My symptoms keep coming back after rounds of antibiotics and steroids.

Posted by ahens0cc @ahens0cc, 1 day ago

Hi there.

I’m a 23 y/o female who has had Asthma as long as I can remember. I do vape occasionally and I’m overweight. (I’m currently developing better habits and have lost 20 lbs.)

Starting in late April/early May, I began having chest pains, a mild cough, mild chest congestion, and mild shortness of breath, but no other concerning symptoms.
I went to the UC on May 13th, they assumed it was an asthma attack so they gave me prednisone and a breathing treatment. It didn’t go away.

I ended up going to the ER May 22nd to see what was going on. They checked for blood clots but D-dimmer was fine and CT only showed a small cloud in my lungs and a cery mild collapse, which they didn’t seem to worried about and assumed was pseumonia so they gave me amoxicillin. It went away for about a week and a half then it came back MINUS the chest pains.

I went to my primary care on June 8th and explained what was going on. She was concerned about a blood clot but since I wasn’t having pains or severe shortness of breath, she leaned against that. She ended up giving me a Z-pack and 5 days or steroids which helped a ton for a week and a half, now it’s coming back AGAIN. I’m beginning to have chest pains, mild shortness of breath, slight cough and congestion. My oxygen stays at around 92-96, which is lower than my usual 97-98. My oxygen also drops in my sleep doing to 89-93 but goes bsck up quickly.

My main concern is when I’m on antibiotics, it seems to go away for a short period of time.

I don’t know what this is. I just want answers and a way to figure this out. I have severe health anxiety and it’s completely throwing off the balance of my life. I’m using my rescue inhaler almost daily.

A couple night ago, I asked my fiance to use the inhaler in my sleep, then woke up and felt like my lungs were collapsing. It went away quickly, but it was terrifying.

Any ideas or suggestions? Any clue what this could mean?? I was thinking I may need a switch or high dose of maintenance inhaler but I’m not sure. I have a pulmonologist appointment in a week, so maybe suggestions I could bring up to them.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Lung Health Support Group.

Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | 1 day ago

@ahens0cc Welcome to Mayo Connect, where we are patients and caregivers sharing our health journeys.

It sounds like you are being proactive in trying to manage your health issues, so you have already taken a big step forward. Asthma is not something to ignore - it will not just "go away", so it is important to learn to deal with the your personal triggers. It is also important to avoid repeated rounds of steroids and antibiotics without controlling the cause.

At this point, in addition to NOT vaping ANYTHING (or being around people while they are doing it), let's help you prepare for your pulmonology appointment.

You have given us a concise description of your symptoms so far, it would be helpful to present something similar to the new doctor for background. If you can try to remember & list what happened just before your most recent problems (foods, exposure to hot/cold/smoke/odors, a cold or other respiratory bug.)
Be sure to mention your health anxiety, and anything (like meds, meditation, etc) you are doing to control it.

The pulmonologist will likely do pulmonary function and asthma diagnostic tests to see where you stand. Daily use of a rescue inhaler is now a consideration when trying to find a longer-acting solution that prevents attacks in the first place, so be sure to ask about that.

Would like to post your "list" here for additional suggestions?

chickytina | @chickytina | 3 hours ago

I had a double lung transplant 5/5/2022. As Sue stated, stop vaping. Even vaping once in a while is bad for your health. People think that it is better for you than cigarettes, but in some ways it is worse. You need to give it up and not smoke or be around people that do. See if there are any pulmonary exercises that you can do to help with this. Many times a pulmonologist won't tell you unless you ask. Good luck at your appointment.

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