Has anyone being in a similar situation?

Both my daughters are asthmatic, one of them is a lot worse than the other resulting in frequent hospital admissions. She isn't on home nebs at the minute although we both believe it'll help her. She currently takes ventolin 6 times every 4 hours as prescribed by her doctor, and around 8 times on top on this, when she needs it. She goes through around 32 puffs of her ventolin per day, because of this her inhalers don't last her long - just over 6 days at a time. She gets prescribed 2 inhalers monthly, both of which last around 12.5 days. Our local chemist do 100 boxes of nebuliser things, from my own working, if we could get these prescribed instead of her inhalers, should last her twice as long as her inhalers do. We can't afford paying out nearly £30 a month on ventolin alone. The next time she needs her inhalers prescribing, I'm gonna go to the doctors with her and ask about being able to get nebuliser things prescribed instead of inhalers as they'd last longer and would probably be cheaper for the NHS. Has anyone else being in a similar situation to this and had any luck on getting changed from inhalers to nebulisers by their GP? Could we have any luck if we're having to pay almost £52 a month on medication for her?

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Hi,

Not sure I can help that much, but have you looked into a prepayment certificate? I don't have one as I'm exempt for other reasons but I know others on here do and they can save a lot if you're getting a lot of medication all the time.

Also - and I'm no expert and presumably there's a reason - no preventer, just Ventolin? Has she been tried on preventer inhalers and they didn't work? Just sounds a bit odd, like the Symbicort SMART regime except with Ventolin which I didn't know you could do.

Maybe worth going back to GP anyway with your daughter before she next needs new inhalers and telling him/her how much she's using it and is this really the best way?

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Hi Mum of two,

I have to say....that is a heck of a lot of ventolin. Is she on any preventer meds? It sounds to me like she needs a complete review...and possibly referral to a respiratory specialist.

You don't mention how old she is but presuming if she goes on her own to the doctors that she is at least teenage, also if you are paying for prescriptions that she is over 16 and not in full time education?

I have a prepayment cert which costs me £104 per year and I can get as many prescriptions as I need in the year and pay no extra.

Home nebs are really something which are controversial and need to be used with great caution. If things are so poorly controlled that you are contemplating one then I really would advise going to see the GP and insisting on an urgent referral to your local respiratory department. There are many other meds which can be used to control her asthma and an overload of ventolin has pretty unpleasant side effects.

Hope this helps and feel free to pm me if you want to ask anything I might be able to help with.

Feejay

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She takes a purple inhaler 4 times daily and 2 types of tablets. She has an asthma nurse at our local hospital and is under a consultant although she hasn't seen them yet.

[Skee-skee]

GPs don't normally give out nebulisers it should be consultants. When you go to the hospital appointment you could ask the consultant about getting one, though he/she might want to try other treatments first.

A nebuliser might not work out cheaper because you have to buy portable ones yourself! Have you asked your GP to get more than 2 ventolin per prescription, that might make things easier? It definitely sounds like getting a pre-payment certificate would be helpful, you can get a back dated one which will enable you to claim back money for things purchased in the last few weeks.

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I would really suggest that you get a prescription prepayment card. It costs just over £10 per month (I pay monthly by direct debit so that I don't have a big bill all in one go). If things settle down you can claim back some of the unused portion if you need to cancel it or become eligible for free prescriptions.

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Hey,

how old are your children?

Under 16's and under 19's in full time education are entitled to free prescriptions!

Ally

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My oldest daughter is 18 and youngest is 11.

Does anyone know if she's not in education at the minute but starting college in september (will still be 18 till june 2012), if she'll be able to be covered for free prescriptions again?

Sorry if I sound stupid by asking - not sure how it works for free prescriptions after having a year out of education.

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Doctors dont like put people on nebs but worth a try.

I pay 10 pound a month for ten months and get 2 months free.

so if your meds come over ten pound a month its well worth doing and dont have to pay the 100.00 in one go.

Im on ten lots of meds a month so works out 1 pound per item and get 2 months free xxxxxx

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As others have said, home nebulisers would only be considered after a lot more options have been tried. That is a lot of ventolin she is getting through and certainly needs to see a consultant if GP can't give any more options. Has this not happened with frequent hospital admissions?

Have a look here for more info on prepayment prescriptions nhsbsa.nhs.uk/1127.aspx It's £29.10 for a 3-month PPC and £104.00 for a 12-month PPC

Don't know about student year outs but you may find out more there

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Hey!

Home nebs arnt al the sound, i have 1 and although the seem good, thye nebuliser solution can mess up the gases in your bloood...also they are only electric operated so yor daughter would be very limited for how long she can be away from an electric socket for...y dont you recommend to your gp about being refered to a chest physician as there is more asthma treatment out there than just inhalers....o and nebs can also have nasty side effects on your heart to!!! Dnt want to just give u bad news but seriously look into it first!!!

[Hidden]

Hey!

Home nebs arnt al the sound, i have 1 and although the seem good, thye nebuliser solution can mess up the gases in your bloood...also they are only electric operated so yor daughter would be very limited for how long she can be away from an electric socket for...y dont you recommend to your gp about being refered to a chest physician as there is more asthma treatment out there than just inhalers....o and nebs can also have nasty side effects on your heart to!!! Dnt want to just give u bad news but seriously look into it first!!!