Hope you are keeping safe and well. My Mum has been diagnosed with COPD further to her battle with COVID over Christmas. Ironically I think she caught COVID when she went for a chest x-ray which had been a condition of being prescribed antibiotics for a persistent chest infection she had had on and off all year.
Anyway, the Respiratory Consultant from the hospital where she was treated for COVID has now signed her COPD care over to our GP. Unfortunately they are not very proactive, and only from reading online I was able to insist she been issued an emergency pack of antibiotics and steroids.
I was just wondering when people start using this pack. Do you use your own initiative or do your consult your Doctor first. The reason I ask is she has developed a severe throat infection, and with a barking cough I fear it is travelling to her chest. Not sure whether she should start on the antibiotics and/or steroids as a precautionary measure, given COVID has left her wheezy and she gets breathless very easily! Eager to prevent this flaring up again! Any advice would be greatly appreciated please.
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D0n49
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You should have been issued with information on when and how to use the emergency pack at the time it was prescribed. Check the prescription bag from the pharmacy to see if its in with the other meds. If its not there phone the surgery and ask for the patient information when using the COPD emergency pack.
BLF has a page on it which may help in the interim:
Basically its used only if there is a chest infection, not prematurely. Never just for a cough or cold etc.
Worsening of symptoms, breathing, more difficulty walking, excessive fatique sputum colour changes etc. These just some of the symptoms.
If you are unsure chat with the GP who can determine if he/she feels they should be started, checking with the doctor when you can also means a replacement pack can be put on prescription if they are started.
Your mother may want to investigate pulmonary rehabilitation programme and education course on managing symptoms and slow progress of the disease. With covid it could be an on line course, but worth investigating what is available as often there is a waiting list to get on one. Often carers are able to attend with the patient.
Hello and welcome. I would start emergency pack now and see how she goes hopefully they should all start to kick in soon. Don't forget to re order a new pack your surgery may ring you about repeat let them now that it was that she had chest infection. And needed them.
hi , i was diagnosed copd 2017 and no one told me about rescue pack or inhalers until a year later when i had a review and they asked me to bring the inhaler with me when i told them i did not have one they paniced and an order was placed with the chemist straight away. then they gave me a rescue pack and a plan. i to did not know when to use them . but i became breathless one day and could not talk properly my wife phone the gp and they said start straight away ( another rescue pack was issued ). my second flair up i had chest pains called the gp just to make sure and started again turned out i had a chest infection. i had covid in january and had to have chest x-ray in march and they compared it with a previous x-ray, then i was sent to a covid clinic and as i have permanent chest pain they think i have long covid now under chest clinic for further tests and monitoring . so ifthe inhalers are not working take the rescue pack but inform your gp straight away so they can re-issue a rescue pack and monitor the situation. hope she feels better soon. kevin
I have Pleural Thickening, and keep an emergency pack at home. If my breathing deteriorates quickly I start to administer the pack at the prescribed dose. I usually note an improvement within a couple of days. If not, I discuss with my GP, who is very helpful. I ensure a prescription for a replacement emergency pack, to keep safely until a future need arises. This process ensures that there are no delays in starting treatment if I encounter any infection, and has worked well for 10 years. Some years I have hardly used it, but occasionally I have been advised to start a second pack quickly if the first pack hasn't done the trick.
Thanks all for your help so far! For now she has a really sore throat, and a hacking cough that cuts through me, but don’t think it’s worsened her breathing just yet! However don’t want to wait and be in a position where it does!
Do people take both the antibiotics and steroids each time please? Conscious about building up a resistance!
I often just take the oral Steroid and not the antibiotic. If there are no changes in sputum colour, then the infection is more likely to be viral, and antibiotics will not help. As you say, I am also very aware of not builing up a resistance to them as I may really need them one day.
I always ring 111 for advice which often leads to an appointment at my local walk in clinic. Personally in your mother's case I would start the emergency pack and then seek further help via 111 . Due to your mother's symptoms she may need further treatments which could help her.
Thanks Badbessie! She takes so many drugs at the moment I was apprehensive to start her on them without medical confirmation.
I emailed the surgery in the small hours of this morning, but when she got a temperature I chased and they left a note with the Doctor. A few hours later we got a text saying a new emergency pack was at the pharmacy and to start taking her current one.
Had hoped for a little more bedside manner, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers! Now just praying they work!!!
