Hi all - just wondering if anyone has had anything similar, as i'm going round the bend.
My asthma has always been pretty well controlled. I normally play football, but being in lockdown i went for a couple of runs before Easter, first ones for about 10 years. I pushed pretty hard, but ever since i've felt wheezy and short of breath, and the reliever inhaler just isnt touching it.
I've had a couple of calls with the asthma nurse. First one they swapped Fostair for Symbicort, which has maybe helped a little, but still wheezy and short of breath. Second call last week they tried me on Montelukast, i'm five tablets into that with no improvement at all.
I've got a follow up call next week, but she seemed pretty stumped! Has anyone had anything similar before??
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NeilHowe
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Hello Neil Howe, I am wondering if your GP or asthma nurse. has prescribed you a rescue pack, if not ,then you should call the surgery tomorrow & ask for one, the rescue pack consists of a 5 day course of prednisolne steroid tablets 40 tablets, 8 per day+ a course of antibiotics, I am surprised that you being wheezy & breathless you have not been prescribed them, I always have a rescue pack on hand & if I were to get breathless I take them & within a day or two I start to feel much better. I really do think that is what you need as nothing else seems to be working for you, so please do call the surgery tomorrow & ask to speak to a doctor & explain all that you have said on here,& ask can you please have a rescue pack, it is a shame that you are suffering so long, & once you get the rescue pack , you will feel so much better..I wish you well,& hope that you will be better soon..Take care,&stay safe..x
Hi Neil, have you talked to them about how you react to pollen? Because it's been high for a while, and now the last week or so the weather's been hot and the pollen count has been high to very high. Is this something that you might react to? I know I've been having trouble for a while now and this is the only explanation I've come up with.
It can take Montelukast a week to work. My asthma nurse insists that patients try it for a month to see if it's working and has made enough of a difference to keep taking it. Montelukast is good for allergies but only works for some people.
It's definitely been an unusually high pollen season and I have been affected whereas it doesn't bother me normally.
Your GP may increase your Symbicort or prescribe a higher dose inhaler to get things back under control. That's what my asthma nurse did for me due to the pollen. And now the respiratory team have changed my Fostair up to a 200/6 dose inhaler. I'm hoping that will do the trick.
If your shortness of breath and wheezing is affecting your day to day activities please stress that with your GP. And definitely stress that your reliever isn't helping.
You may need a short course of steroids to dampen down the inflammation causing your symptoms. Then stay on the increased meds for a while.
Sometimes once we've irritated the lungs it's difficult to get back to normal. It's learning how to respond when it happens and what to expect, especially how long it takes to recover.
Almost the same thing happened with me 2 years ago. Out of the blue I was constantly breathless, having constant attacks. I’ve always been a pretty allergic person but never really had asthma symptoms other than when I was a child.
It’s a really unpleasant feeling and also extremely exhausting. Montelukast was a game changer for me but it does take a little while to kick in (that’s if it’s going to).
Do you ordinarily suffer with hayfever? Have you considered adding an antihistamine to your medication regime?
I know that it probably feels never ending right now but there’s is a treatment out there for you, it’s a case of trial and error and if it persists, try keeping a symptom diary (include details of the weather, pollen count, times of day symptoms arise etc) to try and find what the trigger is. Hot weather and pollen can wreak havoc for asthma sufferer and can be pretty unbearable so it could be to be to do with the weather we’ve had. Either way, I really hope you find some relief soon!
I'll call and get my follow up call moved forward. I'll ask about the rescue pack as i'd not heard of that - i think its the dose of steroids i need really. I've only ever had this issue once before, maybe 20 years ago, and i was given steroids then.
I did chat to the nurse about pollen - i used to get hayfever as a kid, countless nasel sprays and even had a nose op to open the airways a bit. But i grew out of it, and it only every gave me a runny nose, never a bad chest. But working from home for the last three months, i'm right on top of a load of fields and trees, so it could be. Antihistamines always seemed to make my chest bad, so i never take them!
I've only actually had a steroid inhaler the last year or so - Beclomethasone initially, then upped to Fostair and then to Symbicort . The nurse i spoke to last week wasn't that happy about all the changes, so she wanted to try Montelukast to try and level things out, then step back the inhaler doses to find the combo that works. It'll be a week on those tomorrow, so far nothing apart from a bad head and waking up more breathless during the night than normal!
I think i need that steroid dose to get me back to a normal level, then i can take it from there!
Why couldn't we all have just got athletes foot instead...
Hi ,Neilhowe ,I am on Montelukast it will take quite a while to kick in ,I had a
Months supply and it took the whole month Till I felt a little better but I still
Had to have another month
of Montelukast and Carbocistein 2x3 times a day as well which I’m still taking, it’s a long haul, it has helped a lot but It’s like a graph it goes up and down good days and bad days
I get a lot of phlegm/mucous Too which is a pain, good luck hope it works for you and you feel better soon
I’ve been the same the shortness of breath started around Easter I run but could barely walk round the house without getting breathless, various appointments and a chest x-ray later they took me off my preventer (which I only used because of covid-19) I don’t normally need it and just stick with my ventalin, I’m on Montelukast now and it took a good 10 days to kick in. Apparently it’s been a bad hay fever season and my asthma nurse thinks it’s probably that that’s caused this change to my asthma, stick with the Montelukast a bit longer,
I was short of breath for a couple of months and my preventative was increased and I was using my Ventolin a lot more and nothing was working. In the end it turned out to be reflux which can cause breathlessness as the acid irritates the lungs. I was prescribed lanzaprazole and it really helped. Just a thought! xx
Hi. I have been diagnosed with a hiatus hernia so it may be a good idea for you to ask for an endoscopy to see what is going on. I am on Lanzaprazole 30 mg once or twice a day and it worked within a couple of weeks. I really hope you get it sorted x
I'm about 2 weeks into my course, once a day. Seems to be better in the morning, but worse at night when I go to bed. So I may need the dose upped a bit. Hasn't really sorted the shortness of breath or wheezing. The GP has written to the cheat specialists, so I suspect I'll get the camera down at some point! Thank you! Glad things are better for you.
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