun' of fractured ribs (I currently

have one...) from all the violent coughing.

I find the frustration of this type of asthma is that people

understand the wheezing type but the cough type is frequently seen as

'just a cough' Many people don't understand what havoc coughing 20-60

times an hour plays on the body (increased blood pressure, burst

cappillaries in the face, irregular heart rates and just how tiring

the whole thing is...)

The nebulizer had become my best friend throughout this whole thing.

The good thing is that Xolair seems to be a treatment choice for this

type. My dr's request for this medicine went to my insurance company

on Friday. YEA! He, the dr, is hoping that we can end my coughing

with this medicine (and since I have an IGE of 134 and am currently on

10 different medicines to control the asthma, and the allergy testing

found some allergies....)

I think I am lucky because this Dr has a person assigned in the office

just to the Xoliar patients... It is her job to get the paperwork

through the insurance companies and get the medicine. So, if all oes

well I can start after the 1st of the year.

The GERD is an interesting angle because I also had no signs of it, or

so I thought but an ENT found signs upon an scope exam so now I am

also on acid reflux meds (I have found no real differences...). I am

on all sorts of nasal steroids too because I think the dr's want to

cover all the angles at this point. Too many steroids for my body

between the inhaled ones, the nasal ones, the nebulized ones and the

oral ones.... I feel like I am on steroid overload right about now...

But at least I can drive again and take care of my kids. Xolair, I

hope, will allow me to step down the steroids and become myself

again.... (the weight gain have been vicious)

I am greatly that I found this users group because it makes Xolair

seem a whole lot less scary.

thanks,

[Guest guest]

When I was seen at National Jewish, the doctor told me that my hiatus hernia aka

gerd aka acid reflux was contributing to the whole asthma thing and that I may

have to have surgery for the hernia. No one in my area wants to do the surgery

though. I can not take proton pump inhibitors or zantac because I had drug

interactions.

Leena Grace <leenagrace@...> wrote: Hello, I am new here and just

began reading. I've been on xolair for

just over a year. High IgE, high weight so 2x month. I do my own at

home.

I've had asthma since childhood with bronchial coughing a big

feature. Not sure if that is what you mean as a cough variant but I

am sure I'd qualify if you are labeling coughing as a main feature.

Tightening, wheezing and major coughing attack of 1-5 minutes are

the result of the first cough in many cases. Lots of coughing upon

arising each morning, to clear things out I thought. I also have

wheezing, tightening episodes that do not begin with a cough, more

typically are brought on by smells, smoke, etc. or sometimes for

absolutely no reason I can discern.

Anyway, if this sounds like you, the coughing part, I thought I

should share what I learned recently about my case. I have GERD but

it's silent. It is positional - when I lie down, it aggravates the

bronchial area which stimulates the asthma. That's the conclusion of

my Dr. In the typical sense, I do not have the symptoms of heartburn

or acid reflux where you can taste it in your mouth. Sure I've had

both of those things maybe a couple times each year (usually from

eating spicy food or alcohol - who doesn't?) but it's not an ongoing

problem.

I had heard of someone else who had chronic coughing who began with

OTC acid reducer meds and realized that GERD was causing the cough.

So I raised the head of my bed and began taking Zantac before bed

figuring I had nothing to lose. I did this without consulting the

Dr. but we discussed it on the next visit and she feels certain my

asthma has been exacerbated by the silent GERD. So far the OTC dose

of 75mg seems to have made great improvements for me but she

prescribed the 150mg dose so I can see if that is appreciably

better. Since these changes, my coughing has been reduced

significantly and I am having much less mucuous coughed up as well,

particularly in the morning. I used to cough for a long time each

morning to " open things up " . Now they are pretty much open

comparitively speaking.

I hope this helps someone. I have gone for years with asthma and for

all I know much of the worst of it may have been avoidable had I

been diagnosed with GERD. Without symptoms though.... Still I'm not

sure pulmonary Drs. focus enough on these kinds of things, spending

their efforts on the lungs alone. So we have to do what we can for

ourselves. I never realized GERD could actually be a major

contributing factor to asthma. I can only recall being asked once in

20 years if I had heartburn or indigestion.

