Lost control of my asthma

[Filobabe]

So again tonight had another attack and called ambulance. Had several puffs of Salbutamol and the cold weather just made me so tight none of it was going in.😨

I just feel like I am stuck in a perpetual state of rubbish asthma control. I am due to see my respiratory consultant for results of allergy testing and CT scan in a couple of weeks. Since then had 2 more courses of steroids.

Again I am losing faith in our local ambulance service 😫. I was told that my wheeze wasn't enough, my sats were above 95% so why the fuss, and I should have just driven myself to hospital ( hmm brittle asthma, struggling to breathe and dizzy?!?).

Consultant is considering biologics next if I meet the criteria. Why when I start to feel ok is a spanner thrown in the works.

[Linnet711]

My asthma was out of control for years. My doctor tried me with strong antibiotics, numerous steroids, several inhalers, nothing got it under control, a breathing clinic said I hadn't got C O P D as the doctors suspected, so wouldn't give me a nebuliser, but put me on one when I ended up at the hospital. My saviour as been a powder inhaler they finally put me on called relvar.that coupled with carbestene tablets three times every day, and one montelukast (excuse the spelling) one a night, they have put my asthma well under control, I've hardly had a cold let alone asthma flair up in one and a half years, it's taken 30 years but there now 😁

[Poobah]

Hi Filobabe. I had a quick look back at your posts and one thing struck me. The Salbutamol doesn't rescue you on occasion and on one post your asthma got worse after using it.

Have you got a peak flow at home? Take a reading, then take your Salbutamol and wait 15 minutes before taking another peak flow reading. That way you can see if the Salbutamol is irritating your asthma or improving it. It maybe that you're intolerant to the propelent in the wet inhaler.

Dry powder inhalers are available and are great if you can't tolerate the wet ones.

A complete meds review maybe beneficial too. Asthma can change over time which means being on top of your meds regime to ensure it's keeping up with the changes. I don't mean adding more meds but stripping back and making sure every med is doing its job and swapping to something that does work.

All the best.

[twinkly29 in reply to Poobah]

That's a good point - I find terbutaline inhalers much better than ventolin. Strangely salbutamol nebs work but the inhalers weren't great for me, but the dry powder ones are

[Saassii]

You spoke a lot about symptoms. What are your triggers? What are you allergic to? What is congregated around you that is keeping your lungs and immune system in a state of hyper alert? What environmental triggers are to be considered?

Pollen - will improve indoors and with HVAC, you didn't describe that or it's woes.

Mold/bacteria/virus you described that those microbes cause.

Dust - you described what it causes in extremely large visual amounts and that generally not the presentation of our environment.

So where are you likely to encounter microbes of these kinds in regular life of the average person? What damaged buildings.... It's just so common... Sickness is in the air. If you can't change your genetics, your food in largely good, it is airborne, the it's environmental.... Look closely.

Then you must have entire avoidance.

[Filobabe in reply to Saassii]

I have lots of triggers. Cold, allergies, dust moulds, sprays or scents like in toilets etc. My attacks happen in many places so not usually too bad at home.

I have also tried many meds and am awaiting consultant appt in next couple of weeks.

[Saassii in reply to Filobabe]

If your mast cells are releasing a lot of histamine from environmental exposures you have an allergy to then eating high histamine foods may contribute to inflammation. Eating only low histamine foods and beverages may bring you breathing comfort. If you find it's helping you could look at mast cell stabilizers, particularly the inhaled form Intal (Cromolyn/Sodium Cromoglycate)