Do you use a MART action plan for you... - Asthma Community ...
Do you use a MART action plan for your MART (Maintenance and Reliever Therapy) inhaler?
Claire_ALUKPartnerALUKAsthma Nurse81 VotersIf yes, please tell us more about your plan and how it helps you. If no, please tell us why you don’t use a plan, and what would encourage you to use a plan. See MY comment below for link to MART info
Please select one:
I have a plan that is agreed with my GP practice asthma nurse and it is annually reviewed. I asked for face-to-face reviews post COVID, rather than a telephone review. Telephone reviews have their place, but a f2f is more productive, IMHA
Sort of....Fostair 200/6 . My asthma is severe and usually admitted every 3 to 4 weeks for 3 nights to a week. Local consultant prescribed and to use as mart which dud, Royal Brompton say can only do that with 100/6.
I use a preventer and stay fit. I'm 70 and still run. When I was 24 in a critical chest hosp with severe asthma the consultant told me to take up a sport and get really fit along with the becotide inhaler. I've never had an attack since
asthmaandlung.org.uk/sympto...
sorry all - I cant get this link to activate in poll so will leave here FYI
The hospital moved me from mart to fostair 200, I asked to be moved back after chatting it through with asthma UK nurse. A
I found fostair 200 does not last the day. I have quite frequent attacks and on bad days find myself taking too much ventolin. The gp asthma nurse then prescribes short term oral steroids and wanted to move me to long term oral steroids and it became awkward when I refused.
So I went to see my hospital asthma nurse and asked if she could ask the consultant if I could move back to mart.
The consultant agreed and I am much happier with it. On bad days I take my eight doses over the day and it controls the asthma much better than fostair 200 and ventolin, it lasts much longer. I still need ventolin for bad attacks, but I do not need it regularly.
Also my blood pressure has fallen substantially
The only issue is if I wake up bad I feel the need for fostair 200 to clear it up as fostair 100 is good at maintaining the condition, less so at sorting it out when it is really bad.
My other medicine is spiriva, which is brilliant. Mart without spiriva does not work for me.
When on mart and spiriva I have not been hospitalised for six months, prior to this I was hospitalised three times in a year.
Hi Claire, I don't use Mart, because I use a combination LABA/LAMA drug and a steriod inhaler on top. That allows me to better control my inhaled steroid use, as I am at the very top end of inhaled steroid usage. I do however really control my SABA usage. Although I'm generally told to use more rather than less!! I do have an action plan, but it is quite fluid as my consultant really is trying to help me cut down on oral steroids, so i tend to have to wait longer to use them than my action plan states. It really depends on my numbers. I've had asthma for a long time 50+ years. But I did use Mart for a short while when symbicort first came out.
Hello, I have a MART plan. It works well for me. The only small minus is that I get oral thrush every few months. However it a small thing to put up with for having good asthma control. I was prescribed it after seeing an asthma consultant. I used to see an asthma nurse once a year but this year it was done as a phone call with a health care assistant. It was not helpful, more a tick box exercise. If I need any advice now I phone the Asthma UK nurses because sadly I don't get as good support from Primary Care any more.
I am the same. I don’t even have an asthma nurse, the practice nurse appears to be the specialist nurse for everything.
Shocking, that a health care assistant is assessing patients and providing advice!
What are nurses thinking of to allow this to take place?
I've never heard of a MART action plan, I've been on inhalers for over 40 years now (I'm 62) and still play the bagpipes regularly which surprises some of the nurses that I've seen, currently on a small dose of oral steroids.
no plan other than keep taking the inhalers
I was only given a plan once under tertiary care. Much before that It really was a sticking plaster regime. I now know what I need to before help.The main problem for me is the awful late evening/night cramps with extra doses.
I have a plan with my gp. As soon as my peak flow drops below 250 I start using my ventolin inhaler 4 times a day for 4 days then 3 times for 4 days then 2 daily for 4days and then when needed
yes. Symbicort 200x2 and as and when required. Hospital moved me to this. Feel much fitter when playing tennis - always had to stop to use my ventolin before. They removed my ventolin .
The only Mart we have is the one where sheep sales are held every week.
I have a plan created by the GP asthma nurse, luckily I have rarely required it & usually only the first step is required.
I use Fostair 100/6 in MART regime. It works well for me (with Spiriva and montelukast). Best control I've had (and I've tried a few!). Taking more doses during the day is usually a better approach for me when asthma flares up than just increasing morning and evening doses.
Having said that I do still use ventolin/salamol when needed. I don't feel the Fostair works fast enough if breathing is really difficult.
On my action plan (Asthma UK one) I have the maximium number of puffs in the additional information box (but a bit more space in there would be good!).
I have Fostair 200/6 and salbutamol as necessary
I’m regimented about taking my preventative pumps correctly. If I get a flare up, I’ll increase the dosage and use more of my salbutamol. If the flare up is not resolved, I’ll take a small dose 5mg or 10mg of my emergency prednisone tablets. In 95% of occasions after this, the flare up has gone. If not, I seek professional medical help. This is not a written MART plan but in my head after dealing with asthma for 70 years
yes i have been on MART for about 3 years now. I take forstair 100/6 2 doses morning and night (also extra during the day if needed- during pollen season I take it anyway) then Ventolin when I need to which is rare now due to other medication I am on.
I have well controlled asthma using Seretide 100 accuhaler twice a day and my Ventolin salbutamol inhaler if I need it.
