What a 24hrs it has been! After worsening symptoms and trying to treat at home I ended up in a&e. I was met with the same you’re talking, no wheeze & o2 maintaining. Instead this time I was like no I don’t always wheeze! They actually listened to me ( which was surprising) so a senior dr came along and I explained that my chest was that tight I could only breathe into a certain depth! So he throughly listened to my chest and was like you are really tight, silent and thinks it was partially collapsed at the base due to hearing hardly air movement. My o2 was fairly stable at above 95 but was quite up & down. I was kept in due to tachycardia, lack of significant improvement in peak flow & the tightness in my lower chest. Despite back to back nebs of salb & Ibro (not sure what it’s name was). We mutually decided that due to risk of hospital transmission it wouldn’t be best for me to stay longer than needed. So I’m home with strict instruction to go straight back if anything changes. They agreed that I’m not 100% stable. However with the risk of covid & the fact I can speak to the respiratory team on Monday they’d rather I be at home unless things change. I’m just like wow to being listened too and feel pretty meh still but hopefully can get somewhere on Monday! Sorry for the long post, just wanted to get it all out ☺️
1st admission & trying to make sense ... - Asthma Community ...
1st admission & trying to make sense of it all
Hi Lotti, Sorry to hear you’ve not been well! But that’s good that they actually listened to you! Take it easy and hope you start to improve soon! And that mon is helpful when you speak to your resp team!
Hugs 🤗
Hi Lotti, Sorry to hear you are so poorly. Glad they are taking you seriously.
Hope you get better soon.
All the best.
Sorry you ended up in hospital and hope you are managing at home. I find their response really quite alarming though. I'm glad they did listen to you of course, that's a really good thing!
But hardly any air movement/very quiet even at the bases doesn't necessarily mean a collapsed lung, partially or otherwise. Someone could have one of course but it sounds like the doctor was saying that because it was quiet it was therefore probably partially collapsed - I've often had very limited air movement but no lung collapse so it's definitely not an automatic thing. Just seems an odd declaration for them to make. Furthermore, sending someone home the following day is surely rather dangerous if that was the case!
The discharge thing as well is concerning. If things were bad enough that you weren't responding (did they give anything other than salbutamol and ipratropium?) then to discharge the next day on the basis of covid is also rather concerning. Yes of course it's not ideal but neither is acute severe asthma at home and actually that's more dangerous. If your own respiratory team had decided that it might be different because they'd be going on their knowledge of you and your history etc. But otherwise I think that's terrible, personally. Presumably you went from being on nebs to home with no making sure you were ok off them for example.
Anyway I hope you are managing at home but please do seek urgent help if you're concerned about anything.
Thank you! Erm they did talk about giving me magnesium at one point but didn’t and left me an few hrs in the afternoon without nebs. I think their concern which they told me was that despite keeping me away from covid there hospital has one of the highest in patient transmission rate for covid. My peak flow is all over the place still, so hopefully that will settle down with vent. But will go back if things change for the worse.No I don’t really get the partially collapsed lung bit. But he did describe to the junior dr who was with exactly how it feels to me- which is if you imagine your hand is lung and it tightness and clenchs up in in to fist and can’t move anything that how it feels in my lungs (sorry for the very weird description!)
It does sound like they were happy in the end with how you were responding to the nebs (and then understandably kept you to be sure/keep that improvement going) as they didn't add in other treatments. I would hope they'd have escalated treatment had they continued to be concerned.
Fingers crossed things stay settled/become more settled and that you can speak to your team tomorrow. It doesn't sound like reducing pred is sensible at the moment though (generally I mean, but definitely not right now) as it seems your body can't manage without it
I ended back in a&e on Sunday I still have reduced air entry & some crackles in the base of my lungs but no signs of infection. But decided that balanced on risk from covid and the fact I wasn’t desaturating they sent me back home to manage at home, but then getting reviewed by respiratory on Wednesday. Hopefully they can come up with some plan
When you speak to resp lot, impress upon them that while you understand about covid, you having to keep going to and fro is just as risky. And that they don't actually seem to be doing anything to treat this acute issue! Also have you had a covid test? Probably isn't that but to rule it out?
I will! It is as equally as risky to have to keep going back & forth and being in the a&e department. Yeah I’ve had 3 test covid tests 1 lateral & 2 pcr tests and all were negative. All my bloods came back not showing any infection the only thing was inflammation so they don’t believe it is covid (thankfully & fingers crossed it stays that way) or any infection that it is causing this flare up.
That's good. It didn't really sound covid-like (to me ha ha) bit at least is ruled out. I know they're all stretched etc but it's like they're just "oh we don't know so go home". Funnily enough doing nothing isn't a magic cure!
