Ummm…

[Singinglouder]

Went to see the asthma nurse this week - I’m not getting on with Trimbow - and offered to show her my peak flow diary. ‘Why are you measuring your peak flow?’ she asked, with genuine curiosity. The asthma nurse 😳

[Troilus]

Yes. I’ve had that - from a doctor. I had covid and peal flow dropped. I thought it would come back up once I was clear but it didn’t. I had an appointment with the GP who advised me not to take it as people can get “fixated” on it and it is not healthy! ( My peak flow was in the red at 190!)

[peege in reply to Troilus]

ffs 🙄, were all such morons aren't we grrrr

[Poobah in reply to Troilus]

I wonder if this GP would say a similar thing to a diabetic patient..."don't monitor your blood sugar, you can get fixated & it's not healthy"? Hope you were able to recover well Troilus, in spite of this GP?

[T1ggy in reply to Poobah]

Funny you should say that. My diabetic friend was just saying that she has been told not to check hers anymore. She said her friend has been told to check hers once a year. Seems very odd!

[Singinglouder in reply to T1ggy]

I think they decided some years ago that diabetics on tablets can’t adjust their meds anyway, so there’s no point in testing - doesn’t seem to have occurred to them that motivation is important, or that knowing you’re running high enough to risk complications could be quite useful, and test strips are much cheaper than dealing with complications once you’ve got them

[RABS1957 in reply to Troilus]

😅wow?

[Poobah]

I really despair sometimes when I hear about other people's experiences with their doctors and asthma nurses. I too have been given a different inhaler on trial and my asthma nurse impressed on me how important it was to take my peak flow over the trial period so she can review my progress, or lack of it, in 6 weeks time. I know already that the inhaler doesn't suit me & the PF readings support this, side effects being grim. In fact, she gave me a new PF as my old one had seen better days.

But if doctors & nurses are like this about asthma, are they similarly complacent about other conditions?

[Singinglouder in reply to Poobah]

This was a new nurse - think I’ll ask to see my usual one next time!

At least she agreed with me about the Trimbow we were reviewing (without seeing the peak flows!), and I’m back on the old inhaler - like you, couldn’t live with the side effects and it wasn’t actually helping anyway.

[Poobah in reply to Singinglouder]

Not only do we have to try out news meds, but asthma nurses too! 😆 Always good to have options.

[TrevorE in reply to Singinglouder]

Out of interest, what were your side-effects? I've just been switched from Rilast/Symbicort to Trimbow, and don't like it. Even though I do use a spacer, there's a definite slight burning sensation in the back of my throat when I first inhale, as well as other things. And it doesn't seem to work as well for me as Rilast.

[Singinglouder in reply to TrevorE]

I got a very croaky voice (and yes, I used a spacer and rinsed, gargled and cleaned my teeth), but the worst was the cramp, from my toes to my hips and especially in the arches of my feet. That in turn was affecting my sleep, because the cramp often woke me up. Trimbow would have had to make a significant improvement to my breathing to be worth putting up with that lot - and it didn’t! I did stick it out for seven weeks, to give things a chance to improve, but nothing changed, so I’m back off the Trimbow and booked into the hospital clinic for December to find out what we’re trying next…

[TrevorE in reply to Singinglouder]

It’s easy to assume that when you’re put onto a new medication that things should improve but unfortunately it’s nowhere near that simple.

Thanks for sharing. Hope you’re able to find a better alternative.

[Beth_19]

mum because doctors and nurses keep saying how important peak flow is. Honestly asthmatics cannot win. We take our peak flow too much, we take it too little, it’s too high, it’s too low, I wish they would pick something and stick with it

[Homely2 Administrator]

My GP practice has two asthma nurses, one an asthma nurse who worked in an asthma clinic at the hospital, an experienced asthma specialist. The other is just a nurse, who has a mild interest in asthma.

So it is vital for me that I get an appointment with the correct asthma nurse.

[DannyQ]

Well my Asthma is controlled using Fostair 100 /6 and Montelukast but my Asthma nurse is OK that my peak flow is only 380 which to me is very low. So I'm taking 6 puffs a day on my inhaler now and it all seems in control and my running is now OK but I do feel if I had a higher peak flow I could run a little faster than I do

[Poshcards in reply to DannyQ]

mine is only 250 - 300, usually the lower and they are not worried, I am on Fostair 200/6, Spiolito and Montelukast

[Ts777]

I think the medical profession needs to stop telling us how they think we are. Instead, they should listen while we tell them the reality.

They may be experts on medicine. However, I am the expert on my very own variant of allergies, eczema and asthma!!!

[ellamental]

Nothing to add to this except 😬

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

I mean I've met some healthcare professionals who are overly obsessed with peak flow (and with predicted not personal best). But there's definitely a happy medium and this is not it! How about they work with us on this and use peak flow as works for the individual and sensibly?

I'd have been so tempted to say something like 'oh I needed a new hobby'.

[Singinglouder in reply to Lysistrata]

I was so thrown I didn’t know what to say (not at all like me!), but did manage to point out that when I had full lung function tests I’d been told they now recommend taking peak flow four times a day! Not that I do that - I was actually apologising that my long term records were only once a day, but I had managed twice a day for monitoring the new inhaler. I’ve set an alarm with Pink Floyd’s Breathe as the alert sound 😂

[pink123floyd in reply to Singinglouder]

Epic love it

[Singinglouder in reply to pink123floyd]

The intro makes me jump every time, but I’m remembering to do the peak flow!

[Sansovino1926]

I was recently given an additional prescription of Spiriva 2.5 micrograms (1 lot of 2 puffs daily) on top of the Fostair 100/6 (2 puffs AM, 2 puffs PM) I have been on for 5 years. My local pharmacy didn't have any, their supplier doesn't have it, so I was given an FP10 and took it to a big Boots. While they were getting it ready I noticed Omron PF meters reduced to £14.95. My new toy! Hours of fun making an Excel spreadsheet with a fancy chart! I do see what people mean about obsession. I have time on my hands now I'm retired. I think it does not do any harm, but I keep thinking that I probably don't really need to do it. All the guidance I've found online says that if you find you are going below 80 percent of your 'personal best' (390 at the moment) PF reading your asthma is not well controlled. I am getting readings of 70 percent to 100 percent and they are creeping up after 6 weeks of Spiriva, but some of that could be down to technique. By the way, I'm coming up to 1 year since I gave up smoking.