Doctors are saying its Asthma!

Hi all,

Looking for some Advice re my husband!

18-24 months ago my hubbie started getting quite bad hay fever, then he had two chest infection one after the other, and he was quite wheezy,

his peak flow was around 350 so the doctor turned round and said you have asthma, we didn't belive this as whenever we wasn't a home he was fine, so we decided to rehome the rabbits and the rats and guess what all his symptoms went away, no more coughing, no more wheezy, no mre tight chested ect. he hasn't used a inhaler in a year, he takes allergy everyday in the summer but not everyday in winter,

he can do his fitness test, walk to work ect without taken a inhaler or getting any symptoms, and he been fine for a whole year, even in summer he was fine. so we went back to doctor yesterday and he done his peak flow but it was only 450, so 25% less than what a man of 29 and height should be getting and he also done a •Spirometry and even the nurse turned round to him and said your been weak a women could get betta than him, which is true he wasn't really trying yesterday when doing the test, so the test came back low, said he has lungs of a 67yr man!

but now because he been down graded for 18months it has to go to a medical board and they will see that his peak flow is low, they wont see that its not affecting him at all!

how can I get him to practice his peak flow so he can get it betta?

Now I have quite bad asthma I cant go a day without takin my blue inhaler, even walking to the shop or hovering im out of breath, and I smoke 10-15 aday, and my peak flow is around 450-500, so my peak flow is better than my none smoking husbands and he has never smoked in his life, and I smoke out side!

now im thinking it could be allergy Asthma and if it is then fine, but how do we get his peak flow up, he refusing to take a inhaler because as he puts he doesn't need it, he not feeling out of breath

yesterday we done a test when we got home , he took the peak flow and got 450 then he took my blue inhaler and we waited 20min like he did 18months ago a the doctors then re took the peak flow and his peak flow was still 450 so it hadn't changed where as it should if he had taken a inhaler!

its all very confusing, is it asthma or isn't?

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If he is not experiencing normal Asthma symptoms the blue inhaler will not improve his peak flow....

Does he have other inhalers, a steroid type?

My Asthma started out exactly the same, but when I was 15. We went on holiday to the isle of wight and I literally couldn't breath. was admitted to hospital and they said it was a severe allergy to the pollen on the island and possibly something in our hotel. I was in pretty bad shape and had to go to the doctors for 4 out of our 7 days plus the hospital admission.

They gave me a blue inhaler and told me to take it whenever I felt wheezy, which I did. At the time it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. When I came home it all went away and my parents and I thought that they must have had it wrong and it was severe hay fever.

A couple of years later I had the same issue again but this time in winter. My brother was Asthmatic so I took a couple of puffs of his blue inhaler and within 5-10 minutes was breathing normally again.

I have not had an episode like that since and it is down to having the correct steroid type inhalers to help my lungs. My peak flow is normally around 490-550, which my doctors consider to be reasonably good for an Asthma sufferer and I put it all down to the inhalers being managed correctly.

Now whether you believe it to be Asthma or not you would have to be quite foolish to not take a doctors advice and at least TRY the inhaler route, as far as I am aware your lungs are not going to become dependent on the inhalers if you try them. If he shows a marked improvement then you know the doctors were right. If the peak flow gets no better then I would suggest you ask for a second opinion form another GP or even get referred to a specialist to take a look.

I hope your husband does the right thing and at least try the inhaler route.

Why not put his info in to this website and see what it should return... peakflow.com/top_nav/normal... also have a read of this patient.co.uk/health/Asthma....

The only way he may get better at peak flow is if he is prescribed one form the docs and he practices using it every day. Stood up, deep breath in and then blow a lung out, literally I blow as hard and fast as I can, airways allowing. No matter how fit or strong you think you are, your airways will only allow out the ammount of air they can fit through, if your airways are constricted it leads to a low peak flow reading....

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Hi

He did have a brown one then he was given green one, stronger blue one!

But when he used them they never really done anything for him,

I just asked him to take the blue inhaler bit as he put it he doesnt feel like he needs it!

I have a peak flow so im getting him to take his peak flow twice a day!

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In my experience the blue inhaler is your reliever, you should have a preventer, like the brown.

what is his Green inhaler called?

I don't always feel like I need my inhaler and for a long time I had nothing but Salbutamol, then I started getting palpitations form over use. It is just one of those things.

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is the green salmeterol? he shouldn't really be on that without also being on a steroid inhaler as far as i know - obvs check - but i really didnt think that! has the doctor said he needs to be taking the preventors if he is not experiencing symptoms? it seems a bit odd. some people do have lower peak flows - it doesnt matter as long as they dont feel like they're strugglnig!

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Hi all

sorry not replied,

When my husband started with his problems he was given a blue and brown inhaler, but he was still the same so they took him off the brown inhaler and gave him a green one which is called a Serevent 50mg, but that still made no different to him. so in the end he stopped taking all inhalers.

He was a the doctor today and his results from the spirmetery show he does have asthma and that it not controlled, (Hello he can do his fitness test fine without taking a inhaler, he doesn't get out of breath or tight chested, but the doctors are saying he has asthma.

he also got the results of rasp blood test and it shows he has a very big allergy to timothy grass, a highish allergy to cats and dogs more cats then dogs and also something to do with trees, (we have two dogs and a cat)

He has been referred to a doctor that deals with chest ect we see him in April.

he has now been started on Fluticasone brown inhaler 100mg again that he has to take two puffs a twice a day and he is to continue to take his cetirizine tablets everyday, he has also been given some eyes drops as he eyes are always red.

We also showed the doctor that over the last month his peak flow has stayed between 400 and 450 even after taking a blue inhaler and waiting 20min his peak flow still stayed a 450. so we are going to keep another month of peak flow and see if the brown inhaler changes it, which I doubt it will as it didn't before.

He told the doctor he doesn't feel tight chested its more around his throat, his throat feels like its closing in on him, but once he has taken a tablet he is fine!

Ive spoken to him about rehoming the cat but he said no like he not rehoming the dogs!

So all I can do now is wait and see if this brown inhaler makes any difference!

The doctors are really doing my head in, all because his peak flow is low, it means he has asthma! he doesn't get out of breath, he doesn't get tight chested or anything, yes he did when they were growing rape seeds! but that was nearly two years ago!