chest consultants

just wondering what happens when you see your chest consultants, cause when i went to see mine today on the advice of my doctor, after a number of courses of prednisolone in quite short space of time. all he said was that i was already on the maximum medication and there was nothing else he could do except maybe try a low dose of prenisolone every day. So i suggested trying something new and taking something else away and he said the only thing left to try was theophyline but that it wasn't very effective and had side effects.

At the moment i am currently taking symbicort 400/12, atrovent, singulair and salbutamol, as anyone else been told this?

lejaya

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I am surprised by your chest consultants advice about Theophylline, it can be a very helpful drug providing you obtain the right levels in the blood. Of course there can be side effects and that can be said about most drugs. I tried Nuelin SA many years ago, a brand of Theophylline and suffered dreadful sickness, but since then I have swapped to Slo Phyllin and I am fine, so it is just depends on which version suits you. I have been on long term daily pred for years and even with this I was still unstable, it was only when we added the Theophylline back in did things improve a bit. So as you can see from my reply there are still things you can try and also it is a case of doing a little juggling. Go back to GP or consultant with the information you now have and ask them to give it a go. Good luck.

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I would Try theophylline 1st side effects not as bad as prednisolone side effects. Plus u could also try adding another inhaled steroid on toP of symbicort. My prednisolone was last option despite a high daily dose. I stll had 6 episodes in last year of pred 40 mg with a slow reduction dose . Also just had sputum neutrophyil test. Seems the neutrophil in sputum causes further inflamation which doesn't respond to oral steroids. Maybe you could get this test before starting the prednisolone. Sorry if this is information overload.... Hope things get better soon

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i think that is a terrible response from your consultant. I have been on ""maximum medication"" almost since the day i was diagnosed and never once has my consultant implied that we have run out of options. I take a vast amount of medication but my consultant and his team tell me that its down to trial and error to get the right meds for each person and so we make regular changes to my meds in the hope that one day we will get it right. In the meantime i meet regularly with my consultant and we talk things through, he gives me the necessary medical info and then together we agree a way forward. This might not sound particularly important to others but as a bit of a control freak it helps me a lot to feel like i can contribute to decisions surrounding my treatment. My consultant says he can give me all the medication and medical advice in the world but he realises that my asthma has a huge impact on my life and never makes a decision without talking it through with me first.

Don't be fobbed off by your doc, this is your life and living with asthma that isn't under control can be life threatening. I would try and explain how you feel to the consultant but if that makes no difference perhaps you could ask for a second opinion?

Good luck

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thanks for all the replys, might see if i can try this theophyline. my main problem is that my consultant made me feel like there was no point in being there because there was nothing more he could do, even though i told him how much it was affecting me at work etc, he also said he would review my asthma in 6 months time which i think is rather a long time, and when i mentioned this he just told me to see my doctor if my asthma got worse in that time! then my doctor tells me to see my chest consultant!! it's very frustrating!!!

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I have had the same sort of problem with my asthma fobbing me off with ohh I dont thinks its completly ashtma because I also have VCD. He refused to change my medicationd despite monthly hospital admissions. My Gp wont touch my medication and the Cons aapointment wasnt for another 4 months (now just have a month left to wait!)

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If your unhappy with consultant you can ask for second opinion or referral to another consultant. I was lucky was getting no where with a consultant team. Had never seen him only a registrar. Was at check up when the registrar recommended transfer of care to a research based team which he had just been on. Tried a few things didn't work down to try a few more by thinking out of the box .......

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If your unhappy with consultant you can ask for second opinion or referral to another consultant. I was lucky was getting no where with a consultant team. Had never seen him only a registrar. Was at check up when the registrar recommended transfer of care to a research based team which he had just been on. Tried a few things didn't work down to try a few more by thinking out of the box .......