any asthma experts around?soz its a long one

[bubblepop]

i grew up in a smoky atmosphere, my mum said my dad used to smoke over my cot! i got whooping cough as a young child, but as i grew up i did'nt really have any problems. then as an adult, i worked in a busy office full time, and i seemed to get struck down with every cold that was going round.it seemd like i was ill with a bad cold/cough every fortnight.i was hacking away, swigging benylin like pop just to try and get thru the day, my sickness record was really bad.i remember my supervisor used to stare at me because i was so bad for coughing,i guess she could'nt beleive that i was ill again! anyway, i put it all down to stress because i did'nt really enjoy work.in the end i left to have more children and be a sahm.. from that day forward i hardly caught a cold,but when i did, i began to notice my chest was really tight, and if say, dh caught it first, he'd be feeling better in 3/4 days, whereas i would still be there a fortnight later, coughing away !!id be up all night coughing, my face going purple, i just could'nt seem to stop it, i'd be wretching over the bathroom sink in the middle of the night.it was as if someone had their hand gripping tightly around my tubes in the middle of the chest.
towards the end of my last pregnancy, i woke up one morning and felt as if i just could'nt breathe. i felt as if i was having to force air thru my lungs, rather than it happening naturally. the doctor diagnosed wheezy bronchitis, and gave me ventolin inhaler aswell as antibiotics. oh relief! i could breathe easily again once the inhaler had worked, it made such a difference. so from then on, every time i got a bad cough, i used it,and i really noticed how much better i was afterwards. but i began to feel like i was a fraud, so when i next had a viral infection, i went to the docs and explained all this to him. he made me go away with a peak flow meter and blow into it twice a day for 10 days, and then i went backwith the results.he said that what i had plotted on the charts was typical of an asthmatic, and that it was probably triggered by viral infections. he has prescribed the brown 'preventer' steroid inhaler to use twice a day, along with ventolin inhaler.i had to go for a chest xray and make an appointment with the asthma nurse. when i got home and told dh about the inhalers, he said the diagnosis was a load of rubbish and that the inhalers would do more harm than good.he said your body needs to build up its own resistance to these things..he said that the doctor was being over the top diagnosing asthma. now i don't know what to think. i know i should trust my docs judgement with my healthcare, but i don't really because of something that has happened in the past with this doc. what do you lot all think?

[sideways]

Whooping cough was the start of my asthma as well and I have used inhalers since childhood.

If your dr prescribed them, and they work, then use them. Asthma can be dangerous and needs treating. Use your becotide (brown) as prescribed and continue using the ventolin.

It's hard to build up resistance to something if you can't breathe!!

Unless of course your dh is a doctor, but I doubt it.

[brimfull]

I agree with your doctor,think your dh is talking rubbish.Your lungs will be permanently damaged if you don't treat asthma.
Why not see the nurse,she'll aslo be an expert.and get a second opinion of someone you trust.But it does sound like asthma to me,especially if the ventolin works.

[northender]

It does sound very typical of asthma symptoms. As such regular use of a brown (steroid) inhaler should be effective and mean that when you get a virus or cold it doesn't automatically go to your chest. Bear in mind though that the steroid takes 2-3 weeks to build it's effects so don't expect instant results. You can of course still use the ventolin if you get symptoms. Hope that helps

[foxinsocks]

I would listen to your doctor

what you describe is completely typical of an asthmatic

the brown one will help prevent your asthma from occuring - the blue one only helps the symptoms as they happen, it does nothing to prevent them happening again

[foxinsocks]

occurring

[Overrunnerbean]

I agree with sideways, there is a very small amount of steroid in the becotide if that is what you are worried about. If you use it and you improve, then hurray. Asthma is very serious at times, people are a bit dismissive of it, as it is still prevelant nowadays
I saw this Father talking about how is 9 year old daughter died because they were cutting down her inhaler, worried about the effects of it, and then she had a massive asthma attack, they didn't have blue inhaler with them and she died. Previously to that attack, she had had very mild ASthma.

[northender]

Basically the asthma is an over reaction of the lungs to an irritant, in your case a cold/virus. Steroids dampen the body's immune response, inhaled steroids are good because the effects are very localised and so not associated with the side effects of long term steroid tablets.

