Bronchial Asthma vs Asthma?

[graceslick23]

When I was a kid I was diagnosed with bronchial asthma. What actually IS this?? I've always thought it was when I got a cold it'd usually go to my chest and I'd get bronchitis and this would bring on wheezing and general discomfort in breathing. I had Ventolin but never any preventative meRAB. It wasn't severe enough. I also never got actual asthma attacks. It was just uncomfortable. I found when I'd cough up the phlegm (sorry, ew), it'd relieve the wheeze for a while. I'd get bronchitis maybe 4 times a year or so.

During all this, I've always had good lung capacity. I've been asked numerous times if I'm a swimmer or singer (swimmer no, singer sort of I guess).

I stopped getting bronchitis that frequently when I was about 16 years old...I just seemed to grow out of it. I started smoking (I know, so stupid!) when I was about 19 and smoked till I was 27. During this time I'd get a cold with a chesty cough once a year. I only got actual bronchitis about 3 during that time though.

I quit smoking almost 4 years ago and haven't got any sort of cough since. Yay! But do I still have any sort of asthma? Is bronchial asthma restricted to purely when you have bronchitis?

I sometimes wheeze and find it uncomfortable to breathe when I've been laughing a lot for a long time. I find I cough to try and release the discomfort.

 

[dreamingofasong]

Bronchial asthma is the same as asthma. Sometimes people just throw the word bronchial in for fun. All asthma symptoms occur in the bronchioles in the lungs, and this is where the name comes from. It has nothing to do with bronchitis, really.

Once you've got asthma, you've always got asthma. It may seem to dissapear for a time, but you've still got it.

Congrats on quitting smoking!

If you're having asthma symptoms, which you sound like you definitely are, the best thing you can do is go get checked out with a doctor.

Best of luck!