Hello I'm new here can someone put my mind at rest please?

[Kinzey85]

Hello,

I'm a bit concerned since ive spoken to the asthma nurse on the phone today, which was supposed to be my first asthma appointment. made me feel more anxious actually.

I suffer from anxiety and hayfever i have done for years. no one else in the family has asthma as far as im aware. Over the christmas and new year i was in a lot of stress with family problems and had a cold at beginning of january. I feel asthma has developed/ worsened because of this.

But i had a cough on and off with a tight chest ever since the cold. These happen normally during the night. and when i'm cleaning. I had a virus test , that came back clear hense why the doctor thinks its asthma and sent me for asthma clinic, which got cancelled and i had been waiting almost 2 months for it. so i had a phone call instead. which i forgot to remind the nurse that when i clean it seems to get worse as well, and when i used dry shampoo yesterday i was ill after. I use my ventolin quite often.

I had what i gather, an asthma attack in bed last week. As i never experienced something so bad, coughing fit, tight chest, crying, not so much shortness of breath. Never experiened this as a panic/ anxiety attack. Got up, took some more ventolin , had a cuppa, it eventually eased a bit. In the day , i had done quite a bit of shopping which im not use to and my cough got worse, was feeling ill, but my ventlin eased it. I didn't call 111 but i did feel like i should've but with this pandemic, i didnt. But next day i asked doctor for a preventer, which ive just started taking. would you call this an asthma attack? i felt the nurse thought i was making it all up? maybe its just my anxiety thinking that and the fact that i didnt explain things properly.

If i do have asthma i don't want it to be brushed under the carpet like it was when i told a doctor that i get out of breath very easily and feel dizzy when i run on a running machine for example, or when theres cold air i find it hard, hurts to breathe. i was just told it was cos im just a bit unfit.

I'm finding it hard with anxiety and the asthma or whatever it is i've got, if it just the one or is it the 2 playing up at the same time. No suitable asthma appointment, and do i need to be careful with this pandemic?

she has asked me to keep more of an update with the peak flow as to see if my preventer is working. peak flow does go up and down but not much, always down most nights.

I might just keep a diary of what ive been doing when i get flare up as well i think. she will ring me again in a months time.

can anyone help? thank you very much.

[Troilus]

Hi Kinsey,

Firstly, go to the asthma uk main site. Under resources you will find a peak flow diary you can fill in. You take your peak flow first thing in the morning and again at night. You basically draw a line graph so you can see the ups and downs. I also take it an hour or two after apI have taken my preventers and I just make a note of that at the bottom of the page.

It also has little columns where you mark if you have had symptoms, if you have woken up through the night because of asthma. It is very useful.

When you do eventually get to see an asthma nurse, they can look through it and get a clear picture of how you are doing.

My first experience of asthma was similar to yours. I had noticed cold air seemed to hurt my lungs and made me feel breathless, but that was during the so called beast from the east. Of, course I ignored it.

I also started getting a pin annoying tickly cough during the night. But, not the kind of thing you bother the dr with. Or so I thought. Wrong. I ended up having a massive asthma attack.

You have done the right thing by contacting your GP. Take your preventer religiously every day, 12 hrs apart. Don’t hold back on using your blue.

I have an inhaler on a spacer which I leave on my bedside table. If I get that tickly cough I take a couple of blues and it goes away.

Try not to worry about it. Now that you are taking a preventer you should find things improve for you.

[Kinzey85 in reply to Troilus]

Troilus, Thank you for the reply.

That peak flow chart looks better than the one i had with the meter. looks like i will have to write it out as i've no printer though.

perhaps i should ring 111 or 999 when i feel like i did that night? at least it will addressthe situation.

you said you had a massive asthma attack? are you able to explain what you experienced please? i get a tickly cough as well and i can feel wheezing but cant hear it.

yep i take the blue one to bed with me.

thanks,,

kinzey

[Carriejen in reply to Kinzey85]

I found an app (I have a samsung so not sure if you have an iPhone) called 'peak flow' (its yellow) and I've been using that to monitor my peak flow over the last 2 weeks.

As for an asthma attack I find that I am the same as you, more regular coughing, very tight chest, not so much gasping for air but having issues finishing sentences. However, I had a GP appointment 2 weeks ago because I had had about an hour of this 3 nights before and the tightness had continued for 3 days. So she checked my temp and basically just told me that it wasnt coronavirus and i should just continue as I am with meds, then asked what I meant by 'asthma attack'. She kind of brushed me off so now I am questioning whether or not it was an asthma attack. Its all I've ever really experienced. I've never really wheezed except for once when I ended up in A&E with a really bad chest infection, and when I was blue lighted out of my work the paramedics even said I was very quiet for an asthmatic so Im all confused as well.

