Could I have athsma?

[sharee79]

I am a 29 year old female, never smoked, healthy weight and beside breathing and anxiety issues healthy.  In April I developed a mild pneumonia in one lung which was treated with oral antibiotics, follow up xray showed most of the consolidation had cleared but that 'there maybe a very subtle amount of residual opacification at lower left zone'
I still suffer episodes of coughing which usually last a few hours, I usually cough up a very small amount of clear sputum but my chest often feels like it is congested and I still have a rattle in one lung,  I also feel short of breath on occassions.  My doctor recently prescribed me cymbicort, does this mean I have athsma?  Could my symptoms be athsma and if so what tests should I ask my doctor in order to diagnose me.  Thanks

[National Jewish Health]

Your persistent symptoms, of productive cough, congested chest and "rattle in one lung", are not typical of asthma.  These symptoms are much more suggestive of incompletely resolved pneumonia.  A lung infection can trigger asthma but the symptoms of asthma are never limited to one lung, and failure of pneumonia to resolve always warrants further investigation.

You should have another follow-up x-ray, now.  The prescription of Symbicort® (budesonide/formoterol fumarate dehydrate) Inhalation Aerosol does not mean you have asthma.  It only means that your doctor suspects that you might have it.

Given that it is now nearly 4 months since the bout of pneumonia, you deserve further diagnostic evaluation by a lung specialist.  If the signs are truly localized to one lung, the one that had the pneumonia and especially if a current x-ray fails to demonstrate complete resolution, the lung specialist will probably suggest that he/she perform bronchoscopy and/or a CT scan of the lungs to determine the reason for this lingering problem.  Also, this specialist may want to rule out the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis, with or without the diagnosis of bronchiectasis.

More antibiotics or treatment of presumed asthma is not what you need at this time.

[sweets4]

This Could be Astma.Ask for A Lun Function Test