First time poster! Just looking for any experiences from other members. I had asthma as a child, seemed to resolve. Seemed to possibly develop again in 2018 following a chest infection and diagnosed in 2020 triggered by mould in a property I was living in! I currently take clenil 100 mcg twice a day. I also have salbutamol but have never needed it really until recently.
Since march/April this year I have developed what I think is some sort of allergic response that seems to come and go. Around 5 weeks ago I developed hives, more frequent cough and phlegm and the wheezing started. I went back and forth to GP tried multiple antihistamines and was prescribed 5 day steroids, they helped the hives but not the wheezing. Since then the wheezing has been coming and going. Last Friday I got a sudden blocked nose and have come down with some kind of respiratory illness! Currently on steroids and amoxicillin for last 3 days. Steroids have not helped my wheezing at all. Seen GP today who thinks my wheezing is worse so has prescribed clenil 200mg and montelukast. I just want to feel better!
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Nattycake
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Hopefully the montelukast helps as this is usually pretty good for allergic style asthma. Have you tried fexofenadine antihistamine? Have you been prescribed a nasal spray for the blocked nose? Post nasal drip can cause wheezing and asthma symptoms.
Hopefully the increase in clenil helps, but you need to give it a few weeks to see improvement (do see your g.p if you get worse though or no improvement from steroid tablets).
Do you use your clenil with a spacer? If the clenil doesn't work you could ask to try a steroid inhaler such as fostair which can be prescribed as a reliever as well as this can often help get extra steroid in.
If you find steroid doesn't help at all, ask for further respiratory testing to rule out other causes, or keep a peak flow diary.
Thank you for your reply 😊 I tried fexofenadine and it didn't seem to help.I have got a steroid nasal spray but didn't seem to help much. I have so been doing Nasal rinse.
At the moment they think the exacerbation is due to the chest infection but after 3 days of antibiotics and steroids no improvement.
Yes I always use a spacer
Thank you I will keep that suggestion in mind!
I do have a chest xray next week but I think that's more for my peace of mind.i suffer with terrible health anxiety! So I'm already thinking the worst.
Hopefully your g.p can help you get on top of things before your holiday! There are so many different treatment options to explore so don't give up hope!
You could always try giving asthma uk nurses a ring, they are open mon-friday and are really knowledgeable!
Hi I have an allergy to Mold & it will make my asthma flare up & be very hard to control ( aspergillosis) if yours continues I wonder if its worth asking for your sputum to be tested to check it's not growing any fungus. Hope you get sorted soon
Hi I don’t have much to add as Melanie has covered it really well. I think fostair is def worth a go as she said. And mold is bad so test for that as wheezyanna said. A lot of people only get asthma when they have a chest infection so it is a possibility that it will clear when you finally shift the chest infection. Amoxicillin does nothing for me except diarrhoea. I had doxycycline for last chest infection. They also give you just a few days of antibiotics which is often not enough so you could ask for more and 2 weeks might clear the chest infection and help your breathing. It must be awful feeling that anxiety. Not being able to breath is hugely scary! I didn’t exactly have anxiety about health until the last 2 weeks. I am waiting for results and it has sent me to a dark and worried place. The only thing I can do for anxiety is keeping crazy busy - currently painting the front room while listening to loud music or an audio book and then I am exhausted and fall asleep. Without this mad busy time my mind wanders and I cry. How do you manage it? Hope you feel much better soon
Hey, thank you for your reply 😊 I think I'm just more anxious as I have had the wheezing for 5 weeks when my hives started and I'll never know what has caused it! It's never really gone away since then and now this illness has made it worse and nothing seems to be getting it under control, I know things take time.
I have 3 days left of the antibiotics so I'm giving myself until Wednesday to see how I am before going back. Like you say I'm hoping once infection has cleared I'll start to feel better.
My health anxiety is not under control at all and has been spiralling for the last few weeks, i have ran myself down which i think has lead me to get this illness! the thought of going for a chest xray is really not helping matters!
It is something I really need to work on. Like you though I find keeping myself busy really helps. I'm struggling not being at work at the moment as that really helps keep my mind occupied and not being there fuels my anxiety, such a vicious cycle.
