How long can Asthma flares last?

[Pebbles33]

Hi I’m in to my 5th week now with a tight chest and struggling to breathe. A&E couldn’t find anything untoward and GP could only offer stronger antihistamines and Montelukast which I have reluctantly started a few days ago. The worrying thing is that my peak flow isn’t too bad but I still have the tightness in my chest which is waking me up at night. If it’s a virus as they seem to think it is how long could it take to clear and has anyone else ever had similar? thank you.

[Homely2 Administrator]

My asthma flares can last several weeks and slowly worsen. My GP asthma nurse used to get them under control if they got too bad with pred, and if my asthma nurse was unavailable then I normally ended up in a and e.

However the asthma nurse and i are now experimenting with my increasing my alvesco for short periods from 320 to 640 a day, and only if that fails, my going to the asthma nurse for pred. My consultant is keen on anything that avoids pred

I find with difficult to control asthma I often need to suggest med changes to my medics rather than vice versa. I tend to ring asthma UK on 0300 2225800 pre appointments to get ideas of what would be sensible to suggest.

So you could ring asthma UK and see if they have any suggestions re your meds, and then take the suggestion to your GP.

[Pebbles33 in reply to Homely2]

Thank you for your reply. I spoke to an Asthma Nurse today and she was great. Gave me lots of helpful advice.

[My_fairy]

yes it can take a while depends on exacerbation and why it’s happening whether it’s a wether change, virus or infection. You can be in need of a too Buick incase of infection. However, I would suggest to keep an eye on symptoms and see peakflows could be dropping throughout the day and when you use inhaler it improves often this is the case so it isn’t an indication of your condition. Discuss with your asthma nurse and GP can listen to your chest check if it’s affecting your activity level. Are you more than usual breathless all of these things needs considering and discussing to make sure you feel better. Take care …..best wishes

[Pebbles33 in reply to My_fairy]

Thank you for your helpful reply

[Gareth57]

hi, I'm a bit late joining in but depending on which inhaler you use you can up the dose to get through an exacerbation, for example the maintenance dose might be 2x twice a day but during an exacerbation you can go up to 2x 4 times a day. Check with your GP or the asthma uk nurses if that's an option for you. For some reason doctors don't seem to volunteer this information!

[Pebbles33 in reply to Gareth57]

Thank you for your reply. I have increased my dose of Fostair. Although not 100% yet I feel that the Montelukast might be helping after 3 days use!

[Gareth57 in reply to Pebbles33]

That's good but it can take up to 4 weeks for Montelukast to fully take effect.

I'm also using Fostair (200/6) which I've successfully reduced since before Christmas but having picked up a virus 2 weeks ago I've gone back to the full dose and am feeling the benefit but once it has gone I'll be reducing again 🤞

Good luck with your recovery

[Pebbles33 in reply to Gareth57]

Do you take Montelukast to? I was nervous about taking it initially with the potential side effects but had no choice in the end. It’s good to know that it will be even more effective after a month. Thank you for your kind wishes all the best with reducing your dose once the virus has passed.

[runcyclexcski]

Pebbles, folks already mentioned prednisone here. Have you tried it before and, if yes, did it help?

[Pebbles33 in reply to runcyclexcski]

Hi I had a 5 day course but unfortunately it didn’t help me on this occasion.

[runcyclexcski in reply to Pebbles33]

Interesting about the 5 mg dosage. I wonder what their reasoning was. Every time I went to AE for asthma exacerbation I would get a week- or 2-week long course at a much higher dose (20-40 mg). It helped every time (temporarily of course). The most recent case was during a trip to the mountains when I realized I could not breathe and also could not get back down to a lower altitude quickly. 40 mg of pred made a big difference after 1-2 hrs of taking it (I then continued for another week). I am almost certain 5 mg would have done nothing in that case. Maybe OK as a maintenance dose.