My hospital was only admitting people who need Oxygen support last night. Was given IV paracetamol and Dexamethasone and back to back Ipatotropium and Salbutamol nebs which helped my breathing and brought down my temp which was over 39 degrees. They would normally have admitted me but didn't want to send me to the Covid ward to be exposed to more virus. I think this is the second time I have had Covid but 1st suspect not confirmed. Have been told to go back in if I need to but they think it is best to treat and send home even if you have to go in repeatedly rather than admit if possible.
That sounds like cobblers to me! You're either positive or negative surely?! I mean there's the viral load thing but surely that's in the infecting stage. If you've had it a week that's not the same.
Hope you are feeling better soon. Talk to the respiratory team if you aren't any better. xx
I’m certainly going to try and talk to them on Monday!
Glad they listened. I rarely wheeze either. Usually start to wheeze as I am starting to feel better. Ipatotropium nebs are really good. I had them when I went in last last plus IV Dexamethasone. Glad you are a bit better. Remember to go straight back in if you feel bad again at any point. I have been asked to do the same. Are you on pred at the moment?
Yeah been on pred again since jan 11 but think i reduced the dose far too quickly which has led to these problems. I went back to a&e on Sunday & I still have reduced air entry & some crackles in the base of my lungs but no signs of infection. But decided that balanced on risk from covid and the fact I wasn’t desaturating they sent me back home to manage at home, but then getting reviewed by respiratory on Wednesday.
I’ve had a few lung collapses and have never wheezed despite needing a heap of potions to keep my condition under control. I can relate to your experience and have been turned away before, only to end up in an ambulance some hours later. It sounds like it may have been a very small collapse, which usually sort themselves out in a few days. If you felt some sort of pain on breathing in or coughing etc, you’ll know what it is next time as the pain is quite unique. I now call 999 and tell them that my lung is collapsed. It confuses them, but gets me help straight away and I’ve never been wrong.
I sincerely hope you were at least given an X-ray? Tachycardia can be a sign that the collapsed lung is causing the heart to be dragged out of position, which obviously isn’t a good thing! Once you are recovered, I strongly recommend asking for a scan, as something is causing the collapse and I was brushed off twice with “spontaneous” because I’m tall. After a scan, they found I had blebs (blisters.) Hope this is helpful and not too scary!
Yeah I was given X-ray & despite needing to go back to a&e on Sunday I still have reduced air entry & some crackles in the base of my lungs but no signs of infection. But decided that balanced on risk from covid and the fact I wasn’t desaturating they sent me back home to manage at home, but then getting reviewed by respiratory on Wednesday.
That’s good to hear, I hope it all goes well for you.
Sorry to hear you’re feeling bad. Hope things get better for you soon 😊
Thank you, ended back in a&e but got a review on Wednesday with the hospital team
How did it go?
It went well, put me on high dose of steroids for two weeks then reduce by a tablet a week- to hopefully settle things down. Going back to having my xolair at hospital to keep a closer eye on me. Also once everything has settled down going to repeat the ct scan & bronchoscopy (as they want to investigate why I’ve declined, as when first started xolair I was doing well so want to see if anything has changed). They thought it was laughable that drs are questioning a snr respiratory consultants diagnosis 😅. Also want to look into why I keep get reoccurring issues in the bases of my lung. So all good really, just did warn me that the investigation will take time, not only because of covid but no point doing them whilst on steroids/just come of them. The only disappointing thing was they’ve suggested trying to wait til I’m off or on a lower dose of pred before having the covid vaccine. Only because they aren’t sure with my immune suppressed if I’d build enough antibodies. They said it would be a different conversation if I was on them all the time but they want me to try & wait. (**this is the advice from my medical team, they did say they aren’t sure due to it being new & getting more guidance. If anyone is in doubt they should check with their drs etc.)
They agreed I probably shouldn’t have been discharged on the Saturday & giving me magnesium probably would have helped to stop me ending back in a&e. But it just a balance on safety. Also discussed nebs (as everyone as soon as they hear you’ve been in hospital for asthma tell me to get one 🤦🏻♀️). But as expected said they aren’t safe and if I’m needing one regardless of risk (to covid) they’d rather I be in. Even if it is to treat and get me home again -just so they can observe/ review me.
Good disclaimer there at the end! As you say, that advice is specific to you not a general thing.
Glad it went well and there is a plan. While not ideal, the steroid barrage sounds a good plan - hopefully it will settle things down.
Didn’t want to cause anyone any unnecessary panic/worry or open it up to debate! Not ideal but I’ll take the steroids if they settle things down & I know they’ve worked in the past.
No I'm with you there!
It definitely sounded like it needed hitting hard/properly right now - as a separate issue to the ongoing problems. Fingers crossed!
Hi was hospitalised late early Nov 7 nights and relapsed 30 Nov 6 nights Coming off nebs they prefer to monitor for 24 hours , just keep taking presenters, you can download an app to track your peak flow and can email to GP, ( search peak flow , yellow icon , simple I still use to track )
Yeah they did say they’d rather have monitored me for longer but was safer to be at home. Thankfully outpatients are keeping a closer eye on me!
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