It took 30 years to get a diagnosis and understand what was happening to me

Helen was diagnosed with asthma when she was five years old. Then in her thirties, she was told she also had bronchiectasis. Here she tells us how her delayed diagnosis has impacted her.

Helen, Asthma + Lung UK supporter
Published 5th September 2025

I was diagnosed with asthma when I was five years old. I had pneumonia when I was seventeen years old and my asthma symptoms got worse. After this, I was told for years by doctors that my asthma diagnosis had changed to severe asthma.

As an adult, I kept getting chest infections. Eventually, my GP said that the severe asthma diagnosis wasn’t right and referred me to a respiratory specialist. They did some scans and diagnosed me with bronchiectasis.
 

I've had to make difficult decisions about our future


My lung conditions and other health conditions such as fibromyalgia affect me day to day. My mum is getting older, and I find it harder to look after her and even more difficult to look after myself. I’ve taken early retirement recently as working full time was a struggle, I'm only 49 years old.

When I realised I had two lung conditions I had to think about the future of my life and what that might look like. My husband and I have decided not to have any children, which was a difficult decision. I do think we would have had children if I didn’t have all of my health conditions. It makes it hard to plan ahead.
 

The delayed diagnosis has seriously impacted my quality of life


People need to take lung conditions more seriously, as someone who had a delayed diagnosis, it had a serious impact on my quality of life. I want to see increased awareness of all lung conditions.

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