Poor Control?

I've heard that if you're needing reliever more than 2-3 times in a week that's a sign of poor control and you should get a follow-up with a GP?

I was looking at my usage record and it shows that i'm using my reliever quite a lot but about 95% of those are directly related to exercise - either using my reliever before exercise for pre-emptive reasons or during / after the exercise. Does this still count as poor control, i don't really want to see the GP because i don't feel poorly controlled but i know exercise can set me off and i'm VERY active therefore lots of exercise = lots of reliever.

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When my nurse asks the questions at my asthma review it's always ""other than in order to exercise... "" - certainly taking your inhaler as a preventative measure doesn't count.

I'd go by the strength of the 'set off's - if I run and after 30 minutes I need another puff because I'm a bit tight, I take that as a sign that I'm pushing myself. If I can't stop coughing and I have to take several, that's an attack - so that would count.

As a thought - dehydration is a factor in many asthma attacks, are you certain that you're staying hydrated enough while exercising?

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thanks curioser that actually makes sense, my 'asthma reviews' are pretty rubbish really, she doesn't seem to ask useful questions and i usually forget to mentio anything that i might've thought relevant in the weeks leading up to the 'review', in fact i only really go to get my flu jab cos i do that at the same time - the practice can tick their ""asthma review completed"" box and i get my jab

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This is what it says in the exercising bit of the AUK knowledge pages If exercise continues to trigger your asthma it probably means that your asthma isn't as well-cotrolled as it could be so see your doctor or asthma nurse as soon as possible to see if things can be improved.

It's always great to hear about the things you do. But I've sometimes wondered if I should say that I think that the symptoms that you have when running, swimming, horse riding etc are the signs of poor control. I think the nhs choices website also has something similar to AUKs page and says that if asthma is interefering with exercise or afterwards then you should see your GP/asthma nurse for a review. I think it'd be great if you could do all these things that you love without having to cough your way through them and afterwards too.

I agree that counting pre exercise reliever use doesn't count, but I think that if you have to use it during or after exercise then it does count. Maybe your asthma nurse/GP will agree?