Where have you gone for medical atten... - Asthma Community ...
Where have you gone for medical attention in the last year if your asthma has flared up? (Comments regarding medical access welcome)
I am helped by the COPD team run by the local community trust. They are very responsive and will do a home visit the same day if needed.
I am currently waiting at an urgent care centre. Spoke to the Brompton earlier who advised me to have an urgent medical review due to 3 exacerbationsin 4 weeks despite all the meds and equipment at home. The surgery couldn’t fit me in until late tmrw -so here I am. Don’t mind as they are really good here.
never had any luck with the GP/Hospital. Always end up going to the A&E.
I have an emergency pack of Prednisolone and antibiotics at home, prescribed by my GP. I've also invested in an electronic nebuliser kit. These 3 things help me manage acute asthma flare ups at home and keep me out of hospital.
Do you inform your GP of flair ups so they can take action if they feel you need intervention or to update their records? Or do you just deal with flair ups without informing your GP?
I inform my GP on Day 3 of a flare-up and report that I've taken a 3-prong solution to managing the condition. I haven't needed hospitalisation with asthma for 12 years because of the Emergency Kit and nebuliser. My GP surgery is also a teaching practice for student doctors and as I manage my asthma flare-ups so well, I give a 'talk' twice a year to the student doctors.
Amazing that you are sharing your experience!
Thank you, The Welsh Writer! Full marks to my surgery's GPs too for allowing me to be a 'guinea pig' for the students. Glad to hear your own surgery was swift in sorting your chest infection. 🤗
I have a similar routine to you and have never been hospitalised despite some scary asthma attacks
Well done, Mauschen! Such a vital fallback when it's currently so difficult to get a swift GP appointment or to be seen promptly at A&E.
I had an asthma attack last month as I entered a German supermarket. There was a fan heater above the door which took my breath away. I began coughing and spluttering as I staggered into the shop. Customers passed me by as if I wasn’t there. Shop assistants glanced and looked away as the shrill from my breathing echoed in the air. Struggling, I finally managed to get the inhaler out of my bag and slowly brought the situation under control
My face resembled a tomato and my hair and skin was drenched with sweat, yet no one came to help!
At one point I thought I’d never breathe again. I thought about an ambulance and how long it might take to reach me. It was scary.
When I got home, I phoned my GP however, only a phone appointment in two days was available.
I turned my nebuliser on and thanked God for my own Knowledge.
Gp who is very good. Have face to face appointment with respiratory consultant next week
I rang 111 before Christmas (not on strike day) and after one hour no-one had answered. Should have rang 999 or gone straight to a&e.
I had a chest infection in the last year and called the GP as I was concerned for my breathing. Fair play to them as they we able to see me face to face that afternoon.
Hi
I just request everything I need on repeat prescription ( inc. antibiotics!) and hope for the best 🤞😬
Also have hosp neb at home, which is invaluable atm.
Benra is delivered to home and I inject myself so that’s good too!
Take care all😊😊👍
Hi, I take a lot of medications prescribed by my consultant, I do see him privately, but he is very popular and busy. So I email his P/A and the consultant sends back a note about what he wants me to do. And he writes to my NHS GP Then we follow up with an in person or video appointment if necessary. He would see me in his NHS clinic if I couldn't afford it any more, as I have been in tertiary asthma care for 15 years now. But I love the flexibility of actually having a relationship with a doctor. Asthma is so personal!!! I don't have health insurance but this is worth every penny.
Haven't needed. But have yearly review with asthma nurse
Hi In the last year I’ve been in resus 4 times and put in to a induced coma twice, as I’ve got brittle Ashtma, at the hospital I’ve got a lot of respect for the consultant and the Dras nurses, they have been their for support, aswell the ICU DR’S and nurses where amazing and saved my life at least 4 times over 2 years, aswell my Dr’s surgery is on the ball when I’m bad as I’m one of them I try and fight it then it hits me really bad thanks
I have a home nebuliser prescribed, use saline twice daily also prescribed. On continuous antibiotics, prescribed by tertiary consultant. I have rescue neb fluids to use. Last time I phoned I couldn't barely talk. Got told appointment Saturday this was Tuesday. Eh no way. Went straight to A&E. They were shocked, seen straight away. Post care I had to force the I need to be seen, its in my notes.
