Advice needed

[Joeliggy3000]

Hi their folks, back in March I had a severe asthma flare up which may or may not have been due to COVID, it was suspected but I couldn’t get tested at the time. I hadn’t suffered badly with asthma for many years previous to this. I ended up having a short burst on Prednisolone to help relieve the symptoms and take a fostair inhaler twice daily, while I never got back to how I was pre-March this improved a lot of the summer until the last few weeks. My wheeziness started to increase and my chest feeling sore, getting an Over the phone appointment with the asthma nurse is a 2 week wait so it’s been quite scary. I managed to get an emergency over the phone appointment with a doctor who has put me back on the Prednisolone whilst I’m waiting (which has helped in the night but I’m still wheezy)

I’m a 31 year old male who’s used to having an active lifestyle before this year, has anybody had any similar issues? Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[DeanSamson]

Hi, I too hadn't had any major issues with my asthma for probably 30 years since I was around 5 or 6. Then Dec last year I had to go into hospital low oxygen wheezing etc. I think it was possibly covid but at the time no body knew about it. Since December last year my asthma hasn't really been the same.

[twinkly29]

If you're struggling (ventolin not helping or not lasting 4 hours) or you feel it's getting worse, don't wait for the asthma nurse appointment - either call for a GP appointment or call 111 or go to a&e.

Having said that, hopefully the steroids will continue to help in the meantime. How long have you been back on them?

Do you measure your peak flow? Doing this before and then 15 mins after ventolin should show if the ventolin is helping, and measuring peak flow regularly twice a day (usually before am and pm Fostair) can help when discussing things with the asthma nurse as they'll be able to see any patterns or changes related to your best peak flow.

[Joeliggy3000 in reply to twinkly29]

I haven’t been given a peak flow chart, although I will mention that to the asthma nurse, the blue inhaler used to be very effective when I was younger and had asthma, but it hasn’t done a lot to help me since March.

I’ve taken my last day of a 5 day course today of the steroids this morning, I’m concerned that as the steroids wear off the asthma will become more severe. I’m hoping the asthma nurse will have a plan of action of how to get this situation back under control. My mother in law has a strong asthma inhaler called a AirFluSal 25/250 , she gave me a spare one but I haven’t used it as I’ve not been prescribed it, do you know anything about this type of inhaler?

[twinkly29 in reply to Joeliggy3000]

I hadn't heard of it but it looks to be similar in level to Fostair. Both are combi inhalers so have both steroid and a long-acting bronchodilator in them, but the elements are completely different to those in Fostair so actually you might find this other inhaler isn't right for you anyway.

I definitely wouldn't advise trying random inhalers without the support of your nurse or GP, although maybe discussing other inhalers would be an option.

Regarding peak flow, you don't need a chart, just the device, as you can note down the numbers. But definitely worth asking the nurse about a meter if you haven't got one.

This post explains everything about peak flow if you want to be clued up 😅 healthunlocked.com/asthmauk...

It's interesting that the ventolin doesn't help though - definitely important to mention that to the nurse. It could be that you did have covid and the symptoms are related to having had that as all sorts of post viral things can remain, or people can commonly develop breathing pattern issues after something like that (and indeed after asthma flares) which mimic asthma symptoms but which aren't helped by ventolin etc.