I think most treatments are the same.

Asthma is believed to be reversible via medication, @A MyCOPDTeam Member, and COPD is not.

COPD also has multiple overlaping causes, as I came to COPD from having asthma.

At the end of the day, *** and I’m not a doc, this isn’t medical advice *** it doesn’t matter what the label is so long as you have a treatment plan that works for you.

Talk to the doc to try and get an understanding of why, but especially on such short notice, he or she decided it’s important to treat you more for asthma than COPD.

Ask if your chest x-rays have changed to show your lungs no longer hyper-inflated.

Ask if he or she wants you on different types of inhalers (and speak up if it’s something you’ve already tried and rejected).

In my case, I was diagnosed with asthma as a child due to my birth defect and related lung damage. However, end stage asthma is always COPD, which I should have entered years prior, but which was only on the table as a discussion topic AFTER he suggested a new med (designed and meant for COPD patients only) and we had a very difficult conversation about where I was at for disease progression.

The only thing that even remotely works for me without horrible side effects (and which has lead to a stomach full of benign tumors) is theophylline pills.

While I can (and do) use inhalers in emergency situations, or when I’m wheezy and want to push myself, I mostly stick to non-medication aids like breathing techniques and exercises to help alleviate my symptoms.

No big answers for you, but I hope these suggestions help in dealing with the new doc and change in labels.

Communication is key, so please challenge him or her to help you understand their viewpoint over the importance of changing your disease label. Good luck.

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A MyCOPDT...

You really need to understand what he told you. I think if you called his office and asked for someone to send you a copy of your test results and asked for the explanation again, you'd get an answer. If you don't get either, that tells you something.......

No I have been seeing a pulmonary doctor from day one. He went over the test w me and pointed out the numbers and said the last function test it shows my lungs do something can’t remember his exact words. That shows it’s asthma.. thank you will check sites out .

You've gotten some pretty good advice. I would differ on the importance of x-rays, because long (hyperinflation) lungs can be from COPD, but are not a definitive sign of COPD. I would ask about results of spirometry or a Pulmonary Function Test (spirometry is part of that) and what in those test results indicates asthma rather than COPD. Is this new lung doctor the first pulmonologist you've seen? If so, and you were seeing your family doc prior, this guy has the training and education to make those decisions while your family doc usually doesn't.

As for meds, many of the meds we take for COPD are similar to the meds you would take for asthma. Sometimes the dosages and timing are different. In fact, many of the meds we use for COPD were originally developed for use in asthma. There are good sites to learn more about asthma, and the American Lung Association has some really good materials you can get for free.

Asn, unfortunately, the previous poster is correct that asthma in adults often leads to COPD. But both conditions can be managed and controlled if you work at it.