Recovering from an asthma flare

Hi folks

I know there has been past discussions on this but i cannot find them.

How long does it take to recover from an asthma excerbation/ flare?

What can you do to help it?

I have now been out of hospital 3 weeks and had 2 more chest infections and i am still not getting very far.

I just want to get back to the things i really enjoy. I am crawling up the walls. I am so bored!

I still can only walk a short distance due to the muscle wastage i gained and the breathlessness.

I am seeing my consultant reguarly as well as my resp nurse so i dont need to medical advice just helpful tips and advice from fellow suffers.

I just feel like i am moaning continuously but it is so frustrating any one else in this position?

Asthma flares seem to take forever to sort themselves out!

You get out of hospital and people just expect you to be back to normal but your just not!

Plumie

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don't think anyone can ever give you an answer to that one. It depends on how bad you were and how long you were bad. Also what treatments you used as we all know certain ones deplete our immune system so making us more vulnerable to further infections which unfortunately you seem to have succumbed to. It's the same old rest, fluids, and keep warm difficult with this weather.

[Skee-skee]

I am in a similiar position to you- I am sure there are lots of others. After 2 hospital admissions in quick succession (complicated by allergies to the hospital food) and 3 weeks of lying in bed absorbing hardly any food (allergies again). I was left really weak, tired and breathless when doing anything.

I was getting somewhere, gradually reducing the oral steroids then I got a cold (grr), but last day of high dose steroids today and then back to reducing them.

My advice is to gradually build up what you can do- and concentrate on the positives, even if you only manage to walk 5 more metres than yesterday. I find doing something more active in the mornings and then a snooze after lunch is helpful. If walking is really difficult are you doing what I call 'sofa/bed aerobics' where you do leg/ arm raises lying/sitting down. Sometimes setting yourself targets can be helpful ie I will get myself showered and dressed by 10 (my mum is really keen on this one!). Have you got friends/family to take you out for a cup of tea, just so you can have a change of scene? It can be really helpful if tiring!

Feel free to PM and moan if you want! It can be so fustrating and very difficult for people who haven't experienced anything similar to understand. I know what you mean about people expecting you to be back to normal when you get out of hospital - my dad is a GP it sometimes feels like he expects that (in reality I think it is his way of coping with stress- he did book himself and my mum a ski holiday when I was in ITU!! she went mad).