coping with brittle.

hi,

I'm new to the site but my partner has been a brittle asthma suffer all of her life. over the past year she has been admitted to hosp a few times, and i have been in A&E with her as well, unfortunately i cant be with her all time.

i am trained St john ambulance crew and a responder for the ambulance service, this give me some understanding of what is happening and treatments etc, however saying that ive never come across brittle until i met my partner.

but obviously i still get a little bit upset seeing her suffering and struggling to breathe, i often have a little cry when i leave the hospital, im just wondering how other reletives cope with it and what advice you can offer?

[Hidden]

I know this isn't the best idea but in order for my parents to cope they dont come in ambulances with me and when do end up in hospital they leave it until breathing is better when seeing me. I suppose its more for me protecting them by dealing with it by myself! The hospital know when to phone parents in as they know me.

I dont think there is a way to not let it effect you, you just seem to get more used to the nirmal ones and then its the odd ones that push people. My parents say they arent worried about me when Im in hospital as they will look after me and will phone if needed.

I worked for ambo's and must admit even I didn't know about brittle asthma until I got asthma, asthma is just taught as asthma and its not until you met someone that you learn about it.

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I cope by not telling my mum I am in hospital for a couple of days. Instead I get texts sent to a responsible member of family or friend, failing that I let my pastor know he is very confident about all my episodes.

You are doing well by crying without her knowing but you can off load on this site or with others who know what your enduring. Can't be easy especially since your profession lets yoou know exactly how bad it is or can be.

Take care

Gill

[angievere]

My 14yr old son is an asthmatic and it is awful seeing him struggle. I just try to keep calm when he is having an attack (often at night these days), I give him his reliever, prop him up on pillows, put nebuliser on standby, fetch fresh water. I also ask him if I need to call a doctor, he is old enough now that I can do that. So I suppose I cope with keeping busy. Otherwise I would cry I think.

I had uncontrolled asthma as a child and I remember my mother getting really stressed out when I was ill. She used to shout sometimes and I remember being very nervous of her and for her. So I tried to conceal how bad I was or cope on my own. Maybe these memories enable me to put on a brave face in front of my son when he is ill.

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thank you all for replying,

im glad i looked on the asthma uk site and found somewhere i can share my worries and stories.

as for working on ambos, i do wonder if that is part of the cause for my anxiety etc, but i will be passing on the idea to our training team to see if we can teach it to the rest of my team mates.

J