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Asthma exacerbation - profopal 4 used? Anyone ever had this before?

ferny_123 profile image
2 Replies

Hey everyone,

Im a 23 year old Brittle asthmatic. A couple of days ago I was rushed into Birmingham after having an acute exacerbation of my asthma. Frustratingly I had just come off the train and was met by a bunch of youths smoking dope on the platform and within minutes I was struggling to breathe. Originally was given all the drugs in recuss i.e. Magnesium and it all seemed to settle and they moved me to another ward but about an hour later I had a bronchialspasm and ended up back in recuss and this time it was far worse. They gave me everything again and the medical reg was panicking asking ITU to come down straight away. I was in and out of consciousness by this point. I heard intubation being mentioned a few times and the ITU consultant kept saying 'we'll try everything to see if it settles before we intubate' - is it hard or a risk to intubate asthmatics? An absolute last resort? Anyway they gave me ketamine and that always makes me feel really weird and the next thing I know I've woken up in intensive care and don't remember how I got there. Turns out they gave me a drug propofol 400 and as a result I basically stopped breathing and so they rushed me to ITU. Woke up with a massive mask on my face with about a 60 litres oxygen flow going in. Sats maintained at about 91. I felt so horrible, really out of control, worse than any drunk night out I'd had ever! Room was spinning...I wanted to last out at people because I didn't know where I was. Has anyone ever been given this drug? And if so can anyone tell me why they give it to asthmatic patients if one of the side affects is to stop breathing? I've had a countless number of ITU admissions and have been intubated twice and I've never been given this drug before. But to be fair I've never been in a hospital in Birmingham so I'm sure they all have their different methods. Would be useful to find out more about it.

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Jenhcat profile image
Jenhcat

OMG! No experience of this but how scary! Sending best wishes. X Get well soon x

Maryeileen1 profile image
Maryeileen1

Hi , sorry to hear about your frightening experience.

Propofol is used in anaesthetics as an Airwave relaxer . When using this you can support the airway without intubation safely. It sounds like you woke up attached to C or bi pap . I would imagine with your history of brittle asthma they would be reluctant to intubate you as it may be very difficult to get you off .

The Ketamine most probably caused the odd feeling.

Wishing you well, kind regards Maryeileen.

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