Can You Have Asthma w/o Cough, Wheezing??

[bgaineshunter]

I'm a little concerned. I'm being treated for asthma--Advair 250/50, Albuterol recue inhaler--but I have no cough or wheezing. Just chest tightness and pressure pain.

[April31]

I have asthma and I don't cough or wheeze as well. I have had symptoms for a while and ignored them because I didn't fit the standard suite of "asthma". I am very athletic and am training for a marathon. My physician did heart work ups first because of my SOB and chest tightness. When they came back negative we were trying to still figure out what was wrong. I was sent to do a Pulmonary Function Test which came back markedly abnormal. I have had several severe asthma attacks and am now on advair 250/50. My allergy test came back negative and it is not exercise induced. Any advise would be appreciated.  

[Tammy2009]

Kind of like me, it might have caught your asthma before I did.  At the beginning I had 3-4 months of chest tightness which I ignored until I started coughing my brains out every night and that is when I started advair (2 puffs twice a day of the 250/50).

You can ask for pulmonary function tests (full ones, the only test I wasn't "normal" in was the lung volume that they stick you in a closed bubble thingy to test.

Also, it is up to you whether you want to stay on advair which has both an inhaled steriod and a long acting broncodilator.  If it is only mild asthma, my opinion is that you don't need the broncodilator, because the steriod should be enough to keep your symptoms down.  I personally moved to pulmicort because it was a loooot  cheaper and I wasn't on any coverage for a while there ($120 per 2 weeks for advair and pulmicort is $137 for 3 1/2 months).  You could also move to flovent which is the same steriod as advair but just singly.  

Welcome and let us know how it goes.

[bgaineshunter]

I really appreciate your response. I'm doing a lot better since I started the Advair. I've been told that I might be able to go down to 100/50 in a few months. Inhalers do work.

[Victoireh]

Did you have a pulmonary function test to see how your lungs are performing? You're on a fair dose of inhaler. The symptoms of asthma can be quite variable. You can have shortness of breath, coughing, chest tightness or wheezing all at once or if mildly symptomatic your only symptom might be some chest tightness or a cough. For me, I only make wheezing sounds when I'm in a rather bad state, where as most people would make wheezing sounds way sooner. Hence why asthma is considered a variable disease. If your symptoms resolve while on the inhaler, it is certainly indicative of asthma. I suppose the best thing to do is just follow up with your doctor, and find out what your best treatment options are.