Can asthma just show up after 40 years?

[patrice3333]

I had a head cold that turned into a chest cold.  I cough and wheez and now my doctor said it's asthma.  Can I suddenly get asthma if I've never had it before.  I'm on Advair which is temporarily helping me, but I'd like to cure this cough and get rid of it.

[National Jewish Health]

Asthma is a condition that can be present in the lungs, without causing symptoms or noticeable signs.  An individual who fits this description and that person's doctor might not realize that the person has asthma.  Infection can precipitate an asthma attack in any person with the condition and that is what may have happened here.  It is usually a viral infection and clears spontaneously, fairly quickly, but the asthma symptoms may linger for weeks to months.  The treatment is with Advair or like medicines.

Your symptoms will eventually resolve and, when that occurs, your cough and wheeze will subside, either completely or nearly so.  At that time you may or may not have clinical asthma; may or may not require daily medicine for it.

In essence, you may have had occult or asthma that was not apparent and the infection brought it to the surface.

In the future you may have recurrences only with respiratory infections.

[big J]

Asthma can happen at any age even if you have never had it. Asthma when it first appears as an adult is known as adult onset asthma and may commonly persists through out your life. Colds can often trigger asthma I don’t want to disappoint you but there is no cure for asthma only control.

There is one test your doctor can order to confirm asthma and that test is know as  methacholine challenge test it’s considered the golden standard for confirming asthma. If you have any doubts you may want to ask about this.

I hope this helps and good luck.

[alohacarrie]

I am concerned that your symptoms sound like more than asthma to me.  It is very common to be diagnosed with asthma when your lungs become wheezy due to fluid accumulation in the lungs.  Congestive Heart Failure is often misdiagnosed for years!  

My biggest concern for you is your oxygen level.  Have you been checked with a portable pulse oximeter?  Make sure that you get up and move around and even climb a flight of stairs to evaluate if you are having any low oxygen levels.  If your blood oxygen saturation is below 92% at any point, including sleeping, you may be dealing with heart failure.  It is safe to say, if you are experiencing low oxygen levels you need to treat them with supplemental oxygen, or you WILL be dealing with congestive heart failure.  

Now remember, heart failure is diagnosed when your doctor sees that your heart is enlarged on x-ray.  Take action immediately to address the possibility that you have received a WRONG diagnosis.  Time is of the essence to protect your quality of life.

Come by Heart Failure Solutions and do some reading, you will be more knowledgeable the next time you talk to your doctor.

Be well,
Many blessings.