Am I underplaying this?

[Emzcat41]

Hello lovely people

I’m not quite sure how I feel (except I’m back on steroids so - excuse the language )- ever so slightly ‘whizzing my tits off’.

And this post may be a bit random but I’m wondering if I’m underplaying my symptoms?

My personal best PF is 550. Last few weeks I dropped to 440 so changed from clenil to fostair and had a short course of steroids (5 days). Lovely timing but kids brought a nasty cold/virus/cough home (we all tested negative for covid) and I picked it up just as steroid course ended and my peak flow dropped to 330 ish. I called gp and I’m back on steroids for around 3 weeks (as 5 days full dose then reducing a tablet every 4 days to wean) I’ve doubled fostair and am also on antibiotics.

Second day of steroids and pf up to 440 ish so gp happy I’m improving.

My question is this.. I always thought I was in tune with my body but I didn’t actually feel that bad or that it was a big problem. GP was considering me going in to hospital and I was shocked. I was told I couldn’t be left alone or exert myself till I was better. I honestly did not feel that bad. Is this because the steroids are making me feel like super woman or can you literally ignore your own symptoms?

Partner thinks I’m choosing to ignore symptoms because I’ve struggled to accept the adult onset asthma diagnosis. I feel a bit like I’m losing touch with reality on these bloody steroids but I also quite like it lol!

Is this normal? Sorry to waffle but this really feels like a lovely safe place to ask these daft questions!

Thank you

Emma x

[Princessconswayla]

Hi Emzcat41. Sorry to hear your having such a hard time at the moment. I always had controlled asthma, to the point where I believed I no longer had it, which then resulted in me thinking I knew best and not taking the meds, mistake!

It sounds like the change to fostair really helped you, but unfortunately this time of year comes so many coughs and colds which do make asthma alot worse. The steroids are doing what they should do, I think all you can do is listen to your body, if the doc is telling you to slow down then try your best to put yourself first(hard with kids I know!)

You could feel completely different any day, all days are different! It's hard to accept that asthma is here to stay but once it is controlled theres no reason why it has to interrupt your life. Take care and keep us updated!

[Emzcat41 in reply to Princessconswayla]

Thank you Princess C (we nearly called our cat Princess Conswayla but the kids out voted me and we ended up Phoebe)

I can totally associate with that, I stopped my inhalers a couple of times when first diagnosed. I soon realised I needed them!

Maybe I need to give myself more time to get used to it - it’s certainly got worse since the weather changed!

Thank you for your positive post it really does help on this forum

Emma x

[twinkly29]

Sometimes, if you have a run of asthma joy, you can kind of get used to it too - so not being blasé or not 'not taking it seriously', but more 'got used to it so forgot it wasn't normal'. Like your level of what's ok is a bit skewed, If that makes sense?!

Hope things become more stable for you though. A friend a couple of years ago had a run of rubbish things like that and then it all went back to normal for her so hopefully it will for you too.

[Jollygood]

Hi Emma

I've also struggled to accept that I'm now an asthmatic and there's times when I've been in denial. You're obviously a parent & I think sometimes we rush around sorting everyone else out & forget about looking after ourselves. That's quite a drop in peak flow which I guess is what the gp was focusing on. The main thing is you are now improving. Do you have an asthma plan? It's quite good to have it down in writing. I hope you continue to improve & feel better soon x

[Chip_y2kuk]

Steroids will make you feel like you're superman/superwoman

However we 'miss' our more subtle symptoms and ive been known to walk around with a chest infection for a fortnight before noticing im huffing and puffing walking up the stairs.... requiring antibiotics and steroids

I've also had the problem of waking up in the morning with a bit of a cough and by afternoon being told to phone an ambulance because my breathing has gotten so bad so quickly and somewhere in the middle I want from ok to not so clever

If your not doing so well do take it easy.... part of me thinks doctors *sometimes* make things sound worse than they are

My little girl suffered with febrile convulsions and I went to work one morning and she had a snotty nose and was full of it i came home from work that night and greeted the ambulance crew and my little girl was out cold we got to the hospital and the doctor was talking brain damage and preparing for the worst... she woke up the day after and we saw the "neurological consultant and his team" .... he said "febrile convulsions very very rarely cause any brain damage/long lasting problems, they are mostly unpleasant and upsetting for the child and parents and a result of the body not being able to regulate temperature which children can't do until they are about 5" ....5 minutes later we where being discharged

[Yatzy]

Hope things are continuing to settle for you, Emma. I was diagnosed with adult onset asthma too. Mine came on quite gradually, just Ventolin at first, then onto quite a low dose preventer inhaler, occasional exacerbations controlled with extra ventolin, but didn’t work well.

Then quite suddenly, when I moved house, job changed shape and lots of overnights in hotels, my asthma sky-rocketed. All in all took about 15 years to gradually get to this higher level

It takes some getting used to and I tended to downplay it, not move fast enough to steroids and antibiotics. Ventolin stopped working. When I was up to ten or more puffs of Ventolin a day, my GP asked if I was sure it was working for me. When I thought about it, I realised it was probably making me worse not better...so difficult to realise....so he changed my reliever inhaler to Bricanyl. This worked so much better!

I gradually got used to tracking my symptoms better. In fact found I had the very unusual trigger of salicylates....main ingredient in aspirin and ibuprofen, and also in Salbutamol (Ventolin). I had also moved close to a factory making mdf wood, which uses formaldehyde in the process....yes, another source of salicylates!

I eventually moved house again, about two years ago, miles away from the factory, and my asthma exacerbations needing steroids/antibiotics have gone down from umpteen to about two a year, or less, linked to viral infections.

I still get exacerbations linked to perfumes, smoke, gas fires etc, but mostly solved by use of my reliever, Bricanyl, and my air purifier Dyson machine.

Sorry for the long post, but presuming you’re still awake while on the steroids! I never sleep while I’m on steroids 🙁😉

Best of luck, hope you’re feeling better very soon 🌸🌸🌸