Can someone advise me about asthma and prednisone with weightloss?

[DorisB1956]

I am a overweight, almost 60 yo female that has asthma symptoms, but keeps being told that she doesn't have asthma. I have has xrays, breathing tests, CT scans, and one doctor treats me for asthma and the other says that it doesn't test like asthma and could be the heart, due to my weight, or other issues.

This all started out with a horrible case of tonsillitis in Fall 2009. It was so bad that I had a suction hose to suction out my saliva while in the hospital because I couldn't swallow it. They even tried to lance the tonsil after 3 days, but it didn't help, so they just raised the antibiotic to fight the infection. First round of steroids and first weight gain.....

Then in Fall of 2012 I got double pneumonia and bronchial infection and was in the hospital for another 5 days. I ended up with asthma prescriptions after this hospital stay and used them for a while after the stay to keep the bronchial tubes open. Second round of steroids (first round of weight not lost).......

In Fall of 2013, I had a very bad episode of pneumonia and they also said it effected my heart and bronchial infection. Same procedure as the years before and more asthma meds to take at home. This time I stayed on them for a while. Third round (Of course, no weight lost from first 2).....

This year, I had a flare up in September and have been off of work ever since then. They have been treating me for asthma and I have been going to pulmonary rehab classes and using my nebulizer daily. Now I am going to a specialist for Pulmonary Medicine and they are telling me that I may not have asthma and want to do all these tests. I have trouble breathing, wheeze, cough, get breathless just walking from room to room in my house, or taking a shower.  I know, and am working on, losing the weight, but all the prednisone, and cortisones they are giving me are not helping that part.  More steroids (Yep, you guessed it.....)

I am using the treadmill and the cardioglide, but have arthritis pain and and am diabetic. My feet are numb on the bottom. Any suggestions?

[akcna]

Sounds like an allergy problem, every year it's approximately the same time. Certain pollens and spores are carried through the wind at approx the same time every year, give or take a month depending on the temps. You may need to make an appointment with an allergy specialist.

[Paxiled]

That's a lot to deal with -- sorry about your troubles.  Unfortunately, steroids cause permanent damage often if not offset right after you take them, and even then, with the amount you've taken, it might be hard to offset them.  Like antibiotics, they tend to kill off beneficial organisms that help to keep you from getting sick and allow infections to move in.  Taking probiotics is usually something to do after taking steroids just as with antibiotics -- you get the best ones in the refrigerated section of the best health foods store you can find -- and eating cultured foods such as sauerkraut and kim chi and miso, just as examples, also provide a good environment for healthy bacteria to regenerate.  Then there's the effect steroids have on the adrenals, because they're basically adrenaline.  You can balance that often by using certain adaptogenic herbs, but doctors know nothing about this.  So that could be off as well.  A bike or swimming might be helpful to take the strain off your feet.  You also obviously need to be holier than holy about your diet due to your diabetes.  I also recently heard about a lingering infection associated with tonsillitis that you might look into.  You might have a strong allergy problem, especially, given your symptoms, with dust.  These are all things you can bring up with your Pulmonary specialist.  One other thing -- are you on any medication for high blood pressure?  Many of these cause pulmonary damage if taken for a period of time.