I'd basically stick to your medication if you find that they help, use ventolin (as I've heard it wouldn't actually make any difference if it was an anxiety attack) and keep track of your peak flow.

[Kinzey85 in reply to Carriejen]

Hi carriejen. i was just thinking about a peak flow app actually hahaha. so ill have a look. yep, thats what the was on the phone to me like as if i'm some kind of fraud.

yep ive been told to keep on taking my preventer. i dont know if its supposed to work straight away? ventolin does help a lot but doesnt take it all away .

[Troilus in reply to Kinzey85]

Hi again.

There is a number you can ring in the resources section and they will send you out a hard copy for free.

I am a bit reluctant to describe my asthma attack as I don’t want to add to your anxiety. But I will say that if I had had a blue inhaler I don’t think it would have happened.

You are not imagining it when you say that cleaners make it worse, or cold air. These things are common amongst people with asthma. I also don’t wheeze.

The asthma nurse will be taking you seriously. She has given you a preventer and does intend to speak to you again to see if it is helping.

If you haven’t already got a spacer, then get one. I was given one by the hospital and have bought some from Amazon since. I also have one with a face mask on, in case I have a full blown attack.

A spacer just makes it easier in an attack because you just breathe through it. They are also recommended for day to day use because it make sure you are getting your full dose without it hitting the back of your throat.

Your ventolin probably says take one or two puffs up to four times a day, but if you are feeling like you are having attack you can take more ( up to nine)

Again you will find detailed info on the main site, please read it. It explains on there when to ring 999 and what to do while you are waiting.

If things don’t settled down quickly, get back onto your GP. I put it off which is why I ended up in a mess. Don’t make my mistake.

[Kinzey85 in reply to Troilus]

its okay i understand. yep she has given me a spacer when she gave me the preventer. so perhaps when i had that attack i wasnt taking the ventolin properly.

yep with everything going on, i just dont want to end up in hospital i want to make sure im doing the right things. Ive taken my anxiety tablets and my heart rate has settled a bit.

thanks for the reassurance.

Kinzey

[Yellow75 in reply to Kinzey85]

Good question to ask, your experience of an asthma attack sounds similar to mine, it's cough, tight chest, feeling as though something is in my lungs, and sharp pain on breathing sometimes. Someone on these forums said it was like breathing through a straw. You've done the right thing getting up to speed with inhaler and getting preventer. Keeping diary of peak flow is good, but don't get overly hung up on the figures, it's a guide. You need to also balance with your symptons to. When my attack clears, which can take over a week, it's as if a cloud has lifted from chest and I breathe so fully and deeply. It's bliss. If you are in an attack keep an eye on how long get relief for after taking blue inhaler, if symptons not easing and space between gets shorter. Contact doctor. Hope everything goes OK for you

[Fivefeet]

Hi kinzey85 just to be clear I’m not a professional I’m just an individual who suffers with brittle asthma, it sounds like when you are cleaning that it has an effect on you and doing exercise and things, this can happen with a lot of people with asthma as cleaning and cleaning products can be a trigger for an attack, personally at the moment I would just use soap and water to clean things as that all I can use I can’t use sprays or any thing, what you described does sound like an attack but please remember I’m not a trained professional and also with asthma anxiety can make it worse, and I know this don’t help with everything going on at the moment, do you live alone or with anyone? When you are feeling anxious try some mindfulness do you know what I’m wan by this? Trying to keep calm and focused on something like out in the garden or drawing doing puzzles anything and this will help with your anxiety did they give you a preventer to help you?

What are your peak flows at the moment? Please keep feel free to keep in touch we are all here to help and support each other hope this has helped keep safe and well my friend

[strongmouse in reply to Fivefeet]

It is possible that you either react to dust, or perhaps mould spores or the chemicals in the cleaning product itself when you clean. All of these can aggravate asthma. If you think it might be the dust then damp dusting is better than using a duster. A vacuum cleaner with a hepa filter also helps as it minimises the dust in the air. If you were ill after using a dry shampoo check what chemicals are in and see if there is anything which might cause a reaction. You could try a different shampoo and see if it helps.

I have similar problems and so use a cleaner with a hepa filter, minimise the number of chemicals used in the houses - absolutely no perfumes - and use an air filter before going to bed at night.

Asthma UK has lots of information on all of this, but it does take a while to work out how to manage it. One step at a time. Good that you have a spacer. I find that helps to get the medicine to where it is needed. You will soon learn what you need to do to manage well. All the best.