Sorry I don't have any helpful advice for the anxiety but try and not worry about your results, I hope they don't keep you waiting long and you get the answers you need and everything is ok😊
Hi 5 weeks is a long time ☹️ When you have finished the 3 days of antibiotics maybe you can ask to try a different antibiotic? Just a thought. Not being able to breath properly is stressful and no wonder your health anxiety is not under control right now. If the thought of a chest x ray is causing you to feel this way could you take someone with you.. not necessarily in the x ray room (not sure they let that happen) but just to be with you the rest of the time? I hope you feel better soon. Fostair and better antibiotic would be my choice. Yeah.... I am ok today but they said head CT scan results 7 to 10 days... there have been tears and frustration but it is day 6 now so I am on the home run or maybe I have just got used to waiting! Could be nothing, could be an array of things.... I am choosing nothing from the drop down menu of misery. 🤣
Hi, sorry to hear your not to good, sometimes doctors give antibiotics out and to cut costs only give a weeks supply & mostly it needs 14 days to be effective, (as happened to me recently) I’m on Fostair which is effective but I don’t need salbutamol anymore 🤞as I’m on the latest biologic and it’s helping me a lot, enabling me to wean those nasty steroids down and hopefully get off them , when I used to use salbutamol it helped a lot and if your really bad you can take up to 10 puffs and it’s the equivalent of a nebuliser ( was told this by an asthma nurse , but you should check with yours before you do this) let’s hope you are well soon, good luck
Hi again 😀I have not read every reply so this might have already been suggested but if you think your asthma is allergy related might an antihistamine be a thought? I am very allergic - cats and boy do they set my asthma off! But if you have had your cat for a while it seems unlikely that you would suddenly become allergic to it...but what do I know. Hope things improve for you very soon. 🙂
I have two of them, one of them for 7 years and one for 1 year and his fur is very coarse! I know you can suddenly develop allergies. I would be surprised if it is suddenly cats when I work with them everyday but I can't completely rule it out! I was taking antihistamines when I had the hives and they didn't help with the wheezing but have actually just started taking some Fexofenadine again today just to see. I'm desperate haha! Thank you 😊
Just a heads up. Watch out for fungal infection because of steroid use. Also will lead you to lower your immunity so opens you up to catching more viruses and bacterial infection. Two edged sword. I have found that amoxicillin almost useless these days and always land up with a second generation antibiotic. Last time it was zannet. Risky side effects but did pull me up from pneumonia caused by RSV
Thank you unfortunately I'm already a frequent sufferer of oral thrush when I'm run down. Yes I'm not holding out much hope for these antibiotics but I will see once the course is completed!
Oh no pneumonia sounds horrible, glad you recovered OK 😊
Montelukast has helped me lots..i have emphysema but I was misdiagnosed with asthma at first.. I feel the Montelukast helps my breathing as laying down at night without it is impossible. So I thank it for that.. Dr said if I feel it helps they'd keep me on it.. I've taken it since 2019.. I hope you find it helps. Definitely opens airways and I hope you get some relief from it soon
Thank you I'm trying to be optimistic about taking it and hoping it's just short term until the underlying issue can be addressed but if I need them longer then I will 😊I'm actually not too bad in myself just the wheezing is driving me mad!
Hello, I’m so sorry to hear that you aren’t getting back on your feet. Unfortunately montelukast didn’t do anything for me, I was taking it and I had no difference in my asthma at all. But please don’t just either say no or anything until you have tried it yourself as everyone is different and you might find it works for you. Good luck x
My experience with montelucast has not been good at all. While it did keep my asthma under control, I developed crippling anxiety, suicidal thoughts and bad insomnia. Most days i slept only 2 to 4 hrs, sometimes not even that. After suffering for about 3 years i discovered that these are side effects of montelucast. I stopped talking it about 3 months back. My sleep has started improving and the suicidal thoughts i used to have are gone. I was scared that my asthma will get worse but its well under control as long as i avoid all dairy and processed food. Additionally any food which makes me acidic need to be avoided as well. This keeps my breath good.
That sounds awful and very scary! Glad everything seems to be going well for you despite stopping them. I've only taken one so far but fingers crossed they work with no/minimal side effects !
Sorry you are not feeling well and hope the clenil helps. I have been on Montelucast for many years. I suffer from phelgm collection and find that Montelucast is very effective in drying the phelgm and clearing my airways. But with all medications you need to take them regularly and for a while before you feel any difference. I am also prescribed fenofexadyne antihistamine and Avamys nasal spray. Both work well.
I also purchased a salt pipe, after researching the benefits of using one. They are regularly used and prescribed for respiratory problems in Europe. Inhaling the rock salt soothes the inflammatiom and loosens up the phelgm. The pipe was a god send when I had a really bad congested respiratory tract infection. Was given 2 courses of antibiotics and steroids and nothing worked to loosen and clear the phelgm. It was all through my airways and wouldn't come out. Using the salt pipe firstly gave me relief from the constant coughing that caused inflammation and then I started to cough up the infected phelgm litlle by little. The NHS dismiss salt pipes believing they do not work, but my oen personal experience is that it was the only remedy that helps me. There is lots of information online about rock salt therapy and also reviews from lots of users.
