Please can someone help I'm at a loss what to do đ«
Diagnosed with adult asthma last Feb, its classed as severe (on the shielding list etc). I currently take fostair 200/6 2 puffs twice a day, Tiotropium bromide 2 puffs once a day, Fexofenadine 180mg twice a day and ompeprezole 40mg. My asthma had been well controlled for about 4mths until yesterday morning.
I woke up and my chest just felt off, I could feel an intermittent wheeze. So I took all my medication and 4 puffs of my blue and it seemed to help. Unfortunately by lunchtime it had got worse and I was struggling to speak a sentence without losing my breath. Spoke to GP who sent an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived I was quite panicked....but still unable to speak a full sentence. The first responder listened to my chest and said there was no wheeze so wouldn't give me anything. My chest was very, very tight and he then said he thought it was anxiety. I said it was definitely not!!!! Anyway, I was taken to A and E and it was the worst experience of my life. I was left for 2 hours struggling to breath, cos there was no wheeze, I ended up giving myself my blue inhaler continuously in order to breath. By the time I was eventually seen by someone I tried to explain that my asthma presents itself like this and I don't have a wheeze sometimes but need a nebuliser and steroids. Wouldn't do that...I eventually started to feel better due to the amount of blue inhaler I was taking. I ended up discharging myself as I knew I had left over steroids at home so thought I would take them.
Please can someone help. I'm still not breathing properly this morning and my chest is very tight. I have a call with a advanced nurse practitioner this morning. But I just feel like no one is listening to me.
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wooders09
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It sounds like youâre still uncontrolled and having issues. I suggest seeing if the nurse can organise a planned admission to the hospital for you which would avoid the a&e. Alternatively you could try a&e again, as itâll be a different team on now and presenting twice in 24hrs should be a red flag.
Do you have any âabout youâ information you can give them? (Like a hosp form?). For me here I write how I usually present and what treatment usually works for me and mostly medics respect that. (I can send you a template of mine to fill out if you want)
That was the hardest thing yesterday that it felt like no one was listening to me at all. Also because no one can come with you to hospital I didn't have back up from my husband!
I would very much appreciate if you could send me a template. Thank you
I would call your GP now tell them what has happened and ask for them to arrange for you to be seen either in A&E or by a GP as an urgent request. Don't be fobbed off by A&E my son was sent home from A&E when he was 13 and his appendix burst at home he nearly died spent 2 weeks in intensive care. When I went to A&E with an asthma attack I walked straight through and onto a nebuliser sorted very swiftly.
Hi, So sorry to hear your experience. As a fellow asthma sufferer who rarely gets a wheeze even during an exacerbation, it is a very frustrating experience. They always have this idea of a wheeze being the definitive on if your really struggling as you say you are.
Canât give much other advice, but Keep pushing, wether that be GP, Nurse or going back to a+e. Really hope you feel better soon.
Thanks for this reply. It's made me feel less like I'm going crazy! I have been questioning myself so much. When I have an exacerbation I rarely have a wheeze but I can't speak a sentence without losing my breath and I always have a very, very tight and sore chest.
This is what happened in A and E, and they just wouldn't listen. I didn't start steroids till a day after this episode and my wheeze was awful yesterday. I spoke to a great GP who put me on steroids straight away! Feeling a little better today!
I never wheeze either even in my worst attacks and it can be so frustrating when that's all doctors look for.
Keep pushing to get a nebulizer if you need it. Can you get to an urgent care clinic asap? Definitely don't be put off by the response of the ambulance workers and keep trying to get the help you need, it sounds like you are in a bad attack.
Then after this crisis is over, book an appointment with your GP as soon as possible and fill out an action care plan that lists the symptoms you know mean you need treatment beyond what you have at home (e.g. really tight chest, using Ventolin more than 2 puffs per day etc.) and then the treatment that goes with that (nebulizer, prednisone pack). You can show that to the doctors and nurses and hopefully that'll help you get the care you need. Here's a template:
Iâm very sorry to hear that you were struggling so badly to breathe and no one would help you. I have been doing lung exercises that are on youtube. I think the YouTube channel is literally called âlungexerciseâ. Itâs an older women who is in fantastic shape who leads the exercises. There are 4 videos, all very help and I find that they are really helping to strengthen my diaphragm and deepen my breathe. Also look up ârecovery breathâ exercises.
Another factor that I think people donât always think of is over consumption of histamine which for me makes my nose stuffy. See if cutting down on wine, cheese, and chocolate helps you (I know, all the best foods! :p). Chocolate also relaxes the esophageal sphincter which can cause gerd and exacerbate asthma symptoms.
Try doing the lung exercises every morning. A DAO supplement also breaks down food sources of histamine but Iâm no doctor and the supplement is pretty pricey.
I also find that (if you have someone close to you who doesnât mind) if Iâm feeling short of breath, an upper back rub really helps relax my lungs in the back.
Not sure what else to suggest, but would just like to add that you're definitely not alone. Been in and out of hospital and A&E recently and because I don't always wheeze they leave me for hours, usually by which point my phosphate and potassium are super messed up and I'm very, very unwell.
Having read all this very useful information I agree that the paramedics do not have sufficient knowledge with regards people like us with a very difficult and differing presentations that do not comply with their tick boxes we have to stand for ourselves and I have a written letter from my valuable GP's surgery which states that I have 4 lung problems and I DO NOT WHEEZE, and must be taken ASAP to hospital for treatment. This also works during any visit to my local hospital. Incidentally as I have regular exacerbations the A&E staff at my local hospital know me and they always look after me very well
Sounds very familiar, with the dismissive anxiety suggestion. (I also do not wheeze, and my baseline function is 900 on the peakflow, so when I do 500 they think I am making stuff up.
I do not know about your specific condition. When I get no attention from AE and dismissive anxiety comments, I ask for a prednisolone prescription. With enough begging, they do it for me (3/3). Having a hard-copy letter from the GP/Specialist from a prior blood work with elevated IgE and Eos also may be helpful.
I am currently waiting for Xolair, and living in a HEPA-filtered tent in my apartment, full-time to control my allergic asthma (dust mights, mould, and every grass and every tree).
A & E the only place where you go in half dead and they tell you wait for 6 to eight hours your not dying even though you can barely breath i am from Ireland , i was so bad 2 years ago after 3 hours i went to the counter and said i am about to keel over , then they brought me in to the treatment area and said sit there 30 mins went buy i asked a doctor could he do anything for me he said i am going the other direction I said i am about to collapse he sent a nurse over i said i am dying thats it saw a doc then he said you are a very sick man in 24 hours a bag of magnesium , 4 injections and 4 3 neb concoctions and on oxygen , out at 12 the following day with my small red steroids
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