Hello and confusion

Hiya,

I've been lurking for a year or so, so first of all hello, and thanks for all the useful advice thats on here. I had asthma as a child which I thought I'd grown out of but it came back quite persistently 2 years ago - after a period of being pretty unwell, I've been really well controlled since I started clenil mod and serevent twice a day.

I actually wanted to find out if anyone else has 'slow burn' asthma attacks - mine dont tend to be that severe but they do last a few days. I'm usually really well controlled on Clenil modulite 200 and Serevent but hayfever and/or sinusitis can set me off - had to get some pred to settle my chest in July during a really bad spell of hayfever.

I was wondering if there was anything I can try to settle asthma when it starts to get bad. Usually I dont wheeze but I do cough, my chest gets really tight and I'm really short of breath moving, and talking. Taking salbutamol definitely helps - but doesn't clear the symptoms. I've gone up to 10 puffs by which point the tightness clears but still feel a bit breathless and the tightness does come back eventually!

I've got a good GP who's willing to listen to ideas but he hasn't really given me any on how to head them off at the pass. I'm (when well) a really active person - I'm a long distance runner and play squash regularly so asthma doesn't stop me doing anything normally! I have been told to come in to GP when SOB as because i'm quite fit i've usually got myself into a bit of a state by the time I'm feeling it - I have been told i had poor air movement/ entry before, though I'm not quite sure what that means.

This weekend I felt continually 'asthmatic' but not so bad i needed to go to out of hours or A&E - but I was very out of breath walking up stairs etc. I saw a different GP at the surgery today who has doubled my inhaled steroid dose temporarily. I've never heard of this as an idea before but was worried as i'm already on 800mcg of clenil a day. Is this a normal thing to happen? Also, I was concerned that I'm still getting symptoms on Serevent, I thought that was supposed to alst 12 hours, I am taking it religously! It has sorted out my nighttime coughing beautifully so it does work!!

Thanks for anyone who's made it to the end of my enormous post, i'd appreciate some advice from some of you guys who seem to know everything!

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Hello and welcome,

Your post could be about my usual asthma symptoms ( I say usual because over the past few months they have been a lot more severe). I have symptoms which get worse over days and which last for days to the point where my GP has said that I am not bad enough to be in hospital but not well enough to carry on as I am. I also cough a lot rather than wheeze and get very tight and sticky airways. I was recently in hospital after an uncharacteristic severe attack and the consultant said she thinks I am very responsive to salbutamol so this helps keep attacks from becoming too severe. The problem I had was that I was taking a lot of salbutamol.

For asthma with allergy/sinus issues, a tablet called Montelkaust can be prescribed and there is quite a lot of information on here about it. I found that this worked quite well for me. Last year I also had an inhaler called Atrovent which is a long lasting reliever and I could add it in (4 times a day) when I was made. When I've been in A&E it is often the Atrovent neb which makes a difference. I don't take it now though as I was put onto a longer acting version of it called Spiriva.

I'm on a large dose of inhaled steroid (2000mcg of Flixotide) a day but when I spoke of my concerns, the doctor quite rightly said that it is better than regular pred.

I totally understand the OOH dilemma - I have been before and by the time I was seen my salbutamol was stopping things getting too bad yet another time I was told. I really needed to have gone a lot earlier! The good thing is that you sound as though you have a very good GP and if they run out of ideas it might be worth asking for a referral to a consultant (this is what happened to me even though I wasn't having really bad attack, it was impacting my life and my GP ran out of ideas).

Hope this helps.

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Thanks Kayla, really appreciate your response - like you, I think I am really responsive to Salbutamol which might explain a few things. Some good info too, I will be asking the GP about montelukast.