Biologic treatment for severe uncontrolled asthma

[hankisbest]

Hello everyone,Nothing seems to help my asthma the last two years. I developed a deep chesty cough with lots of sputum in January last year, and it lasted for many months. It came back this January and I decided to do something about it. I was prescribed pulmacort for nebulizer to help in addition to my regular meds (advair, monulokast Spireva). No help. We discussed biologic treatment and I was told I didn't fit the criteria for insurance coverage. The cough remained.

I'm a CLL survived in remission for two years and am familiar with monoclonal antibody treatment for the cancer.

I caught a cold and spiraled into an asthma attack. I asked my pulmonologist office for Prednisone and antibiotics. They waited almost two weeks to comply, and I was in a bad way. I kept thinking I needed to go to the emergency room, but then thought, what will they do that hasn't been done? The Prednisone and doxycycline helped get over the attack. I've had one refill of the doxycycline which helped.

What should I do? Ask for more doxy? Culture the sputum? Try to get the biologic treatment?

Thanks for listening.

[Kekememe1]

Hey there. The best thing is to try to get in to see your pulmonologist and try to get on a plan. My pulmo thankfully now gives me plenty of prednisone as I'm now prednisone dependent. I was started on Dupixent by the ENT doctor, but it absolutely did not help me. It seems to help some people but unfortunately not me. There are many other biologics out there that your doctor could try. My pulmonologist started me on Trelegy and it seems to be helping. It doesn't help with allergies which trigger my asthma, so I have to take an antihistamine for that. Try to get an appointment with your asthma doctor and see what he says. I'm currently going through another flare up possibly caused by second hand smoke, cats, eating eggs, which are all things I'm allergic to. Good luck to you and let us know how things are going.

[hankisbest in reply to Kekememe1]

Thanks for your advice. My insurance will not cover any biologic unless I've been on Prednisone several times and in the hospital. I try VERY hard to stay away from anyone who is sick because of my CLL and asthma. Getting even a cold will trigger an attack.

[Quackll in reply to hankisbest]

I also coughed for over 2 years before the pulmonologist sent me to the ENT to be tested for vocal cord dysfunction VCD which can mimic asthma or make asthma symptoms worse. Have you been tested for this? Now I am able to tell the difference between the issue being VCD, asthma, or both. I don’t know if you & your doctor has possibly discussed Xolair. I took it for several years when it first came out & it was a life saver. Before it I was sick all the time & once I started it I was never sick for about 10 years