Newly diagnosed! boohoo :(

Hi everyone, I have just been told that I have asthma and am very unsure about anything I should be doing to help it. I have allergies which seem to make it worse, as well as ice cream, cold drinks, extremes of temperature, smoke etc. Any suggestions for anything that can help me? Obviously I will try and involve the triggers (where possible) and will be taking the usual allergy medicine and my new blue inhaler! Any help greatly appreciated as I am rather baffled and not had a huge amount of input from my GP.

Thank you

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Hi

Welcome to the forum! I was diagnosed last year - although think the problem has been underlying for a couple of years!

As a newbie to Asthma I would recommend that you access the leaflets that Asthma UK provide. They cover loads of topics and I found them to be really useful! Theres also some brilliant cards you can get to carry about ""what to do in an asthma attack"" which is brilliant if you are with friends/collegues that dont really know what to do - (Girl that I work with now has one in her drawer)

Also speak to your friends and let them know about your asthma, what to look out for and what to do if you do have an attack or get a little breathless.

Speak to your GP and ask for an appointment with an asthma nurse - then ask lots of questions!

Note you say you have a blue inhalor - have you been given a preventer?

Utilise the forums - you will find loads of people with different backgrounds, some old, some young, some new to it and some that have been unfortuantely suffering for years! But everyones really friendly and willing to give advice

And if you have any questions feel free to pm me as im pretty new to it all myself!

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Hi Jen,

Welcome to the forum!

There are people on here who know way more about asthma than I do but am sure they'd probably agree with me if I say have you seen an asthma nurse at your GP's surgery, as they can I believe often have more expert knowledge than GPs on this and also time to talk through things you're not sure about.

Also you can ring an asthma nurse on here - see top of page. They can also be very helpful if you're not sure about something and are waiting for appts etc.

Edit: Gemma beat me to it with the asthma nurse - I should have guessed someone would! I'd definitely agree this is a good place to find answers as well - generally someone else has had the same question at some point and if not people are very good at offering suggestions.

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Welcome jen85. I can remember how i felt when first told i had asthma and how scared i felt.This forum is a great place to find out info about asthma and suport from others who have it also and make new friends. Your docs might have a asthma nurse at their practice and lovely ones on here to help you.Love glynis x

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Thanks everyone!

Thank you so much for your quick responses. It's great to have people to talk to.

I have been really wheezy today, but it has been 27'C - does that normally have an impact on asthma? Also, I have taken my blue inhaler but it seems to be making everything worse - I have had to take it a lot today, I am worse than usual! It's all so confusing. How bad do you need to be before you take your blue one? I have been taking it today everytime I have been having uncomfortable prolonged coughing episodes - is that what you are supposed to do. I kind of feel like I have just been handed this inhaler and not really told anything about it.

thanks again for your responses, your recommendations are a great help

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I'll leave it to someone else to advise on the inhaler. I haven't a clue, my blue one doesn't work for me at all (but my lungs and what they get up to are very weird). I believe the inhaler's meant to last about 4 hours though? Maybe the next step will be a preventer if you're having to take your blue reliever that often.

Perhaps not much use now, on a Friday evening but I would definitely advise ringing your surgery on Monday and asking to see asthma nurse asap so they can tell you what you need to know about inhalers etc. Maybe also see a different GP next time if you can? The one you saw doesn't seem to be massively helpful, and sometimes you have to shop around within the surgery until you find a helpful one who actually listens to what you have to say and will answer your questions.

Of course if you think things are really going downhill and you feel very breathless and find reliever is not helping don't wait till Monday, get help from out of hours or ambulance. But would definitely say you need advice from someone even if not urgently as you do seem to have been just left to get on with it!

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I agree. As youre new to it, its a bit of trial and error but I think its best to go and see your Asthma Nurse preferably but if not, the GP. Its just a case to learning about Asthma and asking as many questions as you need to and learning whats right and not right for you. Everyones different. But Ive seen that the Asthma Nurses you can phone on this site are highly praised so its worth a go if you cant get an appointment as soon as you need one. x