fed up

i am really really really f**ked off with asthma. i have chest tightness, feeling short of breath, chest pain, coughing, got audible wheeze [not a good sign, dont normally get audible wheezing], peak flow refuses to budge past 270 [highest 500], really lightheaded/faint & feeling generally blah. went to doctor, explained everything, got peak flow checked, chest listened to & he said i have cr*p airflow, & my peak flow is a bit low. went to see him last monday, same thing,, ended up getting admitted to hospital a few hours later, everythings going downhill since i got in from the doctors. inhalers arent helping, tiniest things are getting to my chest. my mums hovering at the minute & its bugging my chest, not sure how but its set coughing off. small things like just getting dressed & going to the loo are really draining. not sleeping with tightness [got to sleep about 4 this morning, was up again at 6 coughing & retching. apparently there's nothing more my GP can do about my asthma, i'm on high doses of inhaled steroids, been on 2 courses of pred, finished 2 courses of antibiotics, blue inhaler every 4hrs, & taking singulair. i feel really rubbish, & it seems like using my own judgement seems to be easier than going to doctors over it. im almost certain there's gonna be another admission soon with how fast everythings gone downhill. his idea of fixing it is saying that i have all my medication on repeat & to get prescription when i need it. does anyone else have a doctor who says u have bad airflow, & your peak flow is down, & refuses to do anything with it? how do u deal with it?

[Hidden]

To be honest when doctors do not listen I have found can do one of two things either find a different doctor who does listen or keep badgering the doctor until he does listen and does something. I am quite naughty as I tend to very vocal when I now something has to be done. So now tend to listen to me as they know I do not take no for an answer. Or alternatively if you see a consultant speak to them or one of the hospital nurses.

[Hidden]

cheers for the reply. changing the doctor isnt really an option, he's the only one who'll change my medication, the rest of them seem to think blue & brown inhalers fix it. IF i get admitted again, i'll ask about one of the nurses possibly writing to GP or something about it. surely it'd be cheaper to get nebs done & dusted before it goes any further & need admitting? i'm probably being strangely logical here..

[Hidden]

Sorry to hear that you are feeling so ill with you asthma.

I would ask your GP to have nebs at home.

I am lucky to have a good GP who allows me to do home nebs.

Saying that, I was in your position 2 weeks ago with peak flow down at 230 with nebs every 2 hours. So ended up in hospital for 10 days.

Having nebs at home is good in one way as it can give some relief, but things can go down hill very quickly and you need to know yourself when it is time to go to hospital.

Talk to your doctor about this. I know that some doctors are really against this, but if you feel that you need it, then I think you know best!!

Hope you feel better soon.

[Hidden]

i'm seeing a consultant soon [not sure when, said it should be within 2wks of last tuesdays discharge], doctors in A&E have mentioned about getting a nebuliser at home, didnt think your gp can have a say in it? thought it was down to asthma consultant?

[Hidden]

My asthma got really bad in Jan 2010.

My doctor gave me home nebs. Couple of months later ended up in hospital for a week.

Then got referred to asthma consultant.

Asthma consultant agreed with GP and added in some other meds to try and get asthma under control.

I used to live in England and they seem to be very strict.

Living in Northern Ireland now and they seem to be a lot better with treatments/appointments as well as free prescriptions.

My GP and their surgery has been great. My son who is three also has bad asthma and we have home nebs for him but just for emergencies.

Hope you get to see your consultant soon and get your home nebs.

[Hidden]

hi

as far as i know, its only resp/asthma cons who can agree to home nebs being given to u, my gp always refused - said it was cons approval only (england) so cons had to approve it. they would certainly help you. but be careful as u can easily rely on them all too often!! hmmm.... *whistle*

ur asthma nurse (and eventually when u see him resp cons!!) will help devise a management plan with you on when to use..

i.e. with me i SHOULD use 1 salb + atrovent neb -if i have atrovent there, and if no relief then ring 999 before starting 2nd nebs, so that help is not delayed... but everyones plan is different.

hope things improve soon emma, you certainly need a dr with a better bedside manner who is willing to listen, hopefully that will change when u see the resp cons, few heads will roll then, hey?! lol

take care and good luck

x x x

[Hidden]

really not wanting to surrender, but i think it may be going that way, coughing & tightness making it difficult to eat & drink.

[Hidden]

Sorry to bump this again, but could do with a little bit of advice if possible, been readmitted again, inhalers increased & put on a 26 day tapered course of pred. When I've been on pred before seems to have got worse after I've finished it. Not sure if its due to it only been a short course or what, is there anything I can do to stop it happening again when I finish this course or will I need to wait it out & see what happens with it?

**sorry if there's any typos, I'm using my phone cause laptop died**

[Hidden]

If your GP is willing to prescribe the nebules and you buy a machine (nowhere seems to be loaning them out nowadays anyway) then I found two years ago that it doesn't need consultant approval. Although she did approve it, never officially to GP and they are the ones that pushed it and now prescribed the ventolin nebs.

Hope you are feeling better soon, not sure what to suggest with pred other than slower reduce, but every time I suggest this to Doc at start they always say that they don't want us on them for that long so start the quick reduce which then goes totally wrong and end up on them longer than ever an dwith a slow reduce anyway! lol Can you tell that I am sooo not in this position too right now, am I hiding it well? lol

Although it doesn't sound ideal is sometimes better to reduce a little slower and be more controlled than to be pinging about all over the place and feel rubbish to boot.

Big, non chest restricting hugs

xx