I was diagnosed with asthma as a child and had ‘mild’ flare ups throughout my life.. this last year my asthma has become uncontrollable and has has lead to me having 4 acute hospital admission and life threatening asthma attacks requiring Iv magnesium, back to back nebs and 4 different inhalers. I’m under my respiratory consultant- I take prednisone 40 pretty much consistently at the moment and antibiotics due to recurrent chest infections. I’m unable to work and fed up and anxious.
I’m currently in the process of being referred for these ‘asthma injections’ has anyone had them? Or can anyone recommend anything that has helped with there asthma.
I don’t understand what’s going on with my body and why this is all suddenly happening. I’m 23 I don’t smoke, and normally really fit and go to the gym 5 times a week..
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Hnurs
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I can so understand how you feel. I had severe asthma as a child that mellowed as I got older, amazingly to the point were I no longer needed a preventer inhaler. Last year I had to go back on to a preventer and a very short course of oral steroids. Over the summer I contracted pneumonia and everything breathing wise has started to fall apart. My blue inhaler was only dealing with the wheeze after 4-5 puffs, if it worked at all and only lasted about an hour. I started to have frequent severe attacks which sent my anxiety levels into overdrive and was referred to a specialist. My increased asthma meds stopped the attacks for 3 months. However last Friday I had a moderate attack and I’m back on oral steroids again. I’m trying to relax as much as possible. Your not alone in how you feel. Asthma is a frightening condition that is so unpredictable. It leaves you exhausted, afraid, frustrated and at times completely defeated.
I can so understand how you feel. I had severe asthma as a child that mellowed as I got older, amazingly to the point were I no longer needed a preventer inhaler. Last year I had to go back on to a preventer and a very short course of oral steroids. Over the summer I contracted pneumonia and everything breathing wise has started to fall apart. My blue inhaler was only dealing with the wheeze after 4-5 puffs, if it worked at all and only lasted about an hour. I started to have frequent severe attacks which sent my anxiety levels into overdrive and was referred to a specialist. My increased asthma meds stopped the attacks for 3 months. However last Friday I had a moderate attack and I’m back on oral steroids again. I’m trying to relax as much as possible. Your not alone in how you feel. Asthma is a frightening condition that is so unpredictable. It leaves you exhausted, afraid, frustrated and at times completely defeated.
Do you have anyone who can support you through this? I am so lucky that I have neighbours who were checking up on me and a brill mum. She is a fellow suffer and knows what to do in an emergency. I stayed with her one weekend and had a severe attack while there. I was anxious about appearing well so she wouldn’t worry. I’ve never seen my mum so calm and just kept reassuring me that I was going to be ok. She stayed with me all night. Apparently she’s had lots of practice from when I was a hatchling in this situation. Have to admit I felt like I was 5 again having my mum sit up with me (I’m in my late 30’s now).
I’m a single mum so it’s very very difficult. I’m also a qualified nurse which in some ways makes it harder because I’m exposed to infections a lot which affect my asthma 😪 xx
Yes, I imagine it’s very difficult when you have little ones. I find in times of anxiety I will start to relax with a hot water bottle on my feet. I don’t understand why but it does help. Maybe worth a try.
I am being put forward for the injections as my asthma is uncontrollable too- I have severely allergic asthma. I know the feeling that you don’t know what’s happening as one day I can be fine and then the other struggling to put two words together- I am always here for support if needed as I know how it feels x
Sorry to hear your asthma is causing you problems.
My asthma was fine after out growing it as a teenager (almost completely unnoticeable for 20 years) and then a few years ago came back with a bang. I too was in and out of hospital and I'd never been nebulised before. I managed to find it was my new work environment that was causing me problems although it took years for it to really start affecting me. I know this because I've now moved away from it and my asthma's improved unbelievably.
I read something a while ago that advised a change in lifestyle, i.e. diet, change of work environment, moving home, etc.. can cause childhood asthma to come back.
I ended up seeing a respiratory specialist and he was very helpful. They helped diagnose through CT scan my asthma & blood tests to see what might be causing it. I'm now back as I was 20 years ago. Hope you find out what's making your asthma worse and never give up fighting it!
Sorry to hear this, it sounds very similar to my own story.... EIA as a teen, spiralled when I was 23 to basically weekly a&e/GP trips, and fortnightly hosp admission from L-T attacks (I’m ex-high performance sports, and have also never smoked). Took me a while (for various reasons) to find the right biologic for me but aged 27 I’m now stable and back to living live again.
Do you know what type of asthma you have? (One of my issues was that I’m both atopic (high IgE) and eosinophilic) depending on which you are varies which biologic or eligible for (and also other meds which you can have)
Other meds you may want to ask your local about (if you haven’t already tried them):
Theophylline/aminophylline tablets (they’re a pain and very old fashioned but lots of people find they are what makes the difference)
Carbocisteine (helps break up/loosen mucus so can bring it up easier... if you’re particularly gunky)
If allergic also worth asking about fexofenadine (strong non-sedative antihistamine) and/or avamys/dymista (steroid nasal spray for sinus issues (D has a AH too)
Ranitidine/omeprazole (both as protection from some steroid damage and because silent reflux/reflux is commonly a trigger for asthma)
You may also want to talk about drugs to protect from pred side effects (adcal/vit d, alendronic acid etc etc etc)
(Going to assume you’re already on/have tried montelukast, spiriva, are on the ‘right’ preventer etc etc).
If pred is going to be a long term thing also worth asthing to try enteric coated/gastro resistant ‘red’ pred... tastes a lot nicer 😉😂
It’s worth asking to see a resp physio if you have then at your hosp and seeing if you’ve picked up a breathing dysfunction (very common in asthma, but can increase attack frequency/severity sometimes.
At home I’ve found air filters have helped me, as well as avoiding sprays as much as I can (cleaner, deodorant etc). Also buffs/double scarfing if you’re going out, get shopping delivered if you can, some people benefit from sinus rinsing, and basically do the best to avoid your triggers... (best thing I did was move to the coast but that’s quite extreme and lots of people can’t do that)
Hope that helps and you find what’s right for you soon to get back control so you can do stuff again.
Sorry to hear this. I too have had asthma all my life. I never really outgrew it but it did get a bit better in my 20's. It's been going down hill for the past 10+ years (I'm in my 40's now). I've never smoked, I drink infrequently, I used to walk everywhere, at least 3 miles a day. Now I can barely walk down to the shops. I used to be so active and now I struggle. I used to be able to work but I've had to give up work because I'm sick so often. It's frustrating and I feel bad for my kids because I can't do as much with them as I used to. I am still looking for answers, still hoping that this isn't it for the rest of my life. I finally got my respiratory consultant to refer me to an asthma specialist. I am hoping that they can help. Otherwise I will have to learn to adapt to where I am now.
If I were you, I would keep asking your GP and/or consultant to explain what is going on with your health and how to improve your health. You could try calling the Asthma UK helpline. The nurses are really good at explaining things. Take care and I hope things improve for you.
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sending love and thank you x 
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