I have been having issues breathing for a few months now off and on, including coughing and wheezing. Thought nothing of it other than I was slightly overweight and being a smoker.
Thursday however things took a couple of turns. I rang 111 on my other half insistence as I was wheezing in daytime. I was due to go GP Friday morning, but Thursday we had friends around, and I was in a better mood and thought I was ok. Then suddenly, I could breathe in, but out was nearly impossible. Luckily my friend is a nurse who did some obs on me, called 999 and off to A and E I went. Oxygen levels down in the 80s.
I was admitted and they've told me I have moderate to severe asthma. Ordered to stop smoking and vaping immediately which I've done and I'm on a pink inhaler and blue inhaler with a 5 day course of Prednisone.
Truth be known, I'm scared witless. They let me go home Saturday from hospital but what do I say to my GP if I get an appointment tomorrow? Is this my new life now- inhalers and being scared?
What scares me more is my job, I work in car parks which isnt the best environment I guess.
Any advice for me would be most welcome!
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Philheybrookbay
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You will be scared at the moment, it's a whole new experience for you. Between you & the docs. & asthma nurses they will will work out the best inhalers for you, then you should improve. Try to work out what sets your asthma off & then try & avoid it. You are now on a bit of a learning curve but taking inhalers will just become part of you, & your other half is obviously looking out for you so try not to worry. A car park is not the best working environment for anyone, but depending what sets your asthma off you might be ok. Just tell your doctor what happened & keep him/ her updated. You will get used to things & will stop being scared. As one of the most cowardly people on the planet healthwise I can vouch for that. At least you are stopping smoking so that's got to be good.
Hi and welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear you've had such a dramatic introduction to asthma, but it sounds like you got the right treatment (and lucky choice of friends to have round at that point)
Also well done on quitting smoking! Sounds like you just did it but in case you need any support on that, this page may help: asthma.org.uk/advice/inhale...
The good news is just doing that is likely to help your asthma. You're also now on preventer medication which should help. Most asthmatics are able to control their asthma with the right medication; this forum may however give you a skewed idea about how easy it is to control because generally only people who are having problems with it are on here.
The medications you've been given might take a bit of time to kick in (pred should already be helping, the pink one - Fostair? - may take a couple of weeks for full effect, though if it is Fostair, it also has a long-acting reliever element which should already be helping you). However, you should be able to get to the point where you don't have symptoms like you've been having and don't need your blue reliever more than 2-3x a week at most. If you do still have problems and things aren't settling after a few weeks, go back to your GP as the medications may need adjusting. It's also worth starting to think about what your triggers might be - have you noticed anything that seems to make things worse?
Just a word about the moderate to severe asthma: these terms get used in various ways but most likely they meant (or should have meant, even if they didn't explain it well) that you had a moderate to severe asthma attack. That doesn't necessarily mean your asthma is severe overall; if you can get it controlled now on that medication it won't be severe, and often underlying severe asthma can still be controlled, even if it takes more medication to do that. However, you had this attack on no medication at all, so adding medication and removing cigarettes should help a lot.
The GP should be able to talk over all this with you as well as checking how you are now and hopefully drawing up an action plan for you (asthma.org.uk/advice/manage....
I'd also strongly recommend calling/chatting to the Asthma UK nurses on their helpline when it reopens tomorrow (AUK helpline - 0300 2225800 M-F 9-5; AUK WhatsApp - 07378 606728). They're very friendly and knowledgeable and should be able to answer your questions and take the time to chat through it all, since even the best GPs don't always have time to answer everything you want to know, and their knowledge about asthma can vary.
Of course you can also ask questions here - we're not experts (though the nurses do keep an eye here and answer questions too) but between us we have a lot of experience of asthma!
I'm a bit rubbish on the colours but I think Fostair is the only pink one (various shades of pink)? If so then yes - Fostair is the brand name for a combination of beclometasone (inhaled steroid) plus formoterol (long-acting reliever).
Agree a new diagnosis like that will be scary - but it does sound as if the hospital have exacerbated the scary in their approach - throwing the diagnosis at you, throwing meds at you and sending you home pretty quickly.
They can't really tell you it's severe asthma from such a brief experience (I'm sure it didn't feel brief though!). Lysistrata's post above explains it really well and has great advice in it.
It's quite likely that once the pink inhaler kicks in things will be much much better for you.
I just met a lady in hosp who was on a brown inhaler for years but admitted Fri morning with bad attack, usually fine, not been to a&e in 2 years and never admitted previously (30s and had asthma since very young). She was put on pink inhaler on Fri. Went home today with hugely improved peak flows to previously and feels great. It can take 2 weeks or more to kick in properly but she's only been on it 3 days and it's made a huge difference. Hopefully it will for you too!
Thanks all. The most scary was when they said I scars on my lungs which I know was caused by a long stay in ICU for double pneumonia back 20 years ago. But I cant knock the local hospital here in Plymouth other than I left pretty quickly.
The pink inhaler is Fostair 100/6, feeling pretty wiped out still so just watching the Tour De France on ITV4 rather than out and enjoying the bank holiday!
It's just floored me, and i remember how long it took to recover 20 years ago (about 6 months) whilst obviously not at that level , i guess I've had asthma for a while and its built up until its broken like a wave.
Just hope i get an appointment with GP/nurse this week.
That's my inclination too, that you've had it underlying for a while and the attack was the culmination. Fingers crossed with these meds you'll not get to that point very often. Or you may not again. Don't underestimate the strain though, physical and mental/emotional of it all though. I mean I do literally every admission 😅 but it does take time to recover (not like pneumonia or anything but a few days type thing) and Prednisolone also can add to that. But sounds like you're doing what your body needs right now.
This would have been very scary and a big shock for you. Well done quitting vaping. I went twenty years without any asthma medication after having had asthma as a child and I was fine until I had a similar experience to you and ended up in a and e. I know have taken preventatives for three years and mine is mild asthma and only set off by triggers like pollen and sometimes pets.
The anxiety that is causes can be difficult but I hope you feel better soon and diaphragmatic breathing helps as well. Once you are recovered.
I hope you are reassured by all the wisdom you've read on here. Of course it is scary, but there are about 5 million of us in the UK with asthma and most of us have it under control. You get into the habit of taking the inhaler so it is as routine as cleaning your teeth and as long as you understand that you have to take it, well or ill, you'll be ok. You will have to be patient for a while as your lungs need time to recover, but you should be ok in the long run.
when you get intouch with your gp surgery tell them your asthma bad and you just got out of hospital and been told that you need to see a gp urgently. Keep your ground dont get put of be persistent with the receptionist keep telling you need to see a dr urgently
In a way you're so lucky your friend called 999 (bouquet?) It often takes months to get a diagnosis so it's really great that you have given up the cigs and have the best medication possible imo.
I use Fostair too. You get used to having inhalers, for a while you'll need to carry the blue rescue one around with you .
Hopefully your GP will ensure you have repeat prescription for meds - very important to re-order in plenty of time before you run out, my pharmacy demand a week to fulfil 'scripts. Also really important to use the inhalers correctly - YouTube demonstrations, respiratory nurse and pharmacist can help. Also you may be given a 'spacer' which improves the efficiency of inhalers.
Healthy diet, healthy weight, good immune system & exercise will all help moving forward to give you a healthy future. Avoiding catching bugs really really helps too.
Good luck, you've found the best place to get advice and support and before too long you'll become moderate with controlled asthma. ☺
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