I go to the hospital yearly & I see a COPD nurse at the doctors once a year also.I have to send sputum samples to hospital when I’m unwell so they can check which bug causes the infection.That way they know if I’m on right antibiotic.
Thanks Handcream! Although my Mum is newly diagnosed, my Dad has been diagnosed with COPD for quite a few years now and all they have ever done for him is an annual spirometry test. Other people seem to be more clued up/cared for on this forum!
Appreciate all of your help 😊 Please stay safe and well!
It is very tricky to know. There are exacerbations with infection needing the antibiotics and possibly the prednisolone then there are exacerbations without infection so just needing the prednisolone (steroids for inflammation ie to bring down the inflammation in airways).Its all a massive learning curve to be sure. After all your mum has had her immune system will be almost nonexistent making it so easy to pick up any bug going.
I dont have copd however, at the 1st sign of a sore throat I use my antibacterial throat spray (especially at night) and drink effervescent vitamin c (I've been doing this for three days/nights now and think I've prevented the bugs penetrative my airways hallelujah).
Some people watch the colour of their mucus (there are so many shades), if it turns more yellow/green they crack open the abs.
Personally? I'd err on the side of caution, a barking cough doesn't sound right
Thanks peege! Started her on the antibiotics this afternoon only because she has thick yellow phlegm, the throat infection and now her chest is crackling. Will look to start the steroids in the morning like the packet says, but hoping I have not left it too late and we manage to nip this one in the bud!
Thanks for taking the time to advise! Please take care and stay safe and well!
Sounds like a proper well established infection. When you start the pred be sure to take as early as possible in the mornings with a little food (can cause sleep problems otherwise). Many of us here would take antibiotics for at the very least 10 days and I for 1 would never bother with amoxicillin insisting on a thoroughly proper antibiotic. Good luck to your mum (and dont forget to reorder the emergency prescription). P
It might work 🤐, if she is still unwell and mucus still looks infected on last day of abs please don't hesitate to call gp to tell them, hopefully they'll give a better antibiotic for a longer period of time. Amox has never ever worked for me even the time it was repeated for 4 weeks. Then I was given Clarithromycin for a further 3 weeks which cleared it (not for long though until eventually I was on a 3 months course of something else then it was uphill at last). Once your immune system is severely compromised you're open to everything going. P
Thanks peege! It doesn’t seem to be doing much to be honest, but we have spoken about her seeing the course through and then asking for something stronger if she’s not feeling better!
Her O2 levels seem ok, which is something that dropped when she had COVID, but it’s the hacking cough and her throat is so sore she has traces of blood in her phlegm/sputum 🥺
Sorry to hear you have been through the wars, but hope you are keeping in good health! Really appreciate you taking time to advise!!!
Sounds like mums not too gd.signs of infection are cough,more mucous,disoloured/thick mucous.i think we've all learnt to treat poss infections quickly as clears it quicker and can help avoid severe flareups.do get her to drink more too as helps thin mucous.steroids,as peege said are for inflammation- if we get more wheezy,airflow restricted.
Thanks Patk1, that’s brilliant advice! Am regretting not just starting her on the medication sooner, but hopefully it will start to clear soon! She already seemed brighter today, but every time I hear that cough it makes my heart cry!!!
I believe you shouldn’t suppress a cough, especially when you have an infection it’s always best to bring up the sputum and dispose of it. Anyone got any tricks to make that happen more efficiently please?!? Anything they do so it’s less distressing on the body - my Mum’s ribs are hurting now 😟
Hi D0n49, we were in this position a few weeks ago, suspected chest infection, part of the rescue pack was antibiotics however my mums symptoms got worse, would recommend getting the rescue pack ASAP when suspected, and then consulting with the GP if things don’t get better, unfortunately the antibiotics in my mums rescue pack didn’t help and she was admitted into hospital on Tuesday, they’ve now put her on different antibiotics, but always worth getting the rescue pack and consulting the gp at the same time (it’s usually quicker to get the rescue pack than it is to talk to the GP) hope you’re okay x
Thank you for reaching out! I hope your Mum is ok now!
Mum has had soooo many antibiotics this year, she is reluctant to take anymore.
After two weeks, finally convinced Mum to get a GP appointment. She had a telephone consultation booked for Friday afternoon and they never bothered to call. This is why I resort to this forum so much, struggle to get the support from our Doctor’s surgery.
Thankfully she seems ok. Just holding out for her COVID booster now, so scared of the crazy high infection rates.
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rescue pack 
Cough, cough, cough
Don't know whether to be happy or angry :/