I'm not suggesting anyone begin OTC acid reducers. But if you have a

lot of coughing, espeically in the morning, you should consider

seriously talking with your Dr. and seeing if you are able to at

least do a test to see if these meds make any difference for you.

The way I looked at it was, I had very little to lose to try it and

just see.

Hope this helps.

Leena

Is anyone using xolair

with cough variant asthma? I am rather new to

> this and after a really bad three months of 'new' cough variant

asthma

> that is not responding the way my dr wants it to -- he has

recommended

> xolair. I go in for my allergy testing tomorrow (since my body is

> breaking out in constant hives for some unknown reason) but have

> already qualified for it based on IGE level and the

unresponsiveness

> of my asthma. Also the inhaled steroids are causing a fungus on my

> vocal cords (nice hoarse voice for the past two months) and as

long as

> I use the inhalers my vocal cords will be 'fried' but without them

I

> cough continously which sets me into tacacardia and other 'fun'

> things. Also need to get off the prednisone. Been on it for 3

months

> and between the weight gain and the mood swings... not a good

time.

> This will be my third time of attempting to wean off it.

>

> I guess my question is is anyone has had sucess with cough variant

> asthma and xolair? And to think asthma problems started with a home

> remodel... bummer!

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I have had surgery to fix my hiatal hernia and reflux which was causing

erosions in my esophagus, but it was not a cure all to my asthma issues. I

had that surgery done 7 years ago. Last year in October I choked on some

very dry chicken and that triggered esophageal bruising and major asthma

flares. We thought the surgery had ripped open, but it was still intact. So

there had been no easy explanation for the severe chest pain and increasing

asthma flares. My allergist was not sure if Xolair would help as she felt it

was GERD related, not allergic response. My pulmo felt no matter what I

should get the Xolair shots as I have severe food and drug allergies, and am

latex reactive (though not yet testing allergic. but I bet I will in time

without precautions).

I was a cougher or just intense chest tightness until recently when I began

to wheeze and gasp. I have found that though my lung function is fabulous

when working well, when I start to spasm, I have to work very hard to

breathe well. But because of the large capacity (570 on peak flow - 5'7 " ,

155 lb woman), my oxygen sats still hang in the 97 plus range unless I have

an infection. I am finding because I am/was an athlete I have the muscle

power to work the air in and out but it is exhausting after a while and

quality of life in reduced. (BTW I just tested and received my Black Belt in

Taekwondo!! Only 2 breathing treatments to make it through - LOL!!)

Thankfully I am in taper mode right now with the prednisone and am not back

sliding. So I hope to back off the prednisone by Thursday. Yeah!! I had

found some stability with adding the Uniphyl (extended theophylline) before

I got sick, so hopefully I can go back to that stability. And hopefully I

will stay healthy!!

Oh, since we just had a nasty GI bug go through our house I was scrubbing

the master bath and found a major overgrowth of black stuff (mold?) in

between the deflector and the door. Guess my husband who usually cleans it

missed that area as it is very low to the ground and hard to get to. I am

hoping that once I stop reacting to the bleach to clean it, I might have

found and eliminated a potential trigger. I think I will be taking the

silicone sealant to that area so we won't have anymore surprises there.

I get my third Xolair shot tomorrow

B.

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Leigh McCall-Alton

Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2006 6:34 PM

Subject: Re: [ ] Re: cough variant asthma

When I was seen at National Jewish, the doctor told me that my hiatus hernia

aka gerd aka acid reflux was contributing to the whole asthma thing and that

I may have to have surgery for the hernia. No one in my area wants to do the

surgery though. I can not take proton pump inhibitors or zantac because I

had drug interactions.

[Guest guest]

Where was the mold? Is it coming from the heat register?

[Guest guest]

No, the mold was under the water deflector on our shower stall door.

_____

Subject: RE: [ ] Re: cough variant asthma

Where was the mold? Is it coming from the heat register?

[Guest guest]

That is not as bad then. Are you able to remove the reflector and clean

underneath it? If I were you, I scrub everything down in that room, walls and

cabinets and all. I scrub my bedroom and kitchen and den regularly and it makes

a difference.

Belsky <crdb@...> wrote: No, the mold was under the water

deflector on our shower stall door.

_____

Subject: RE: [ ] Re: cough variant asthma

Where was the mold? Is it coming from the heat register?