They were right it is Asthma....

[Bucketlist]

Briefly , I was diagnosed last June, but felt absolutely fine by November, so I convinced myself that the chest infection had caused all of my problems, it was actually the antibiotics plus the inhalers that ‘cured’ me, so I stopped using the inhalers and I have been absolutely fine.

We went on a flight 4 weeks ago and I startedto get the same spluttery cough that I had last year, so I restarted the Fostair and Ventolin, PF was 420 which is very good( up from 250 on initial diagnosis last year) so the cough seemed to be under control, but last week I noticed that I was getting very anxious, I assumed that it was because we are going to Italy next week and didnt think anything of it, but each day I got more and more stressed, a bit confused and kept dropping things.

Friday morning I was shaking so badly and had palpitations as well, so then I read the literature that came with the Fostair and thought ah ha! This might be the problem.

I called our surgery and they had an appointment later that morning to try to change my Fostair to something else, PF was 380. Went to see Asthma Nurse, (PF was now low 300s) she put me straight onto Prednisalone and montelukast, told me to take my Hayfever Tablets and told me to keep my husband close by as my airways were closing up and if I got worse to call 999. Surprised? A bit yes.

So is confusion/anxiety another early warning sign? Since taking the Steroid pills all anxiety has gone and if I’m able to go to Italy on Thursday I’m looking forward to it, as I normally would.

But I am oh so tired, I cant even go down the garden at the moment. I have another appointment on Wednesday, I hope to be back to normal by then.

But I’m confused by the fact that my PF wasn’t too bad and yet I went down hill so quickly, I’m so glad that I took the Friday appointment and didn’t wait until Monday (which was my initial intention when I rang the surgery).

[Robin77]

Hope you get the advice you need and feel better soon! Don't underestimate your asthma. Feeling better is lovely but doesn't mean it has gone away.

[Bucketlist in reply to Robin77]

I think you’re right Robin, I always thought that Asthma was a wheezy breathing thing and mine isn’t like that at all and this current problem and it’s symptoms is so different to last year when I was first diagnosed, it just crept up on me. Hope the steroids kick in soon, I feel totally useless at the mo.

[Robin77 in reply to Bucketlist]

Hope things improve and you can enjoy your holiday. Do you have an emergency pack of medicines and written plan? This crisis must have been a shock, I'm so sorry. Good you got advice fast. Symptoms vary. My adult onset asthma isn't wheezy either, mostly not.

[Bucketlist]

Um no and no and yes it was a shock. Maybe I will get emergency meds on Wednesday then? I must say it hadn’t occurred to me. The nurse seemed confident that I would be ok to fly on Thursday, at the moment I don’t think I’d get from Gatwick Terminal down to the Gate !

Anyway, yes I was sensible to get the appointment on Friday.

Better late than never. It’s been a bit of a steep learning curve, but so many people on here have it so much worse.