Hormones and Asthma (Sorry Guys!)

Hey,

Apologies to any blokes out there for a distinctly girly post!

Just wondering if anybody has any bright ideas for hormone related asthma- sorry that’s badly put but I’m guessing you know what I mean! I’ve noticed that I’m having attacks at about the same time every month.

I spoke to my lovely and absolutely excellent male Consultant on Friday who didn’t have any ideas (I think I may have embarrassed him!)

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Hope this finds everyone well,

STX

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Don't worry, ST; nothing offends me anymore!

This has been discussed before - I've bumped up a thread for you, because I think Owl's post in it will be helpful.

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Hi Sarah,

I have posted on this in the past, I will try to find it for you later. I have had this problem for years too. I have been on the combined contraceptive pill for severe period pain since I was 15, but got to the point, when I was about 22, when stopping taking the pill for the 'pill-free week' was causing exacerbations that were landing me in ICU on a ventilator every month. After this happened on three successive months, we finally put two and two together (we were a little slow!) and I began to take the Pill continuously, ie with no pill-free week and thus no drop in progesterone to trigger my twitchy airways (and the added bonus of no withdrawal bleed every month either!).

Last admission, because I had an ileus I was unable to take anything orally for quite some time. In order to stop my own hormone cycle from reasserting itself and causing problems, I asked to be given a depot progesterone injection. This seemed to do a good job of controlling my cycle and thus preventing any hormone-related asthma fluctuations. I am now considering staying on depot progesterone rather than going back on the combined pill, as my GP is increasingly unhappy with me using the pill continuously.

So... to conclude from this: options to control your cycle, and thus your asthma, include taking the combined OCP continuously, with no pill-free weeks, or trying depot progesterone injections. When we first made the connection between my hormones and my asthma, I did see a gynaecologist, who said that these options might not control my own underlying cycle completely (this lack of control would manifest itself in breakthrough bleeding, which I have not had). If this was the case, they would have considered using GnRH analogues (drugs like Zoledex) to produce a temporary chemical menopause, and then given me add-back HRT, which would have effectively obliterated my own cycle. However, even with add-back HRT, this approach does increase the risk of osteoporosis, which is obviously already a worry in someone on long-term steroids, so they were reluctant to do this unless they had to.

Hope this helps

Em H

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Hi again,

I have bumped another old thread in 'Medical' which has a lot of discussion on this issue.

Hope this helps

Em H

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I hadn't really drawn a connection before but since I went on the pill a year ago my asthma has been much better controlled so I guess my hormones may have had an influence.

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Bumping up for Caroline

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research published recently

jacionline.org/article/PIIS...

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ST- im just the same and 44 so maybe heading for the menapause!

will also mention it to my con when I go up ,Love Glynis -

what we have to put up with guys 80(

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My consultant adds in an extra inhaler around the time of the month and this prevents my asthma flaring up. Then i take it back out again it is just a case of remembering when to put it in and when to take it out.

plumie

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plumie, your consultant sounds good. I saw a research paper a while back that recommended increasing the ICS for two weeks starting one week before your time.