I was a member here for several years when my daughter was asthmatic. I made many friends and gained tonnes of help. She grew out of her asthma and is very well now but I have developed asthma and all the old info I had in my head is hiding!!
I'm still at the stage where I'm completing a peak flow diary but there seems very little doubt that this is asthma because I have text book symptom and my peak flow (I'm 45 years old, 11.2 stone and 5ft 5"") has yet to make it above 390 which I don't think is very good but I'm happy to be advised on that.
My big question is though, does asthma make you feel totally shattered or am I just getting old? Last week was particularly bad but I was outside all day, in fields at harvest time, working very hard but I was coming home and falling into bed at 7 to 7.30 after starting work at 1pm. I usually have a lot more gumption than that!!!
Glad to hear your daughter has grown out of her asthma, that's great
If my asthma is playing me up then yes I get extremely tired.
I think its a combination of the extra effort to breathe, increased heart rate and not sleeping soundly due to nighttime symptoms.
Hope you get things sorted with your gp.
X
Yes you are not the only one feeling knackered these days me too. it could also depend what medication you are on steroids. why don't you visit your gp and ask for a blood test could you be aneamic for example might be worth you asking.
HI Jacqui,
Great news about your daughter, but clearly it's in the family! I definitely get knackered when I'm bad - as Angelica said, extra effort with everything and bad sleep. I saw a big improvement when I finally found some medication that worked.
Hope you feel better soon, but worth visiting GP again with your diary as you may find some preventer medication, and more if necessary, really helps things!
Thanks all for your replies. I thought as much. I mean, it's kinda logical!
I've had a really difficult day today and I've only got a salamol inhaler to get me through and personally I'd rather be treating the cause and not just the symptom so I'll contact the asthma nurse at our practice tomorrow.
Hi Jacqui
Phew at least some other people feel the same. Some days i could stay in bed its exhausting getting out of bed and not just because its 5am. At the end of a work day all i wanna do is sleep and i cn be falling asleep by 7 too.
(((((hugs))))) Glen. I know at my age I'm less inclined to maintain my previous Rock n Roll lifestyle but I did expect to be able to stay awake through an episode of Eastenders! The heat certainly can't be helping any of us and the autumn brings its own problems with mould spores etc. We're all doomed! Doomed I tell you!! LOL
I think sometimes feeling breathless can cause tiredness, and the resulting not doing anything all day probably also adds to it.also, the hot humid weather may be getting to you.
Maybe force your doc to help you control your asthma better?
Thanks Rachel,
It will come as no surprise to anyone to hear that my visit to my GP wasn't particulary helpful. It is apparently ""very rare to develop asthma in your 40's and your pulse oximeter test shows your lungs are performing perfectly well. Your chest sounds nice and clear."" She gave me a serevent inhaler to help relieve the breathlessness and sent me on my way with instructions to be on the look out for any signs of a chest infection brewing.
I came home exhausted and extremely breathless, took repeated pulls on my reliever inhaler (within normal usage guidelines), coughed all afternoon and wondered what I'm supposed to do now? She rather made me feel I was making a fuss about nothing but I've had a good 7 days of struggling now and I'm very fed up.
I guess I just keep going with the peak flow diary and hope I can see the asthma nurse soon:~/
Grrr how annoying - I've been in your shoes struggling but with them not paying attention to how you feel. I think you should probably go and see a different GP in the practice ASAP.
Her attitude in general when you're struggling would make me think you should try someone else, as it sounds like she isn't really listening. I'm not an expert or anything but was under the impression that while it is less common as an adult it does happen, and more often with women. Plus your daughter having asthma may suggest there's a genetic element and y've just managed to avoid it until now - and you said you have all the classic symptoms - maybe just not while visiting the dr (I know I often seem to have appts at times of the day when my symptoms are least bothering me).
What really worries me though is that she seems to have given you the Serevent without any steroids - is that right? You're just on the Ventolin and Serevent? Because I may not be a doctor, but absolutely everything I have seen about long-acting beta agonists like Serevent, and heard from my consultant, other doctors and asthma nurses, says you are not supposed to have them without inhaled steroids! There should be lots of stuff saying this if you wanted to print and take to your next appt as a back-up.
So probably best to make an appt with another GP ASAP who hopefully will listen more, go by YOUR symptoms and not general statistics and if they do think it's asthma, give you steroids to damp the inflammation down, not just reliever on its own.
I've had seretide in the past which is a combination of seretide (12 hour reliever) and becotide (preventer).
Might be worth asking about it.
X
My daughter had seretide and, I think, serevent for a brief period so I'm familiar with most of the drugs and how they should be taken etc. It seems an rotten thing to say but I'm rather glad (and I know you know what I mean) that I had chance to gain some information before this started for me or I'd be up the river reliant only on the advice of a GP.
Yes, I've got serevent with no steroids. The leaflet says it shouldn't be taken without a steroid too! It's pretty clear on that.
I felt better last night an I'm not so bad this morning so I'll see how I go as the day progresses and push for an appointment with the asthma nurse as soon as I can get one.
Thank you all for your input. I do feel a bit adrift with this and it's good to have people able to guide me in which direction to paddle. It is very much appreciated.
I don't know enough about any of the drugs to comment but I just wanted to wish you luck! I know what it's like to not be listened to, as I think most people on here do.
you talk about being being totally shattered. What is really shattering is the concentration on a drug solution in asthma research, when a lip-lung reflex smartly abates symptoms. Finger pressure on a lip opens up the lungs. See "gach.gv26" on the Internet. It is then hardly a surprise that normal nose breathing would tend to cure asthma and mindlessly (naturally) mouth breathing would tend to herald on an asthma spray career. See "strelnikova reduce asthma" for a video on a sucsessful and popular Russián asthma method. Happy sniffing. Loud and sharp to work reflex.
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