Hi Folks
A friend of mine and myself are undertaking a research project highlighting daily issues faced by asthma suffering individuals and we would be most grateful if you could kindly contribute by posting your comments below so that it could be included in our final report.
Thank you and much appreciated.
My day starts by taking prescribed medicine for all my ailments including Asthma. If I take anymore medication I will rattle. Asthma limits the amount of exercise which I can carryout but my wife and I try to get out every day for a drive in the car followed by a walk at present I have to wear a snood to cover my mouth and under my nose in order to warm up the air before inhaling. Part of my normal day is taken up with physiotherapy exercises for my breathing. Some days I am better than others but I mainly have average days which I am able to control with my medication,[I have learnt to live with it and just get on with life as best that I can.If I have an exacerbation I try my GP first and always get a telephone triage call in return and 98% of the time they tell me to phone 999,and when the paramedics arrive I have usually picked up enough not to register as requiring A&E because I am not wheezing and SATS, ECG, ETC Are alright I do not require to go to A&E but as I am not well and I insist that I need a doctor to check me out do they take me into hospital. After tests I always end up either admitted to a ward or see a consultant in ambulatory care. I wish we had a better communication with my consultant instead of having to wait up to 3 months between consultations. The hospital,and Asthma UK Asthma nurses are excellent but my own GPs Asthma nurse has a very limited knowledge with regards Asthma. Anyone with asthma varies with problems but it helps to talk or correspond with others
My husband has got a chronic cough and alot of mucus and what the hospital are giving him isn't much help. And he's always tired. Not even of a life for him.
I had pneumonia as a 5 year old and have lived with asthma for the past 57 years. I had no asthma medication until I was 19, in consequence I grew up coughing and wheezing pretty well constantly. I loved sport but 5 minutes in and I was in an attack... But I tried to keep going.
Today I look back and see that breathing has been a constant struggle, the days of clear lungs few and far between. Antibiotics and now prednisolone feature frequently in addition to the Relvar, Spiriva, ventolin Inhalers, Singular and antihistamines that have kept me alive, plus a pigheaded determination to keep going.
Occasionally I get resentful and tearful, and angry when I see fit healthy young people polluting their beautiful lungs by smoking (I can no longer sit near anyone smoking, I cough).
I don't realise how much I cough and wheeze until others comment on me being ill, look at me because I am obviously an infection (today, a coronavirus) risk. (I'm not infectious, just asthmatic!) Their sympathy; are people scared of asthma, of having asthma? Just get on with it!
I am a trained singer, I could probably have done more with my voice if I hadn't had the extra effort of keeping it clear, but the respiratory technique acquired has also been a life saver to keep my O2 saturation up even when fighting to breathe.
I exercise regularly, even when coughing, I go to the gym, I do Scottish dancing, I swim and paddle board, I do it all at a leisurely pace or quicker if it is a good lung day. This exercise is as important as the medication. The day I give in will be the day I drop. The day I stop my meds will be the beginning of the end too!!!
I don't always recognise how poorly I am feeling. I've found myself in A & E twice in the last two years, once I was admitted. I live in France so have more direct access to medical professionals. We pay up front for certain consultations, this is reimbursed if you're in the health system here with appropriate top up insurance, but I receive free treatment for asthma.
The GP receptionist knows my voice and knows when I need an immediate appointment! The GP tuts when he listens to my chest! He prescribes me chest physio and frequently high doses of prednisolone for 4/5 days, antibiotics if needed. I try to push thoughts of osteoporosis out of my mind and consume more calcium.
This is lengthy, but I have just awoken from the best night I have had in a couple of weeks. I'm wheezy but the steroids I started three days ago are finally calming the cough, the glue that has blocked the airways. I have been a bit scared this time as I could feel which airways were clogged, and my intercostal muscles are hurting from the effort.
But things are looking up. A session at the gym will help later this morning plus some singing later with the children I teach music to.
Life is good (ish)! Have a good positive day
Asthma means I can't keep up with others when out walking and this worsens after a meal.
Walking and talking is not possible unless we slow right down.
Housework is done as and when I feel up to it.
I now have to pay someone to look after my garden.
