Unwell again!

[hb1977]

Hi Everyone

I know there are lots of knowledgable people on here so asking for some of your advice

I have a history of not been terribly compliant with inhalers (seretide 125 - 2 puffs AM and PM)

However, I learned my lesson when I needed 2 courses of steroids in August and for whe whole of August I've taken my inhalers every day.

I went to see the Asthma nurse; my peak flows are improved, but I still have on some days 15-20% variability. Other days I feel fine and can cycle, row and go swimming without a problem. She said to stay on same treatment even though I was still needing Salbutamol inhaler everyday.

In the last few days I've started to feel rough again; tight chest, PF not dramatically worse but have a cough again and needed more than once everyday - I think it may be attributed to the nice dry sunny weather as that always seems to make me worse!

I've booked an appointment with my GP as I don't feel control is great and think that I may need stepping up, at least in the short term to gain control but can't see my GP for just under 3 weeks.

Anyone else get this when they feel very tight but PF doesn't fall dramatically? What else can I do?

Thanks

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Join the club old bean, dont know if its the weather or something else but friends whom have asthma and my plus loads on here are suffering at the mo. I like you was abit naughty with my attitude to my puffers, but believe me its very inportant to take them every day no matter what, i missed afew days due to my wife forgetting to put in a prescript and believe me , you certainly notice it and quickly, it also takes time for the meds to build back up in your system after a wee relapse of forgetfulness, please take it very seriously, if you could see me now you would not forget to taken yer meds, the consqueneces could be very dangerous, even life threatening. im on the same as you , well ive been told i can increase the seretide to double dose,but my ventolin is running red hot, yesterday i had to use it as an emergency , having puffs every 5mins until it calmed abit , i didnt push it to far as i didnt want to over do it but its hard to know when to say stop , if you cant hardly breath, as im diabetic ,steroids aint fun they cause high blood sugar level which inturn dont help yer body, so im glad to be off them, peek flows are a guide only, i went to the docs and had 550, then when i got home it was 400??? now 300, some people feelbetter with lower flow rates?? depends really , you know how you feel.But you must feel your in control, go see the doc and say so, abit hypocritcal from me as im the last to see a doc dont be scared of using your blue inhaler ""ventolin""more often, if your breathing is of concern , youll know, have a couple of puffs if it dont make a difference add another couple 5 mins later and so on until you can cope with it,not sure how many times is ok , but if you using the puffer more than you think is right then speak to your nurse or doc.Take care Gaz

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I'm on the flip side of your coin. I can feel very well, but my PF is very low! Sometimes it doesn't predicate how bad you are.

I'm on seretide 250 and have taken it religously since April 2010 - nevertheless, I still had an attack in June, July and as in Hospital for 6 days in August.

Keep on at your Dr if you don't fell well and your day to day activity is restricted

Gareth

[hb1977]

Hi

Saw my GP this morning, he agrees that I still do not have proper control and wonders if there is an allergic element to this.

Anyway, I've been prescribed Montelukast to see if that will help.

Will keep you posted.

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Not much advice I'm afraid. Just wanted to say your not the only one. I went to GP today with my asthma and once again I am on 40mg prednisalone for 5 days, 500mg x3 a day for 7 days, 1000mg Seretide for the next 14 days, 1000mg Salbutamol every 4 hours plus 400mg as required between doseses, 20mg Singulair and 20mg Cetrizine. Got to go back and see GP again on Tuesday for a weekend review as I have a grade 2 chest infection on my left lung. If no improvement by Tuesday then hospital for further treatment. Thank gooodness I havem y hubby at home and he is great as he has said I can rest as much as I need too and he will take care of the kids and take control of all there medical, health needs while I sort out getting the rest I need to recover and get back to normal or as normal of health as I can be

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Hiya, just wanted to say that I know exactly how you're feeling. Had exactly the same experience. I was using my Ventolin 3-4 times a day on Seretide 125/25 2 puffs twice a day (an improvement pre-Seretide but not good enough) so was started on Montelukast (Singulair), within the week my symptoms were much better and am now using Ventolin 1-2 times a week!! Hopefully you'll have the same effect although I was told that Montelukast only works on about 60-70% of people.

Good luck and let us know how you get on!

Jo xxx

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I also forgot to say yesterday that I have been taking montekulast/singulair since March this year and when my asthma is behaving the montekulast has made a great improvement. My seretide is 250/25 so at the moment I am taking 1000/100 twice a day. then in 14 days will hopefully be dropping back down to 500/50 twice a day. Hope the montekulast helps you