Feeling the need

Hi

Another question.

We as asthmatics are told to take our blue inhalers when we feel we need it.

Are there any others like me who struggle to work out when it is needed?

I do not wheeze and have never wheezed. So I cannot listen for the need.

I am on high esomprezole 40mg two tablets twice a day so often get indigestion so a tight chest is indigestion for me.

So that is two ways of feeling out of the question.

I frequently choke on food due to my physical disability so always have a cough from this

So that is a third out of the way.

I often get breathless but have been told this is because I am unfit due to my phyiscal disability.

So that is a fourth put the way.

I normally try my blue inhlaer if my peak flow drops as feeling i need it does not happen.

I have been told I have problems feeling the need because I am autisitic and autisistic people do not have the body feels sensations unless they touch the object. There is no way I can touch my airways to see if they need blue inhaler.

Does anyone else struggle to rely on taking blue inhaler when they feel the need? Does anyone else struggle to feel when they need there inhaler?

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Hi the best way is to use your inhaler when you think you might need it. If it helps with the breathlessness then you did need it. If not then you didn't. It won't do you any harm to use it if not needed you know. You will learn to know when to use it through trial and error.

Do you have a preventer as well as the blue reliever? A preventer opens your airways up and is used twice a day.

[Wheezycat]

I have been the same, not recognising I had asthma symptoms. So I didn't seek help in a timely fashion. I either just didn't notice, or I thought it just normal, or I thought it was a sign I was unfit and needed more exercise. I found it really quite difficult. And in the end I got much worse......then I noticed alright! I even ended up in hospital for a few days about a year ago.

Since then I have been training myself to sense/notice/observe myself and try to learn what can be problems for me. I don't always get it right I don't think, and now given that I have this hospital admission behind me I do sometimes get a little too worried perhaps that I am having symptoms, when perhaps it isn't a proper symptom. So I know what you mean. But I also think it gets better. So as the previous person said, trial and error. You can't easily harm yourself with the blue inhaler.

What I have learned for me - it is an individual thing - is that smoke doesn't agree with me, so I am wary of barbecues, wood burning stoves, bonfires, theatrical smoke, burning inscence sticks. Also fragrances.....I really now dislike things like perfumes, aftershaves, smell of hairspray. Also where there a fragrances added to cleaners and air fresheners. And smell of oil based paints when houses are being redecorated. I think these are quite common for asthmatics, but as said it is an individual thing. I seem to have less trouble than many with pollen or cold, but I I less certain of damp weather and moulds.

I am just mentioning this to perhaps give you an idea if the kind of things that could be worth noticing. You could be affected by different things, though, not any of these.