Had asthma since 5 years old & I’m 65. I have previously been hospitalised with it & on various other inhalers but this regime seems to work pretty well now for me & I’m loathe to change it.
Yes, following three consecutive chest infections, I was advised by hospital doctor to use Symbicort x2 puffs when needed . Better than Ventolin which raised my heart rate and made me feel very dizzy.
Hello Clare. I’m on the Mart plan via my hospital consultant. I use Fostair 200/6, 2 puffs am and pm and up to 4 extra puffs per day as required - alongside Spiriva, Montelukast, Carbocisteine, Fexofenadine, Nasonex (steroid nasal spray) and Omeprazole….all of which are repeat prescriptions plus, prednisone and Amoxicillin, as and when I need them. I have learned to use the extra Fostair puffs at the very first sign of an asthma flare brewing and how to rapidly to use the Prednisone. I now also know when to let my GP know when things are really building up and need an extra, tapering dose of Prednisone (usually an extra 25 days worth), alongside the antibiotics. Fortunately, this arrangement has kept me out of hospital. I am also about to receive help from the hospital’ Pulmonary Rehab Department (I’m now 77 and, it would appear that I have fallen into bad breathing habits that hinder my breathing patterns). I am also receiving help from hospital’s pain clinic, relating to another health issue. My GP has just changed the Fostair to Luforbec 200/6, so I am waiting to see how that works for me. It really shouldn’t make any difference - because they are meant to contain the same ingredients. This only my second day using Luforbec and am using an extra puff of so due to battling the pollen (which is extremely high at the moment - especially as I live surrounded by trees). I usually have to stay indoors with the windows shut and if I venture outside, I use a mask when the pollen is high).
I have fobumix 80/6 on mart, previously symboicort 100/8. Plus salbutamol if needed after the 8 puffs in a day - very rare. Seems to work ok but haven't got much to compare with as only diagnosed 2 years ago. I had Clenil inhaler to begin with but this didn't allow me to be active enough, so asthma nurse swiftly moved me on!!
i havet got anything other than verbal guidance so far for my MARTregime. I started .the regime last April
I have been on Fostair 100/6 MART for approximately 4 to 5 years. I've found it works so brilliantly for me that I've only used Ventolin (haven't used the Salamol yet although 1 is waiting in my meds box). Chronic infection for all of January & another shorter one in July saw me using Ventolin. Rightly or wrongly i was taught the MART method whilst on Seretide MDI over ten years ago at a Wimbledon practice, it worked well however, at the slightest throat scratch a blood blister would form plus the skin on arms got ripped to shreds.
After moving to Gloucestershire 8 yrs ago an excellent respiratory nurse changed it to Fostair explaining it was made to use as & when alongside regular doses.
Px is 2 puffs 2 x daily. In summer months I can halve that dose successfully unless an exacerbation strikes. On 1st prescribing I had to sign a form at the pharmacy and was given a small glossy booklet for understanding Fostair MART.
Miraculous bonus = no more throat blisters (one was as big as a golf ball in 2014) & skin is far less thin.
Hope that's what you needed. Penelope
Addendum, haven't had a review for 5 years (asthma and Small Airways Disease)
Addendum: I expect this survey has ended but here goes anyway.........
I forgot to mention that when px Fostair mdi MART I had to sign a form at the chemist to confirm that I understood the MART regime, I was also given a smart little booklet of full instructions then a couple of years later a second newer version.
I use cicleside,fostair and salbutamol am+ pm plus salbutamol+ fostair as relievers whn needed
Only recently told to use preventer (Fostair) in this way (ie take it running with me). Haven't been given any kind of plan though. .
Had never heard of MART plan until seeing it mentioned on the forum.
Although I’d had very bad asthma since birth (respite from bad attacks from about age 14-47, but still bad cold/ flu events every year, the asthma part of my respiratory problems was never really taken seriously by GPs, and I never had any sort of medication for it until age 47. You were just always labelled as being “highly strung” or a “sensitive child”. Nothing to do with living in all the tobacco smoke, coal fires and traffic fumes of the 1960s then!
Saw a lovely consultant ages 10-11, but never had any medications prescribed , although he did prescribe swimming, but chlorine in some pools was too much. The aerobic exercise was wonderful though, and so was yoga. I ran and cycled for years too in later life, but had to give up my fitness coach job due to respiratory problems.
My best option is recognising the asthma triggers, which are always environmental, and trying to avoid them, though not always possible in every situation.
Currently struggling with after effects of mould allergy resulting in chest infection(resolved) but also 4 weeks of testing positive for Covid (my first infection after 4 years of being very careful - had 7 Covid vaccine doses plus all Flu vaccines). Covid has been horrendous, and managed to keep out of hospital, but will be a long road to recovery.
MART will be another question for my current consultant, who is always happy to listen to questions and help his patients be pro active.
The maintenance and reliever therapy (MART) isn't for everyone and it didn't suit me. The MART option depends on one combination inhaler, containing both a long acting bronchodilator plus a steroid, for both prevention and relief treatment. The other option is to use one combination inhaler for prevention treatment together with a short acting bronchodilator inhaler, like Ventolin or Salbutamol, as a reliever.
We all respond differently to asthma meds and often trial and error of various inhalers and treatment is the only way to figure out what suits a patient best.
Thanks for your reply, and yes, everyone reacts differently. One size does not fit all. Need to get over current issues from mould exposure (resolved) infections and Covid before seeing if I can change anything medication wise next year, or whether things settle down in a different environment. Fingers crossed!
Take care, keep safe, and have a happy, healthy festive season 😊