Previous to this 111 as it was the weekend who called an Ambulance....A&E
I was discharged from my asthma consultant...most of them left and I have no idea who is there now.. my asthma nurse tried to get me on their waiting list but even she doesn't know who is left.. I think 3 or more left all at once lol.. I now talk to the nurse at my GPs more often and sometimes the Dr asks me to come into the surgery but then that usually means a hospital visit lol .. since I hate going into hospital I just ask for the steroids and sometimes antibiotics from her..
Initially I went to my gp asthma nurse, she wanted to transfer me to the hospital asthma team, but the local hospital asthma team was not functioning because of covid. However the gp asthma nurse managed my asthma well. She just slightly lacked confidence.
My asthma deteriorated and the nurse left the gp practice. The gp practice was then basically unusable for my asthma, they liked to just tell me to ring 111 and 999 etc.
However luckily after an asthma attack on holiday I was taken on by the respiratory team at a tertiary hospital, with a superb respiratory nurse.
However on being referred to a severe asthma consultant at the tertiary, my local hospital claimed me back. The month long changeover period has left me with no asthma nurse, out of control asthma, and a reluctant gp practice. So I have used 111 and 999 and avoided a and e by the skin of my teeth and a great local paramedic.
My yearly Asthma checks at my GP surgery have only been available by phone 'due to Covid ' which I feel is not sufficient. I had to have 2 courses of prednisolone in 2021 , a 5 day and a 10 day, and have just finished another 5 day course, due to my asthma deteriorating with this chest virus that is doing the rounds. I feel I need a face to face asthma consultation to update my plan but can't get one.
I have a rescue pack of prednisolone (reducing dose unfortunately) & I have to inform my GP when I start them. I'm under a severe asthma clinic and if needed I will ring them for advice.
I am really concerned if I need an ambulance, I have a nebuliser (agreed with my team) which I can use if I'm deteriorating whilst asking for help. Would probably get my husband to take me to A&E if I needed more intervention (been living with severe asthma for over 30 years & know that I can deteriorate very quickly ☹️ which isn't common for asthma attacks).
I'm now trying to avoid getting colds, flu etc which means Cambridge mask wearing if my breathing is able to cope with it when out and about. Or avoiding people and basically shielding again.
I'm encouraged to text my hospital specialist asthma team if I have a flare. They are responsive and will see me if I want (and encourage it) but they're not very helpful when I do. I will text them though just to let them know, even if I don't think it will be helpful to see them.
I'm more settled now (I think having a consultant-approved nebuliser and using it sensibly, plus being freelance and not having to work in central London, has helped), but in the past they wouldn't do anything to help me keep out of hospital at all, just tell me I wasn't too bad at that moment and try to 'reassure' me which I wasn't after - especially when that was based on markers that don't work for me like eosinophils, FENO, or wheeze.
To be honest if I could make it there then I knew I wasn't hospital level, I was just hoping they could stop it getting to that. For a specialist team, mine mostly don't seem to understand the concept of variability and atypical presentations, though there are a couple of nurses who are good. I just always seemed to get the one who wasn't!
If I'm not managing to keep on top of things at home it's generally A&E and an admission. I will now go there directly, or my work used to call an ambulance. I used to feel like I had to go to urgent care, or call 111 or my GP, even if I thought it was hospital level, and let them decide - because my consultants would go on at me in clinic about how I didn't need hospital and why had I gone (on the basis that I was ok 3 weeks later or my peak flow hadn't dropped incredibly low). But they never used to know what to do with me, and I would generally end up in, and need, hospital anyway so now I just go there directly if I need to.
