first asthma attack

Wondered if any one can help me... I've been asthmatic since I was 12 and am now 25 but until the last 2 years I only ever had ventolin when I needed it then put onto becotide and now am on seretide as I've gradually got worse. However I've had a flu type virus that went onto my chest and on sat night felt the worst pain in my chest and just couldn't breathe which really frightened me. My boyfriend called an ambulance and they took me to a&e and gave me a nebuliser which I have never had before. I've been put on 5 days of steroid tablets and feel much better now but wondered if this is a start of worse things to come. can this just be a one off? Any advice would be appreciatedSmithy x

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it could be but don't worrie too much

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I would like to reassure you and tell that it is not gonna heppen again but unfortuantely there are no guarantees. If you stick your preventer medication there is a good chance that this sort of thing is not going to happen very often. Personaly I had only a couple of serious attack in my 15 years asthma career and they were usualy trigered by chect infections (lets forget those amonia fumes in chem lab for time being lol) in between those I have been virtualy symptom free apart of EI, which I can mannage easily with ventolin. You will need to be careful next time you go down with flu. Also maybe you could consider getting vaccinated. I have been taking flu vaccine for the bast 3 years and touch wood I have not been ill since. What I am trying to say is try not to think about it as a begining of a terrible decline of some sort but at the same time be vigilant and take all the steps to try and prevent it from hapening again in the future.

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hi smithy,

sorry to hear that your asthma's taken a turn for the worse. i had almost exactly the same story, ending up in A&E (went to the doctors surgery, and they called an ambulance for me) and here's the bad news: that was 6 weeks ago, and i'm still on prednisolone (though now on 5mg when i started at 40) and still off sick at home.. i've actually had to suspend my degree course coz i missed too much.

BUT - that doesn't mean you're gonna have the same experience! if you're feeling alot better, then thats really good, because i still haven't really improved from where i was at the beginning, so you'll probably be fine. The flu jab is a really good idea, especially if you tend to get the bugs that are going round. You might just need to be careful, and be aware that you can have sudden attacks.

try not to worry too much, one attack doesn't mean its gonna keep happening.

take care,

justy

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The flu jab is a realy good idea...although I think it disagrees with sum people.

I could b imagining it, but since I've been receiving the flu jab I seem 2 suffer with less colds/sore throats etc.

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Thnks for your advice but I had the flu jab about 6 months ago!!! I seem to be a lot better now though still get a really tight chest on an evening. I just hope I don't end up having another attack coz I found it really scarey. Go back to see nurse next week so will see if she increases my meds again. Anyway playing in a netball match today so will see how that affects me as I haven't played since I've been ill!

smithy x

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To bad those flu jans cannot protect as from everything. There is some awful cold going around uni at the moment and I am waiting for it to get me any minute now as almost everyone seem to be coughing and sneezing at my flat :/.

Anyway, I hope that your asthma nurse will have some constructive advice and good luck with your net ball game.

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Hi smithy

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Asthma attacks are always so scary. I can't tell you if you will continue to get worse or not as everyone's different. If you stick to your meds and are very careful when you're ill, then most likely you will be able to manage your asthma well. good luck in your game today

xx Brynne