Advice and reassurance needed!

[louize]

Hi so having had a bad cold my asthma really started playing up I was taking my blue inhaler more and more and still couldn't stop coughing, I'm struggling to eat and speak as I loose my breath my Peak flow is down. Been to doctors and been given a weeks worth of tablet steroids and been told to increase number of puffs of my brown in haler.

I'm off work sick and hate it I hate letting people down but my job involves speaking to customers all day and I struggled to speak to the doctor in short sentences. Do others have occasional time off work due to asthma and should I be so worried about being off. I'm so tired from coughing all day and night I feel really fed up today.

[Hidden]

Hi Louize :)) I've been there yes..we feel pulled apart but we're no good to anybody if we get worse. So you think of number one and get over that bad spell, nice and cosy at home.

I bet half the country is sick at the moment with the weather as it is. If you are worried about work you ask the doctor for a certificate you are entitled to.

Now hope you will soon feel better, plenty of hot drinks and warm food. Steroids kick in quickly but if you feel your peakflow is low, you have difficulty breathing you may need to go back and check again to see if you need antibiotics or to upgrade your meds.

Why don't you give the Asthma UK nurse a ring she will put your mind at rest and tell you what's the next step.

Take care Louize. Will be thinking of you.

[louize in reply to Hidden]

Thanks, I know I will only end up worse if I try to go to work tomorrow. I'm just such a worrier! And generally a busy person being home resting is hard to accept. I will call the asthma UK nurse I hadn't thought of that.

Fingers crossed the pred kicks in and does the trick. Thanks for your reply.

[Hidden in reply to louize]

Yes It's difficult I know I like to keep busy too but when your body tells you otherwise your hands are tied..

Yes they are very competent I find and understanding, less scary if you see what I mean, because they're asthma trained. You know you will get your answers and how to get well again.

I'll keep my fingers crossed too and let us know how you're getting on.😊

[ChrissieMons]

Asthma, like many illnesses is made worse by stress. I can say this at my ripe old age as my asthma was closely linked to stress, but I also had an attack every time I got any kind of infection. Once you accept that some time off will not be letting people down, and they will manage without you ( not as well as they would with you, admittedly, but they'll be ok) you can feel calmer. If a colleague was off ill, would you tell her how you all suffered because she was ill? Of course not. You'd be kind to her, so be kind to yourself. You need to wind down. Tension in your mind leads to tension in your body - check and see which bits are not relaxed as you read this - so you have to deal with the tension to let the meds work. Of course coughing makes you tired, so sleep when you can. If you wake up at night, just read, - when the coughing lets you - or listen to fairly calm music you like, until you drop off again. There are a number of different relaxation exercises on the web you might try. Take your inhalers after you've made a conscious effort to relax a bit, so you can breathe a tiny bit better. If all else fails, ask the doctor to give you something to help you sleep. Over the counter, you can get anti-histamines which make you sleepy and you could try those.

I do feel for you as I know what this is like. Relaxing is so much easier said than done! But do try it and give yourself time to recover. Don't focus on rushing back to work; you will only get ill again.

[Hidden in reply to ChrissieMons]

I totally agree with you Chrissie :))) have a nice evening.

[Jokir152]

Yes take note, as I continued to work with a chest infection back in October and things deteriated and hence ended up in hospital in December and I am still struggling to get my breathing controlled. finally after many trips to Respitorory clinic I'm finally on road of recovery after 4 months off work. I to felt extremely stressed about this but have since been convinced your Health is more important.

So rest up. Hope you feel better soon

[Hidden]

Thanks for sharing..yes I've done it before and came to regret it also..:)))