First time had problems with asthma flare up after almost 20 years

Hi

This is my first post and in the 3rd week of asthma causing me problems, from being hoarse to waking in the night gasping for breath. Peak flow dropped from 500 to between 250 and 300. 12 days so far of Pred and it's not worked, apart from keeping me awake at night... You folks who have much more serious symptoms have my respect.

I seem to get worse late afternoon - can anyone offer a reason why?

GP has changed me to seretide 100 round to a 250 evoinhlaer yesterday but no improvement yet - any idea how long?

[Hidden]

Hi Janey,

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you're having some problems at the moment. I think preventers can take a few weeks to build up their effect so you might have to persevere for a bit longer before you benefit fully from it. If you've already been taking your new one for three weeks though then you probably should have noticed at least a little difference by now. If you're not happy with things and how you're feeling then it might be best to go back and see GP again. Hope you get things sorted soon. Feel free to PM any time if you need to chat/rant/moan etc!

Shy1. x

[Hidden]

Thanks Shy1

When a had a flare 3 years ago it was over and done with in a week, this time time it's the start of week 4 tomorrow....grrrrr

J x

[Annista]

Hi Janey. This all sounds horribly familiar.

I also had asthma for about 20 years and pretty much ingored it except for the odd attack that was seen off by a couple of puffs of ventolin, until some work being done in our office set me off big time and, like you, my peak flow dropped like a stone and within a couple of days I couldn't walk across the room without needing a lie down. It would always be worse in the late afternoon and through the evening, easing off any time after News at Ten started. It took a lot of patience and even more Pred to get it sorted out but once it was dealt with I had almost no problems for another 10 years. In fact, I was so stable that I only got a new inhaler when the existing one went out of date and I didn't need a preventer.

I'm just getting over another nasty patch and I'm aiming for another 10 years problelm free!

If it can happen for me, it can happen for you too and I hope you start to improve soon.

[Hidden]

I seem to have a dip late afternoon/early evening, which I've always attributed to tiredness, but there might be a better reason lurking out there!

Sorry to hear about your flare-up. That just sounds horrible and distressing, especially if you've had well-controlled symptoms for a long time. I hope that you can work with your doctor/asthma nurse to get things back on track.

Hang in there!

Wishes

[Hidden]

Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time of it. Probably not much help coming from me because I am so weird in this respect but find my breathing is usually worse first thing and early evening into the night, though when it started getting worse it began to creep into the day from either end instead of just bothering me morning and evening/night. There do seem to be definite patterns for some people, it reassures me that I am not as weird as I think!

I do hope you can get this sorted soon as it's never fun struggling for breath.

[Hidden]

Hi janey, hope you get things sorted soon. What time of day do you take your pred? I suffer badly with insomnia when I take it but if I take them first thing in the morning when I get up then I can usually sleep the following night. Hope this helps

S x

[Hidden]

Hiya Janey. It takes a few days for the larger dose to take effect but meanwhile don't hesitate to call the green men out if you feel you're worsening. That's a big drop in your pf.

I think a lot of us who are normally well-controlled have had unexpected flare-ups this summer, I have. Too damp for my lungs. My problems have also been coming on later in the day and at night (whereas I used to be worse in the morning.) Just widespread wheezing and SOB for some reason! Had to go to hosp for x-ray & now awaiting results of tests to check if asthma-related ABPA has flared up - spores start increasing around this time of yr. On pred, antibiotics (tho am fairly sure i haven't got a bug, but giving the lungs a good clean reduces inflammation) and increased ventolin nebs.

Maybe you have a low-grade but persistent infection? Have you visited anyone in hosp recently? Has the gp done sputum tests? X-ray? You need further investigation, esp as this is so unusual for you. So don't put up with it for long is my advice - get referred on to the cleverer docs.

good luck, and pls let us know how you get on x

[Hidden]

Hi Janey

I can relate to this - I too was well controlled till a year ago only on Seretide 125 and now on pred, montelukast, symbicort 400... I think as someone else said,this summer has been rough for a lot of people who are usually well controlled. Maybe it's the weather.

Are you under a consultant? Have you asked about allergy testing or changing your inhaler to a higher dose rather that just the pred?

Good luck