Asthma review

Hi there I’m new to this and I wondered if anyone else has had the same experience. I’ve recently moved to a new surgery. My old surgery had a fab asthma nurse and she was up to date and it was reassuring to see her. This new surgery doesn’t have a asthma nurse so my review was done by ‘the nurse’. She queried my Sirdupla inhaler use and said 2 doses in the morning and 2 at Night was high and was it really necessary. Also You can only have 4 blue ventolin inhalers on prescription in a year. Then she just checked blood pressure and peak flow. No check on my inhaler technique and she said that just because I’m breathless doesn’t mean it’s the asthma. Anyway if I’m breathless I shouldn’t be using my blue Ventolin inhaler as using it too much can make your asthma get out of control and very quickly! It’s quite frightening when you know more than the nurses do. Maybe she doesn’t come across much asthma but a newbie would be in trouble with her advice. Looking forward to getting to know a folk on here. 😀

[Hidden]

hi I too have moved gp surgeries this year. The new surgery does have an asthma nurse but this one is refusing to do as the consultant says. It

has really annoyed me as I thought respiratory consultants

were above nurses. I would book and see a GP and do a new review. It is not good how asthmatics get treated at times. Yesterday an endocrine doctor changed me from prednisolone to hydrocortisone because I am poorly with another condition but it does not mean I am not nervous about the change. I know full well the asthma nurse is going to disagree when she finds out. I am not sure whether to just ring her and bite the bull by the head so to speak.

[Lynneypin in reply to Hidden]

I would speak to her now.

[Hidden in reply to Lynneypin]

i will ring the surgery at 8 to see if i can have a telephone appointment with the asthma nurse.

[Lynneypin]

To be honest I think a lot of the time patients educate themselves about their own disease and are more clued up than the nurses, and sometimes the ‘general’ practitioners.

[Karjade]

I agree. I feel that I know more than my GP sometimes but I dare not contradict him as he tells me to stop going on Google!

[Tugun in reply to Karjade]

Hi Karjade,

Yes - Dr Google has, if not exactly "saved" my life, definitely helped me to improve my health. Recently an afterhours doctor prescribed me prednisone. I asked him for prednisolone as I prefer it. He said it was the same thing. I explained the slight difference and then he told me that prednisolone only came in liquid form and was only for children. I told him that it did come in tablet form as I have some but I didn't press it as he was obviously feeling uncomfortable. He just reiterated that prednisone was best and gave me a prescription for prednisone. I felt like suggesting that he look up Google to check the differences - but I refrained - and tore up the script when he left. He was obviously a fairly new doctor but I wondered just how well he had done in his pharmacy subjects!

[Hidden]

Oh gosh, I got newly diagnosed in august and FINALLY (fingers crossed) have my asthma review on Monday, I hope it goes a better than that!

[risabel59]

I have to say, I have had mixed experiences with Asthma Nurses, some outstanding, some simply dreadful. Like Julie, I've had an asthma nurse query the consultants prescription. I have also had them try to change meds without consulting the hospital.

However the very first Asthma Nurse I saw, managed to expedite a referral for me, got me a home nebulizer to borrow, and also basically saved my life!! I have also seen respiratory team asthma nurses in hospital who have been fab, giving me emergency numbers to text etc. and always at the end of a phone.

I think the problem is that it is so variable. I think if your surgery does not have a specialist asthma GP or Nurse, then you should probably try to register at another surgery.

Best

R

[-Butterfly-]

I have an awful asthma nurse who thinks she knows everything because she has asthma herself.

After I left the last review I screwed up my asthma plan and threw it away because it wasn't worth the paper it was written on!! My best pf is 570, she said I didn't need to worry until it got to 350 or something silly!!

I saw her last week as I'm having symptoms every day, at least once a day, when she checked my pf it was 450 so she said not to worry. She said I can use my reliever if I think it's helping but that it's probably anxiety 😣 as I wasn't wheezing. I wasn't at the time, but when my symptoms have been worse, my breathing feels quite wheezy which actually worries me as I don't normally wheeze, so to me that's quite a flag!

[Lynneypin in reply to -Butterfly-]

Wow! You have an AMAZING best pf!!

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

Butterfly, I had a consultant like that. She thought it meant she didn't need to keep up to date or actually know about asthma treatment, and that if she didn't experience something herself, it meant it wasn't asthma. I have learned that titles do not necessarily mean much - I've had better asthma treatment from a gastroenterologist and an endocrinologist (while admitted and they were on the rota, I wasn't just randomly seeing them).

Monikabear, your asthma nurse sounds terrible and I'd actually hope hasn't had any training as I'd worry if she had! I remember speaking to the asthma nurse on the helpline here and and she said the things she hears... Some primary care is fantastic and other times it really isn't. I feel like yours has got the cause and effect the wrong way round with the inhalers just slightly...

Moving to a new surgery is always tricky and it takes trial and error to find someone you can work with. I found that working out which GPs are good and sticking to them might work better if the asthma nurse isn't helpful. At my previous surgery the nurse was nice but she admitted herself she was out of her depth. At my current surgery I have an idea which GPs are good, though there are some who are unknown quantities still. If you have one good GP and a backup if possible, this should work out better especially for prescriptions if the nurse gets funny with it.

[Abc64]

It’s wrong that you can only get 4 ventolin inhalers a year. I get one every month almost. Perhaps there is another nurse at the practice you could see. I know what you mean about the nurses. At my practice, the nurses are all great, but I will only see two of them about my asthma.

[Wheezy1980]

I have 2 ventolin inhalers that I use a month.. I have quite brittle asthma which has been an absolute swine to control this past 12 months.. 9 chest infection so far. And just recently recovered from bacterial pneumonia and sepsis... you know your own body/ limits etc.. we're all different.. we're not all In one box.. sometimes it is trial and error... when i first got diagnosed (10 years) I would have a and e admissions just because they wanted to try different inhalers! I've been on symbicort 400. And ventolin for 8 years. And upto this year.. it worked well. X