Breathless

[twiddles2]

Hi. My sister is a severe eosinophillic asthmatic. She is very breathless not wheezing. Gp says her chest is clear. Any advice.

[Troilus]

Try 10 of the blue inhaler to see if she can get some relief. Then I would consider 999 (better safe than sorry) or if she is not agreeable to that 111. Not all asthmatics wheeze. The fact that she is very breathless cannot/ should not be ignored. The GP (in my opinion) should have acted on that alone.Just a quick edit to say as she is very breathless she would be better taking the inhaler on a spacer using deep breathing (no holding of breath)

[Homely2 Administrator]

Breathlessness is a classic sign of out of control asthma, you do not have to wheeze or have a congested chest to be having an asthma attack.

Your sister should have a written asthma plan, mine is on my fridge and says something along the lines of, if my peak flow is persistently low, it specifies a level, then take up to 8 doses of salamol or ventolin, two at a time. If that fails to improve the situation then ring 999.

I would check your sisters asthma plan, and see what it says for her, then follow it.

As a minimum I would ring 111. If the condition is worsening, is scary, or the asthma plan says so ring 999.

Asthma when out of control can deteriorate fast and you can not take chances with it. I would be wary about leaving your sister alone without talking to 111. 111 has been great for me.

If you get to Monday without your sister seeing a medic, book another gp appointment or contact your sisters hospital respiratory team, but before the appointment ring the asthma UK helpline on 0300 2225800, it opens 9. 15 on Monday. They will tell you what to say to the medic.

[peege]

Just below your post are the details for the help line, do give them a call for professional advice - uk officehours. Good luck to your sister & kind regards, P.

[My_fairy]

yea she should have her treatment up may be preds and will need more inhaler as suggested by others to calm down breathlessness. My daughter when she was uncontrolled and started breathlessness attacks she was put on steroid to help and her asthma was not getting controlled with multiple steroids and breathlessness even whilst resting came late. It’s scary and dangerous please get her medical attention as GPS don’t understand severe asthma in great detail. Hope she gets better soon.

[runcyclexcski]

I would find a good pulmonary consultant, preferentially at a specialty hospital, and see her/him regularly. GPs are not often knowledgeable enough of asthma ("chest clear"), and even at A&E I had the same issues (they would only give nebs and prednisone when I basically collapsed in front of them). Having an official note from a specialist documenting that she has asthma, listing her peak flow threshold, and saying that she does not wheeze, would make A&E move faster. I have a not like this in a laminated sheet which I carry on me at all times. The note says "take prednisone 40 mg when sick", so this is what I show to A&E, saying that that I am merely following instructions.

[Venta55]

have they changed her inhaler at all

[Deverdad]

I have Sever eosinophillic asthma and have a wide range of medication including a monthly injection to control it. This enables me to live a very normal life including running and climbing (I am very lucky) However it occasionally gets out of control and I have a recovery plan which was "signed off" by my Doctor. This specifies how many extra "puffs" of the various inhalers I have I should take. Your sister should have access to an Asthma nurse who would probably be able to give informed advice. Eosinophillic asthmatic is believed to be blood related rather than an allergy.

[Patk1]

I've got it,too.its hard.does she have a salbutamol inhaler? She should use it when symptomatic.she may .need steroids at times.is she on biologic injections x