Chest infection

[Wheezynikki]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum but have had asthma since being a teenager. About 23 years now. I started to get a cough a week and a half ago and was self treating and using my inhalers but it has gone to my chest. I went to my GP last Thursday and was given amoxicillin and prednisolone which I've been taking and now this is day 4 and I'm still not that much better. When I've had antibiotics and steroids before its only been about 3 days and I've felt almost back to normal. My peak flow is 290 today and my normal is around 450. My worst was 200 on the Thursday I went to docs but it seems to be improving but very slowly. Does this sound normal or should I be going back for a stronger inhaler until I am back to normal?

Thank you.

[Minushabens]

If it's improving I'd guess that shows that something is working, albeit quite slowly. It's a modern reality that antibiotics aren't always as effective as we'd wish, but assuming your lungs are, asthma apart, healthy then you will generally get better slowly but surely. Obviously your doctor or nurse will decide based on seeing you whether or not you need further medication, but as long as you are showing a steady recovery my guess would be they'll be reasonably happy.

[Wheezynikki]

Thank you Minushabens, I rang the GP practice for advice and they got me in with the GP. She was lovely and said to continue as I was but increase my brown inhaler to 5 puffs twice a day. Also asked for a sputum sample to just check it's not an infection that needs a specific antibiotic. She said the same though, that as long as I was heading in the right direction albeit slowly, then that's ok. I was worried I'd be wasting her time but she said she'd rather see me like that than have to be doing CPR for ignoring symptoms.

I've started using my peak flow meter and recording it regularly instead of just guessing that I feel a bit better than previously.