The place I live have plans to restrict access to cars/vehicles so I won't be able to go out to the theatre anymore. I no longer shop in the city centre as car parking is too expensive and restricted.
The respiratory Clinic has moved to a major hospital which is not very accessible as it has very little car parking and attracts a huge amount of traffic that blocks access for hours at a time. As there's only one access road this affects buses and taxis too. That leaves walking but the hospital is up a long, steep hill so a problem for most out patients.
Allergic asthmatics face problems visiting friends and family who have pets. And some cleaning products can be problematic too.
Friends and family who smoke are good not to smoke in my presence but don't appreciate that the smelly toxins that linger on them after smoking are a trigger - I've lost count of smokers getting into my car directly after smoking. Despite explaining the problem it's ignored as their addiction trump's all. Holidaying with a smoker is fraught with trying to control asthma symptoms.
At work the lift can remain broken for months at a time despite having to walk up several flights of stairs to reach the office. Climbing multiple flights of stairs is very challenging. Despite the fact that several staff members have respiratory diseases there is little appreciation of the impact of having no lift. Access to work is a legal requirement which, in practice, is ignored - not just for asthmatics.
Attending work regularly can be a challenge too. With increasingly tough attendance protocols the onus is on the employee to manage their health & wellbeing. At times there's a juggle between waiting to be seen by a Dr and receiving treatment and being well enough to attend work. The employer expects the employee to have instant access to treatments. Every absence from work the assumption is the employee has sought a Drs opinion and treatment, even for one day's absence. For lifelong conditions the assumption is that the emoloyee will be able to control the disease once it's diagnosed and treated.
Sometimes I will change my social plans if I've had a night of broken sleep through asthma. It becomes hard to say again, sorry I had a bad night and can't make it today, especially when you're impacting a friend or family member.
I used to travel a lot but now have changed the type of holiday I take. Limited mobility due to breathing problems affects taking trips like city breaks - anything where walking is necessary.
I have considered applying for a blue badge but walking 80 metres is the limit. Unfortunately for some asthmatics that's doable but it's a blunt test. As though it's always possible to park 100 metres from a venue or shopping location or to park without having to use stairs.
Hope this is what you were looking for for your project.
People don’t realise how dangerous asthma can be and that you don’t have to look bad to be bad. It isn’t a minor illness that only affects kids. It can’t be instantly solved by 2 puffs of salbutamol. There is a lot of prejudice out there from docs as well... if you don’t wheeze it’s not asthma, if you have a high best PF you can’t have asthma, if you constantly turn up to a&e extremely SoB then it’s anxiety not uncontrolled asthma. If they don’t see you bad then it doesn’t exist. They forget it’s a variable and intermittent condition.
I can be absolutely normal and fine one day and the next be unable to walk 300yds to the shop, or do stairs. I can look fine but only because I’m on very high steroids and regular nebulisers are home and I’m actually only a few days away from another admission. People (including medics) seem to think if you are young and look fine and smile then there is nothing wrong with you (even in hospital. I call it young persons/smilers syndrome 😅). I get looks if I use my blue badge because I look normal. I have to put up with comments about what almost strangers think has caused my issue and have I tried xyz home remedy to fix it? Then offend them if I say I’m not willing to try what they read somewhere which doesn’t have evidence. People telling me that I shouldn’t take the drugs I do because of the damage they may cause... but without the drugs I am unable to work and would be living in resus at the hospital again. No-one really understanding that asthma in and of itself is a fatigue causing illness when it’s bad, so you can’t sleep at night because of the asthma and you use up all your energy making yourself breathe. Hitting triggers/allergies in public knowing there is little you can do to avoid them... smoke, animals, scents/perfumes/sprays, pollution, dust, pollen. The fact that good care from doctors and good support at work/uni/school is usually the exception, not the rule, when it should be the other way round. Having to cancel plans or not trust yourself to make them, because you’re in hospital struggling once again. Having to deal with drug side effects everyday because the side effect of not taking the drugs are 1000x worse. The isolation of not knowing anyone like you (it took me 2 years to stumble across this site and before then no one really understood what I was going through, whilst I was still studying my masters.
