Just given asthma medication for dd and feeling a little confused any help appreciated !

[Walkingandtalking]

My dd is 17 and has been really breathless and wheezy on and off since having covid last September. We went to the gp today and the gp said it sounds like she has developed asthma.

She has been given steriods for a few days and two inhalors plus a peak flow meter which we are supposed to be doing.

We are sitting her looking at this pile of stuff and really confused about what we are supossed to be doing !

So the steroids say 8 tablets in the morning each day - all at once?

The peak flow meter we have done it her best was 150. But we have no idea what that means !

We know she should be using the brown inhalor morning and night but when should she use the blue? She tried it when she got home as she was very breathless but it didnt really seem to do anything - does it take a while!

None of my kids have had asthma before and i dont know anyone who has so if anyone has any advice that would be great!

Hi!
She seemed a little brighter today. She has used her blue inhaler 3 times after moving around and she thinks it has helped. She is still very breathless going up and down stairs or walking about but hopefully that will improve after more of the steroids!

One thing we have wondered is the doctor mentioned that you can use the inhaler more than two puffs if needed but we are wondering what the threshold for needing it is!

So if she goes up the stairs for example and shes really breathless she uses the inhaler for 2 puffs but she is still pretty breathless and has to sit or lie down for a while to get her breath back. Is that normal or should she try the inhalor again?

We are not sure what level of breathlessness would be considered “fixed!”

This is what I kept explaining to my doctors that I didn't understand!

There's a lot of breathlessness between fine and dead and if I just wait long enough I can usually manage without my blue inhaler. I have never really managed to get a straight answer out of anyone about that though, which isn't very helpful.

I would say though that sitting up is usually better for breathing than lying down, so I'd suggest she sits to catch her breath not lies. My personal stance on the blue inhaler is 2 puffs, then assuming I can breathe well enough that I don't think there's a risk to my health, sit and wait a few minutes and see if it goes away, then another 2 if still hopeless.

My asthma has always been a bit weird though, it technically existed since I was 17, didn't bother me much except needing a blue inhaler a few times a year til I was 25, then decided to be a nightmare for 2 years, requiring progressively higher doses of steroid inhalers until a few months ago it seems to have gone away as suddenly as it began.

I usually advise patients when doing things like stairs, if you're able to catch your breath back within 2 minutes then fine. If not then use blue. Don't lie, sit as it makes breathing easier. Don't slouch / sit straight. Anymore than 2 mins, use blue.