First post. My name is Kostas from Athens Greece and I am 44 years old. Was diagnosed with bronchial asthma 1.5 years ago, which probably was caused by allergic rinitis. In this last 1.5 year I was prescribed Fostair, Relvar and Simbicord, which all had the same terrible side effects on me. Anxiety, palpitations, panic attacks and heart pain. Only Seretide has no side effects on me, but it doesn’t cover me. I say it doesn’t cover my because I have to use aerolin 5 times a day (2 puffs) in order to breath properly. Then every month or two a severe asthma attack occurs, and have to go to the hospital. There, they give me 2-3 times a mask with the nebulizer and I take 36mg Medrol/day for 5 days. I would be ok for 20 days (give or take) and then a new attack. Of course my asthma doctor has knowledge of all these and we plan all steps together. Last week I started singulair also. So now I am on seretide 500, aerolin and singulair.
Just writing all these to see if anyone else is facing the same situation and has find another solution.
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KostasG
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When asthma becomes "Difficult" its hard to get on top of. I used to take Seretide 500 with an add on steroid inhaler called Alvesco, as well as Singulair, Fexofenadine and a Nasal inhaler. Nebulizer and add on prednisolone +Antibiotics when needed.
Sometimes its important to get to the bottom of what is causing your flare-ups. It could be allergy related, but chronic sinus problems and acid reflux disease can also impact severely on asthma. Some asthma is steroid resistant, but will respond to the new biologic treatments.
There are still quite a few options for treatment that your consultant could look at.
These include adding another steroid inhaler, prescribing a LAMA inhaler, (Long Acting Muscarinic Antagonist). or maybe even using a Theophyllin, which is an old treatment for asthma, but for some people works really well. There are also the new Biologic treatments which apparently are fantastic if your asthma is responsive to them.
There are over 250 different inhalers for asthma, so there are lots of combinations to try.
At the moment, I use a combination LABA/LAMA inhaler called Ultibro, with a separate Steroid inhaler (Alvesco 160). This is so I can control my steroid dosages better. I also take an antibiotic 3 times a week, I use Anti-histamine and Singulair daily. Ventolin is my rescue inhaler. Then I have Prednisolone and Nebs and different anti-biotic for flare ups.
Luckily I am really well controlled at present, but know from experience that all can go pear shaped quite quickly.
It's really important to get the right testing done, so at least you can get a decent shot at what will work best for you. Everyone responds to treatment differently, there are a lot of different options out there. Don't give up. Sometimes doctors need to think outside the box.
Also I find after a really bad flare up it can take me 4 months to recover properly, so give yourself time to heal.
Yes it is important to see if anything specific is triggering it. For instance dust mite can cause an allergy and then it causes inflammation which can aggravate asthma. So if you have an allergy then treating or managing that can make a big difference. Antihistamines aswell as inhalers. Plus as far as possible remove the allergen e.g. if you are reacting to a food then not eating. If you have an air born allergy keep your exposure to a minimum and use a hepa air filter at home. If you live in a city then exposure to irritants / pollutants may aggravate asthma. Asthma UK has information on triggers - things which can start an asthma attack
Am in the same boat as u every 6-8 weeks have a severe asthma attack landing me in intensive care I take a lot of medication :- seretide 500 accuhaler, flixotide 500 accuhaler, spiriva inhaler, ventolin inhaler, ventolin and ipatropium nebulisers four times a day,montelukast, theophylline , carbocisteine , dymista nasal spray , steroids every day , fenofexadine , I take all this and yet still have severe attacks often. I am hopefully starting xolair injections soon I am from the U.K.. hope u get your asthma under control but I have been like this for over 2 years now and still no closer to getting it under control
Thank you all for your replies. I have to say that I am very impressed about the details all of you have written, in order to help. It is indeed great help, especially psychologically. It took me over a year to accept that asthma is not the kind of illness where you do what your doctor seas, take the medicine and that’s it.
Only the last month I started researching so I can understand “what is going on”. And the advice “don’t give up” is really the most important one, for those who are not lucky finding quickly the medicine that controls their asthma.
So let me give some more information trying to help.
At the moment I take seretide 500 (2 puffs a day), singulair and my doctor added Spiriva. My pathologist although added an antibiotic (because of a cold), vitamin D, tardyferon for (Fe), and some other vitamins in order to boost my immune system.
My asthma is very good controlled, no side effects at all, BUT cannot be sure that it is due to seretide, singulair and Spiriva because a)only 4 days have past since Spiriva has been added and b) I take simultaneously an antibiotic. In order to be sure about my asthma control I’d say I have to wait for 20 days at least. Then I will get back to you with more information. Hope to have helped someone.
Once again thank you very much for your support and your replies.
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