I hope you find my input helpful and I wish you well soon.
I'm glad it helped you, but just wanted to add a reply for anyone considering using a salt pipe after reading your post - including you Nattycake as this is your post of course.
To anyone reading this, if you're thinking about using a salt pipe or similar, please read this page from ALUK and as ever, remember some complementary therapies can be a trigger for some people with asthma, including salt inhalation: asthmaandlung.org.uk/sympto...
It's more the case that there isn't currently any good evidence to support the use of salt pipes/caves/lamps. That means the NHS can't recommend it, as there's no good basis to do that right now. User reviews aren't a substitute for properly done research, but if there is better research in future to support their use then they can reconsider whether it should be recommended.
Thank you for your reply. I have looked at the link and it is the standard advice. With all alternative therapies some people find they work and others have more negative experiences. People take supplements and that is also dismissed by saying people should get enough nutrients from their diet. I have only stated what has worked for me. And I was not making any recommendations. It is left up to each person to decide what may work for them.
Taking constant steroids and antibiotics is far more damaging than any natural therapy. And that is my opinion.
I've acknowledged that it works for you. But when you talk about something like this and how people can look it up online, some people may try it, even if you haven't explicitly recommended it.
People can try what they want to, but they should know the facts about it - not just reviews from people who used it. Many natural remedies don't currently have a good evidence base, which is not the same as saying they don't work, just that there isn't enough evidence.
That doesn't mean they never will have that evidence or they don't work for anyone, but people should be aware of that. They should also be aware that natural remedies could trigger their asthma before they try it. That includes salt inhalation.
Some people do benefit from supplements, but some of those can also be dangerous if people take too much of them.
I've seen people talking about their experience with something that works for them that would absolutely trigger my asthma - but at least I know that. Others may not even consider that it's a possibility with something 'natural' or over the counter.
Steroids and antibiotics can certainly do some damage, and there's a risk benefit balance to using them. But natural doesn't automatically mean it's safer.
Definitely true that natural remedies can be risky.
I use camomile tea regularly for mild health complaints and find it very beneficial. But my mother has a serious allergic reaction toward camomile in any shape or form!
Regarding asthma triggers, we had a recent topic about moving to the coast and responses were fairly evenly split between people who found sea air made them better and people who became much worse. And I've seen a few people mention that humidifiers can help them as they suffer when the air gets too dry, but I need a dehumidifier, as I'm fine with dry air but really struggle with damp!
Hi there, hope you are feeling better! I was diagnosed with Adult onset asthma in June 2018. I suddenly became allergic to all pollen from tree to grass to every flower you can think of 🙁 also black mould, feathers etc etc. I just couldn’t breathe and had a chest infection and terrible wheezing. I also was getting urticaria/hives. I literally thought I was dying (I’m 56 years young). Any way, my G.P informed me the was a massive pollen bomb over U.K. and europe that summer and quite a lot of people got the same as myself!!!…(strange eh?). I was given steroids just like yourself, fostair, and a blue inhaler. However nothing worked and I continued to have breathing difficulties for quite a few months. Eventually my G.P referred me to Respiratory consultant at a hospital (I had regular appointments until I was sorted)…He gave me Spiriva Respumat (sorry for the spelling) and a tablet called Montelukast which I take once a day before bed (opens airways and eases breathing). It sorted me out and I’ve been fine ever since. I was also referred to a dermatologist for the hives and was given Fexafendene 180mg for the hives etc…I really think your G.P should refer you to a respiratory consultant/specialist, as they specialise and will sort you out. you should chat to your G.P and tell him/her you would like referral. Do not suffer anymore going back and forth as I initially did. My symptoms were very similar to yours, the steroids did not work and I thought I had a chest infection also. hope this helps.
Thank you so very much for this helpful information! I think I've had asthma for a while but only ever exacerbated when I had a cold illness!
From actual diagnosis which was done over the phone due to covid I was having wheezing and itchy skin and had a damp/mould issue in property I was living in.
Since then I've remained stable on low dose clenil occasionally needing ventolin when I have a respiratory illness.
I have been wheezing more since January this year following a diagnosis of IBS but has been somewhat controlled. I've had intermittent allergry type symptoms since April this year. Latest flare up was 5/6 weeks ago with wheezing and hives. Fortunately the hives have resolved! only since I've become unwell that something is being done. I started on Montelukast last night so fingers crossed for that helping with the wheezing. Following my chest xray if i am no further forward pushing for referral will be my next step! Very glad to hear you are doing OK now 😊
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