If it's something like a chest infection I will go to my GP unless it's triggered a sudden attack that needs more.
At a face to face appointment my consultant gave me an email address to request an appointment with them if I was struggling. I had to do this. The asthma physio chatted to me over the phone , then spoke to the consultant who adjusted my meds. She then rang me back to see how I was doing. If I hadn’t been any better I would have been able to return. This system worked extremely well.
Thank goodness for my hospital team. No point even trying to contact my gp. Lines are nearly always engaged & when I eventually get through, there are no appointments left! And when I phoned 111, they didn’t call back for THREE days! The nhs is broken 😞
I.have to manage my.own.condition even though I am on benralizumab and 20 mg Prednisolone daily...joke
When I had a flare up of asthma I started my emergency steroids. But 7 days later I was still suffering so rang my GP for advice, but no appointments phone or in person were available for 3 weeks. Instead I rang my consultant's secretary for reassurance.
I was initially seen by my GP. Given antibiotics and steroids. No better a week later and admitted to hospital with pneumonia and a bad asthma attack. Care was excellent.
Whenever I've rung with a flareup, I've been told there are no available appointments and I should go to A&E or ring 999 if I'm not able to drive myself there!
The one time I did succeed in getting an urgent telephone appointment was when I had Covid which caused asthma related breathing difficulties. I rang the Asthma UK helpline first and was advised to ask my GP to increase my preventer short-term. When I rang and used the magic words 'the asthma UK nurse advised...' I got a call back from the GP on the same day to increase my preventer.
As well as a gp appointment I have had a very useful chat with an asthma uk nurse
I had massive trouble getting diagnosed at age 62 last year. GP tried me on clenil and gave me ventolin but I got steadily worse. Lung function tests which he requested never came through. I became increasingly breathless with a horrible constant cough and gradually had to cancel most aspects of my life eg trips, visits, activities and going out. I was twice sent home from A&E and was patronisingly told, one visit, that I should use ventolin as much as I liked. A GP thought I had lung cancer and arranged a 2 week scan. The London teaching hospital rang to say my scan was fine and to wait for lung function tests. By then I could not lie down, breath properly, walk the dog etc and felt like I was suffocating. I saw a private consultant out of desperation and he wasn’t clear what was wrong and said wait for the NHS LF test appointment to come through. It didn’t. In desperation, I paid for private LF tests and saw the consultant again. He also obtained the NHS CT scan and had a look. He was horrified. The scan showed a very serious layer of eosinophils lining my lungs which could be seen as white lines. The teaching hospital had missed this diagnosis. My lung function tests were extremely bad. Panic ensued. A year later, I’ve had 3 courses of prednisolone and max dose Fostair plus other steroid inhalers. I’ve now started Benralizumab as well. If the lung function tests ordered by the GP had come through within a short time then the story might be different and I may not be so ill now. I will also do a yellow card report on the Covid jab as the onset of my hossible cough was soon after jabs and it turned nasty after the third one.
Thanks to all of you who have shared your experiences.
These insights are so valuable to us, and really help us understand the difficulties people are facing when they need to access health care.
Something that particularly stood out was how many people have been using nebulisers at home. As you may know, we at ALUK do not routinely advise the use of home nebs for asthma(see links below ), so just a reminder to make sure that you ask your team for clear instructions on when you should be using yours and at what point you need to get extra help, so that you stay safe.
As ever, do call into the Helpline to chat through any worries with one of the respiratory nurses 0300 2225800 option 3 nurses 😊
My gp wants to see me every 4-6 months but if ghe close for 3-4 shd gives a rescue pack of prednisolond and zntibiotics over hjd holx if ineed them as its over 3-4 if you got sppointment for out of hours or upto or evfn over 14hrs wait at hospital so i try not to go ip with all ghd coughing and spluttering from people not bcoughing into sleevd or tissues.
Dont want to pick up anything ftom there as so far ive avoided catching bugs most of eintet.