Positive visit to the chest clinic

I am really pleased with how my visit to the chest clinic went. I didn't get discharged, which is what I was hoping for, but better safe than sorry. The respiratory nurse recognised my mum and my mum told him I'd had a visit to A &E so he said he'd have a chat with me.

He sat down and we talked through various things, he called in the Dr so I didn't even have to go to another room. They tweaked my asthma plan a bit, they are going to write my GP a letter and copy me in so I can take the letter along to A & E if I need to go the Dr said 'Tell them here you are you muppets get yourself sorted' I like his style! <big grins> They also said if I feel well enough when its not grass pollen season I may be able to reduce my symbicort. They also told me about using symbicort as a reliever which may help me when I'm feeling a bit under the weather. I asked about the grass pollen allergy medication that was in the news and the flutter that my cousin has and they were really good at explaining why neither would be good for me. I'm really pleased they are honest as I don't want to be given stuff that's not useful. They want to see me in 3 months to see how I'm getting along with the grass pollen season.

I know I'm not completely sorted yet about the best way to manage my asthma when I'm unwell but it seems like being able to try different things is useful and eventually we'll find the best thing for me.

Beth

[yaf_user681_25874]

HI Beth

Glad to hear it went well for you.... don't be too disappointed about not being discharged - better that they are montoring you and may be able to offer even more help.

Have to say I've had very positive visits to mine too recently - to be honest once I got an appt with the resp nurse rather than routine recalls with the cons/reg, it seems to have changed things completely - they seem to have more time to talk and investigate what's best, and they can access the cons if they think you should see them too...

Hopefully it will stay so positive for me - I have some appts next week to review how my latest meds changes have gone.

Kat

[Hidden]

Kat,

Glad your visits have been positive recently too, its nice to know that people are doing the best they can to try and help.

Resp nurses seem really clued up don't they? Mine explains things so well and treats me like an intelligent human being. I like to know what I'm being given and why and what I'm not being given and why not. He doesn't just concentrate on medication either which is a good thing, he was explaining to me about huffing to get the gunk up. I've tried it today and it works sometimes, although I keep getting strange looks in the office!

One of my relatives who is a manager in the NHS round here says that I only got access to the resp nurse because of my hospital admissions. It seems silly to me because surely if you get people before they have admissions they are less likely to be admitted?

Beth

[yaf_user681_25874]

Hi Beth

You're absolutely right - makes bags more sense but it just seems to be hit and miss if you get access to them or not....

For me, I had a 6 mnth recall appt at clinic and saw a diff Dr to usual, and happened to be going through a bad patch due to infections.... We had a bit of a discussions about stepping up and down and I told him my GP's most recent comments that the 2 x 250 seretide twice daily I was on at the time was the highest I could have and here have some pred.....

He thought it strange I didn't already have a Personal Plan either via clinic or my GP to try to avoid things kicking off, and arranged an appointment with a resp nurse to sort it out.

That has really been a turning point in that when I saw the resp nurse, she got the Dr to review and change my meds, and arranged another appt for about 6 - 8 weeks later... then at that appt as things were better but not good, took me straight in to cons there and then.....

The thing was, because I have never had an admission and was often well when I had an appt (I was referred to chest clinic as my GP was unsure of diagnosis) I always felt a bit of a fraud, so I wouldn't have dreamed about asking for access to the nurses, even if I'd realised they were there and what they could do.

The last few months have been more challenging so I know that without the meds I'd probably end up with an admission - my personal plan means that if I get to the point that I can't talk properly then I call MAU and go in - previously when I've been in that state, I've seen my GP and been given pred and told to come back in a week or if I get worse .

But it makes you realise that if more people were given access to this kind of support, then they would probably be better controlled, and the stats on admisisons etc would probably be a lot better.

OK - that's enough of a rant from me!!!

Hope you enjoy your trip to the seaside and avoid Hartlepool A&E

Kat