Is it common to develop asthma in your 50s?

[Kitty 34]

My PA prescribed an inhaler for me a year ago in Oct when I went to her thinking I was just having breathing difficulties due to a cold or my fall allergies I get. (I'm allergic to ragweed)

But lately I have been having breathing problems in the dead of winter and having to use my inhaler.

Of course maybe it's menopause.....everything else I've had has been linked to that!!!

 

[Tjaleks]

My sister developed asthma in her 30's with her first attack landing her in the er. She is now on a preventative med and has an inhaler for immediate relief. Her doctor told her you can develop it at any time.

 

[kilee]

It doesn't hurt to find a cause for your breathing issues- just to be safe. However, asthma can begin as an adult onset at anytime.

 

[crz4mm2]

Do you have acid reflux? that can cause asthma/symptoms.

 

[Kitty 34]

Do you have acid reflux? that can cause asthma/symptoms.

Not that I know of? Is that heartburn?

 

[cepmom]

my Mom developed asthma symptoms a few years ago, and went to have further testing done. She waas disgnosed to have mild emphysema and is doing well on preventative meds now. She quit smoking about 28 years ago, but was exposed to second hand smoke for many years.

 

[crz4mm2]

Not that I know of? Is that heartburn?

Yes, it is like heartburn, only worse. Acid comes up in the esophagus. Comes up so far it sometimes goes into the trachea too....

 

[JulieWent]

I developed asthma two years ago (at the age of 42). I've never smoked, and I don't live in a particularly polluted place. Since I've had it, I've met lots of other adults my age and older who developed it as adults. Go figure. Like you, I take a preventative (Advair) and keep an emergency inhaler around, which I have to use once a week or so in the winter. I laughingly blame my school district which moved me from a brand new wonderful classroom to a 65-year old one the year my asthma developed, but I seriously don't know if that was the cause. Next year I move to another brand new classroom. Maybe I'll get better???

Julie

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Do you have acid reflux? that can cause asthma/symptoms.

Just what I was going to ask!

I was coughing/wheezing about 6 months ago--went to urgent care center--they couldn't figure anything out--came home, dawned on me that I'd had a sore throat for the last few days, which should be a reminder to me to take reflux medication!

I restarted my over-the-counter reflux medication, and I was cured!

A friend of mine with lifelong asthma just had her first visit with a pulmonologist yesterday (had always gone to family doctor)--he definitely thinks reflux is aggravating, if not causing, her asthma.

 

[HayGan]

A friend of mine at work just developed severe asthma within the past year (he is 54.) He had some minor allergies prior to this but nothing serious.

 

[Christine]

Regarding the reflux: You do not have to have HEARTBURN to have reflux. I have been treated for reflux since 1998 and have never had heartburn (except when I was pregnant). I definitely have stuff that refluxes "up" it just doesn't give me a burning feeling. I get queasy a lot, feel like I need to burp, and generally feel like I have indigestion. Reflux can also be silent.

A woman I work with had it so bad (on testing) yet she didn't have one symptom of it (or a lot of people are really good about ignoring symptoms). It is very common for it to aspirate into your lungs while you sleep and causes asthma.

 

[Kitty 34]

It doesn't sound like I have acid reflux because I haven't experienced any of the symptoms mentioned.

Julie, I do a LOT of subbing, in fact I am in a long term (til the rest of the year) right now. Maybe it is our old classrooms that could be aggravating me. In fact yesterday I started cleaning out the retired teacher's OLD things and today I can hardly breathe.

 

[Patty3]

I developed asthma in my fifties. I was in denial about having astham until just recently. I would spordically take my advair and use albuterol occasionally. I also have allergies and take singular and allegra. Lately, I have really been wheezing. Wednesday, I had a breathing test done again and my breathing was less about 50%. No more denial, I was having a mild asthma attack.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

I developed severe, persistent asthma at 43 after our basement got moldy in a house with forced hot air heating.
Cleaning the basement with bleach, buying a higher capacity basement dehumididifier, and keeping the windows closed,A/C on has really reduced my symptoms.

 

[arminnie]

Regarding the reflux: You do not have to have HEARTBURN to have reflux. I have been treated for reflux since 1998 and have never had heartburn (except when I was pregnant). I definitely have stuff that refluxes "up" it just doesn't give me a burning feeling. I get queasy a lot, feel like I need to burp, and generally feel like I have indigestion. Reflux can also be silent.

A woman I work with had it so bad (on testing) yet she didn't have one symptom of it (or a lot of people are really good about ignoring symptoms). It is very common for it to aspirate into your lungs while you sleep and causes asthma.

I want to second that. I was diagnosed with asthma in my late 40s although I'm convinced that I've had exercised induced asthma my entire life now that I know what it is. I thought that feeling after exercise down in the lungs was normal.

I have a great pulmonologist. When my asthma wasn't clearing up, he had me go see a gastro dr for testing. I'd had heartburn maybe twice in my entire life, but sure enough I did have GERD - which is the fancy name for reflux.

Most people with reflux have symptoms, but it is not that unusual at all for there to be no symptoms.

GERD is can be very serious if untreated - not just because of the lung damage. Untreated GERD can greatly increase the chance of getting esophageal cancer which can be fatal.

Dietary changes can also help. I'm still learning. The other night I ate two pieces of chocolate with nuts before going to bed. I'm still paying for it a week later. My lungs actually hurt from the acid.

 

[Disney Ella]

I developed asthma at 39, after a case of bronchitits. At first, my allergist told me that I might eventually be able to go off the inhaler, but I've tried that twice now, and it looks like I'm always going to need the inhaler. At my last allergist visit, my doctor told me that she now has asthma too, and she's probably in her mid-forties.