It took 2 years for me to be diagnosed offically as a severe brittle asthmatic aged 25/26, and that was 2-3years ago now. I’ve had my fair share of issues, thankfully now I have great local and specialist consultants and I really supportive work place, and I’ve found a MAB that mainly allows me to work with only issues that I can cope with at home myself (lets ignore 4 admissions in 2.5 months over Christmas 😅). I have had my fair share of ups and downs and issues but I think I’ve covered the main ones 😅.
Severe asthmatic; diagnosed at 8 now 39. My asthma worsened a lot in my late 20s. I take symbicort, spiriva, and zyrtec daily and xolair 1x/month. Xolair has improved my asthma a lot but I still have to be INSANELY hypervigiliant and that is the hardest part of having allergic asthma. I can't go anywhere where my allergens might be and since I'm v allergic to cats, dogs, horses, and dust, that can be very limiting. I can' t go to most of my family or friend's houses and, lately, we can't have people stay with us who have pets as they bring so much animal dander into our home on their shoes, clothes, bags etc.
I also was on prednisone so often I developed adrenal insufficiency which a life-threatening illness. That has been one of the hardest aspects of asthma--developing a secondary health condition that is in some ways even scarier than asthma (which is quite scary in itself, bad attacks feel like you are suffocating and about to die).
I try to take everything a day at a time and be grateful for healthy days and the fact that I can exercise a lot of the time and that I have access to modern medicine.
I agree with many of the above. I have been prescribed in all 6 different medications due to my asthma , though I don’t use them all daily. Two of them are part of my ‘just in case emergency pack’.
I was diagnosed aged 65, but the problems started far earlier, and signs were probably there since childhood. Asthma doesn’t necessarily mean you are allergic. Allergies seem not to play a part in it for me, or just a small part. However, I am sensitive number of things that I can encounter daily. Anything that burns/smokes, so that is wood burners, scented candles, possibly just candles, some of my own and others’ cooking, including cake making, and bread being toasted. And scents as in some cleaning products and skin products, perfume, hairspray etc, etc. It can be really hard to get away from.
Cold weather. Walking outside in winter. Any uphill. My walking is really slow if I am trying to avoid breathlessness. That means I can’t keep up with others, so I avoid it. I also try to avoid having to walk uphill,or even the slightest incline. Etc, etc, etc.
I am not a severe asthmatic, I tend to call myself moderate. But it certainly creates hurdles and awkward moments in my life, especially in winter. And especially if and when someone else suddenly they ‘knows’ what would sort it all out.
If I had not joined this forum for Asthma I would be really struggling since I could not get proper advice from my GP Surgery. I had just got better from ear infection after I finished First Course of Antibiotics.
Then I recently became very ill again as i had cold even though i had flu vacination I got so bad that I ended up having Chest infection had to have Second course of antibiotics did not recover properly from chest infection that meant had to have steriod tablets. I have been asthmatic since age of 9 this has never been monitored properly no action plan to follow.
I started on Ventolin inhaler and then was told to use both Ventolin Blue inhaler and Clenhil Dark Brown inhaler this has never controlled my asthma properly as I was breathless and suffering from whizness. I was told use small blue spacer aero Chamber when I was I needed to take 2 puffs of Ventolin and clenhil morning and evening.
Since I had the chest infection felt really breathless and my symptoms were not improving. Then i joined this asthma forum and was adviced to use Fostair which helped a lot as now i do not get breathless and no whiziness.
I have finished my antibiotics and my steroids tablets. I called the Asthma nurse from this forum and was adviced just to use Fostair and also to get Beconse Steriod nasal spray which is only available on pre-scription basis only which means asthma can be controlled better. I have tried the nasal spray and this does really help as asthma can occur from the nose which I was not aware until I joined this forum.
Fostair is fairly new inhaler which is combined inhaler of Ventolin and Clenhil Inhalers. There are also other types on the market but for now I do find Fostair works better. If anyone else needs advice please give the asthma nurse call and they are really useful as they are aware of all the different types of inhalers, nasal spary and Asthma tablets which could help to control asthma. Thank you for other members recommending Fostair and also huge thank you to the Asthma nurses.
Heatwave, asthma fine - day after asthma attack!
Preventer gives me asthma
Asthma and chest pain. 
Emotion, asthma and the full moon
Asthma, GERD, confusion 
