Do exacerbations follow exacerbations?

[Particle32]

Hi all,

You may have seen my other thread. I am a man in my early forties and had a rude awakening to asthma with an almost two week hospital stay about 1.5 months ago with lots of mucus in lungs and for one week I was on oxygen. Last week I got a cold which quickly went to my chest leaving me clogged up and wheezing. I've now been to doctor and on 5 days of prednisone and a week of antibiotics.

Before my time in hospital, I'd never even been on an inhaler! I'm now worried that every time I get a cold it's going to become an emergency... The asthma nurse has said that it's been so little time since my hospital experience that my lungs will still be hypersensitive.

Do other people find that after a major attack, it takes a long time to get back to normal? and that you are more susceptible? Before this cold I had felt pretty much back to normal again. As you can gather I'm still trying to work out this condition...

[Homely2 Administrator]

I had this repeat phase last year and into this, with three hospitalisations in four months.

My new consultant sorted it with four weeks of prednisone.

A major attack does your system in and it takes a long time to recover. The key is having a readily available medic to sort things out with quickly. I did not have this at the time, but now have been given a gp asthma nurse and a hospital asthma nurse, which is brilliant.

Also talk to asthma UK helpline so you know what you are asking the medics for

[Chip_y2kuk]

If you spent two weeks in hospital you must have been in a bad way .. ... at a month and a half I would have said you where still probably "recovering" and yes a cold/virus will make a bee line for the easiest thing to annoy... your airways

Steroids and antibiotics should have you feeling like superman in no time though (steroids take a few hours to start working) ... however airway inflammation often doesn't have any "symptoms" until its pretty severe...there's no nerves in the lungs, they are in the muscles/tissues surrounding the lungs so when you have a "tight chest" you've often been working harder for at least a little while before it becomes apparent

It's unfortunately a massive Learning curve and at 37 years old (I was diagnosed asthma at 9 months old) I'm still learning

[peege]

Definitely this has been my experience. It was over several years because each time it happened, half doolally with fever I'd take myself to the gp on an emergency appointment. I knew nothing about taking care of my lungs then. Each time the abs didn't work I'd take myself back for more and stronger abs. I realise now that none of the GPs read back though my notes. In this time I had pneumonia 4 times, twice at gp and twice at hospital walk-in centre. It was only when I took myself in yet again on my knees that a really thorough doc diagnosed pneumonia a 5th time and set me on the path for referral to a consultant because he suspected either bronchiectasis or aspergillosis .....luckily it wasn't either. It's so important that we advocate for ourselves and learning as much as we can.

My big learning was that my immune system was by then non existent so over time I rebuilt it with copious vitamins minerals tonic fruit veg as well as using prescribed preventer & rescue inhalers. Now at the first sign of a sniffle its effervescent vitamin c 1000mg for the boost and if a sore throat my antiseptic throat spray comes out. This has been working for years now. I also cover my nose & mouth to keep out cold air.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Mandevilla]

I've never been as bad as you, but I find that if I have one thing that makes my asthma kick off I am much more prone to it happening again until things have really calmed down. So it's not surprising you've been affected so badly if your first attack had you in hospital for two weeks!

I do everything I can to avoid colds/flu/chest infections because I know once I get one, my lungs are going to be super sensitive for a long while after.

[Particle32]

Thank you all. That is very helpful. I just hope I can return back to normal soon. I'm a few days in to steroids and one day into ABs. Mucus still there and sticky but less green.

It's a bit irritating the hospital was so keen to send me back to my gp, as would have been good to have their input for a while longer. My recovery was perceived as quick. Which it was until the cold!

[Mandevilla in reply to Particle32]

It's also worth remembering that if you've only recently been diagnosed, it can take a while to get the right balance of medication for you too. It's still very early days, so don't get discouraged if it takes a while. I was diagnosed a couple of years ago and it took four different inhalers to find the one that worked best for me, but we got there in the end!

[ellamental in reply to Particle32]

The first cut is the deepest. It sounds like it is getting there with the mucus being less green. I think speed is the thing and as soon as you start wheezing and the mucus is green it is an infection so you then need antibiotics (doxycycline work for me, amoxycillin don't) and it would be good to have an emergency supply of prednisolone at home. You May need further antibiotics when you have finished this course. It can take several weeks to recover but you have been unlucky having a cold before you have got better. The super antibiotics they give you in hospital seem to work like magic and I imagine you were on a nebuliser too. Don't not go to Hospital because you think they will keep you in, they usually patch you up and send you home in a few ours. It is scary though, not breathing. There is a lot to learn and if you can find an asthma nurse you are on the right track. Take a look at your blood tests over the years on Patient Access or similar and see if your Eosinophils are abnormal as this might mean you can have the new biologic injections which pretty much knocks asthma on the head. It is unusual to get it at your age. Good luck with it!

[Patk1]

Try to protect yrself from viruses cold,flu,covid etc as they usually trigger exacerbations in sensitive Airways.there r techniques on aluk website to help get mucous up frm lungs x