[Overrunnerbean]

God, my grammar, and I haven't even been drinking. Firstly, I know loads of you posted between myself and sideways, so lets just say I agree with all of you
Should read "so prevelant"
"his" rather than "is"
Also didn't mean to scaremonger or upset you, as expect you are coming to terms with being told you have Asthma. Its people like your husband who wind me up, or people who tut tut about me giving my children inhalers, ffs, its better than the alternative. Rant over

[ilovecaboose]

asthma can kill whether you have mild asthma or bad. I have mild asthma and had to be recently nebulised because an infection had affected it.

does your dh actually know what asthma is and what happens when it is bad/you get an attack?

this is nhs page on asthma

Your dr has prescribed inhalors cos you need them. Your dh is putting you at risk by telling you you don't need them.

Who has the medical degree? The dr or your dh?

Sorry to come on strong, but it is ridiculous to suggest not taking them if you need them. I am very at your dh for suggesting otherwise.

[bubbles4]

i saw specialist asthma nurse with dd,she was working at our gp practice for a few weeks and she was fantastic, gave us tons of good advice and really glad i saw here ,am managing dd,s asthma much better now.

[brimfull]

Also feeling at your dh's attitude.My ds wouldn't be here without steroids !

[Flossam]

Your doctor has prescribed the correct medications. If your DH begs to differ tell him to come with you and tell the GP himself. I suspect he will get short shrift if he actually had the guts to go! I can't understand why he would argue it to be wrong!

[ilovecaboose]

oh and forgot to say asthma can just flare up when you are ill rather than affecting you all the time.

How are you feeling?

[misdee]

your dh is being an arse. the peak flow readings suggest you have asthma, the tightness in your chest suggest you have asthma, the constant coughing with a mild illness suggests you may have asthma.

the inhalers will help you, not kill you.

and my god if you havent built up resistance to these things so far, what does he expect you to do? die?

[bubblepop]

thankyou everyone for reading and reassuring me that my doc is right(ofcourse). at the mo, feeling good as usual , it seems only to flare up when i get a cold. its good to read other peoples experiences, you don't always come across it in rl. thankyou. xx

[ilovecaboose]

glad you're feeling alright at the moment

[edie123]

Will second what everyone else is saying. Your GP is right and your DP is wrong. I too used to have asthma although have grown out of it now. You cannot build up a resistance to asthma. And obviously you need to breathe to stay alive!!

My cat has just been diagnosed with asthma!! She has to use ventolin too

[ilovecaboose]

does cat have an inhalor? If so how do you give it to them?

[Jaynerae]

My DD (3) has exactly the same symptoms as you bubblepop - she coughs horrendously after a cold for weeks - she was diagnosed with Asthma - she now has the Becotide and Ventolin inhalers and they are working - so please listen to GP and not DP!

[edie123]

Give it to her with a babies' spacer device. Hold it over her face for one minute. You can get special spacers for cats but they are pricey.

[ilovecaboose]

that must be fun

[edie123]

Yeah she loves it [smiles] seriously, she really doesn't!! Have to buy her lots of treats for after!

[dizietsma]

Firstly- I'M NO DOCTOR, please don't take what I say as gospel.

I used to work as an assistant tech in the Lung Function Lab at our local hospital, the best way to know if you have asthma is to have spirometery (a breathing test). Peak flow meters are a less accurate test as there's plenty of room for user error. This said, if you feel the benefits of taking Ventolin then I see no reason why you shouldn't- it's taken as needed and you're not going to take it for fun! If you're concerned about taking steroids in case you're not asthmatic then ask to be referred for spirometery at you local hospital and they can test you more accurately.

[fsmail]

I have had asthma since childhood and have used the inhalers ever since, now 39. If your DH suffered he would understand why you take them. Might also be worth vacuuming as often as possible, losing chemicals in the house and using a damp cloth to wipe things instead of polish. I use either ecover or Forever Living Products MPD to clean instead - much better for lungs - may not be for you. I have also had acupuncture to reduce the effects. However, I always take the inhalers. I was told that if you do not look after your lungs, your other vital organs will suffer and in later life you will have problems. That was enough to make me want to take them. Believe me if I could avoid drugs I would but these are too important.

[meowmix]

sounds just like me and the inhalers make life much more bearable. Well, that and moving to a dry country with lots of heat - damp definitely hits me, its raining today for the first time since December and I'm wheezy.

Put it this way, when I was pg I stopped the inhalers because of that steroid thing and got bollocked by the doctor because the risks were so minimal of damaging the baby but so high of causing a bad attack.

I did find using non chemical cleaners very helpful tho.