So went for a review with my asthma nurse today as she wanted to review my peak flow. She doesn't think things have improved much - although I thought they had - but she knows best (but I had had a chest infection this last week and a half so not the best representation over the last three weeks). She has decided to step up my preventative inhaler to Seretide inhaler and gave me the option of evohaler or accuhaler. I opted for the evohaler as I'm on so many other medications, so less confusing in my eyes.
My concerns are that she said if things don't improve there may be 1 or 2 things she could try but she may have to refer me back to my doctor as she will have run out of things to try. Also she said had I thought about triggers. I seem to get wheezy/short of breath at work and also quite often in the evening but I can't think of any "set" triggers - help?
Ta in advance
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zoeb5
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It's hard to unravel everything there but I think there are a few things to consider.
The first thing is don't assume they know best! They don't always.
So if you have had a chest infection that would to my untrained eye be an obvious reason for slower than expected progress. I always get wheezier with an infection so I'd have thought perhaps it might have been worth waiting for that to ease before coming to conclusions but I wasn't there so obviously there are caveats to that advice. However cold & flu is a well known asthma trigger.
As for other triggers; first of all aim for the obvious, so...
Do you have any pets?
Are there animals where you work?
Is work or home a dusty or dirty environment?
Are you exposed to anything like that anywhere else?
Are you regularly exposed to cigarette smoke?
Is there damp or mould in your living or working environment?
If none of that applies to you then I'd do some internet research on less common triggers. Obviously if you get any candidates then try to remove them or avoid them.
Hi Minushabens, thank you for responsing - thank you for responsing to my other posts too.
Your comment about the chest infection, funnily enough thats exactly what I said to the nurse and I'm all new to this, yet I had an gut instinct about it.
-I have four cats. We have always had cats in the house since I was born.
-No animals where I work as I work in a doctor's surgery.
-Work/Home not dusty or dirty enviroment - "normal" conditions
-Possibly exposure to mould is a possibility during the night time. My bedroom has three outside walls and therefore a slight problem with damp and occasional mould
-No exposure to cigarette smoke
-Re damp/mould as comment above
I have explained the mould situation to my mum in the hope she can get dad to sort it, but am still waiting. But even if we remove the current stuff, it's like winning a losing battle with the stuff.
But I'm still not sure what would trigger anything in the evenings as I don't go into my bedroom until much later into the night.
That's useful information & may explain where your asthma has come from.
I can only speak for myself here but cats are cute little assassins!! I have a life threatening allergy to them so I can certainly confirm them as a potential asthma trigger. In my case that particular allergy was quite easy to prove, but I have others that are less obvious.
Mould contains microscopic spores that you will be breathing in throughout the night so would certainly be a candidate. They can also cause non-asthma lung problems like aspergillosis (an allergy to the aspergillus spore, or ABPA which I'm also lumbered with!).
If your asthma deteriorates through the evening but before you go into the damp room then it might be the cats. The only certain way is to undergo allergy tests, but you can try to prove or eliminate things yourself. For example if you have a friend or relative in a cat (or damp) free house try staying there for a couple of nights & see if your symptoms change. Sometimes it is just trial & error.
Possibly the single biggest asthma allergen is dust mites, which are invisible & fairly ubiquitous so keeping your environment as clean & dust-free as possible is important. Try hoovering furniture & your mattress (particularly with the cats as they harbour all sorts of microscopic bugs that could be trouble for you).
That's just a few suggestions anyway, but of course it could be something that I've missed entirely so don't treat this as Gospel!
Do you have central heating in your house, and if so does it come on in the evenings? Radiators don't just radiate heat. If they are not kept dusted (and they can be very effective dust traps) they will 'radiate' the dust as well, which could cause problems.
I agree with Minushabens completely re. the knock on effects of chest infections.
Re your problems at work: is it possible that the cleaners might be using something that is irritating your lungs?
Just a couple of thoughts, but I hope things improve for you soon.
Yes we have central heating, and currently its not on every evening; its currently on an as and when required basis, which at the moment as there is three of us in this house, its currently two against one, so we don't have it on even if the odd one out is freezing haha!
I'd never thought of that re the radiators - I will have to mention that to mum and also keep an eye on it myself.
Hadn't thought about the cleaning products at work - I suppose I could try and investigate with my manager, although tbh I think our cleaners just give a wet wipe round from what I've heard.
Thank you for both your posts Maggie HP
An additional thought (inevitably I thought of it just after I had submitted my previous reply). Mould is known trigger for me as well (probably is for most asthmatics). One of the things you can do to help with this in your bedroom is to ensure your room is aired out every morning after you get up. Open your bedroom windows for about an hour if you can (even just half an hour will help if that's all you can do before you need to go out) even if it's really cold outside. As an extra precaution towel down any condensation that has formed on your windows overnight.
We already do this, we were already doing this before I was diagnosed as being asthamatic. We also run a dehumidifier in my room during the day to help get rid of the condensation etc as well.
I think I will certainly put mould on my maybe list of triggers
Hi there if it is worse at work perhaps something used there is a trigger? Some cleaning products make me wheezy. What about stress? Without knowing your job it is difficult to suggest things . What about colleagues ? Do they wear perfumes/aftershaves etc. ? Animals? Some of these can set me off. How about keeping a diary over a few days and try to notice precisely what is going on around you when it starts. Good luck. Hope you get your answers.
Just saw all the other replies. Our frends covered everything! As i said, good luck getting some answers.
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