I have asthma. I've used the same inhalers for decades. Every three months I order my repeat prescription. That is 3 preventer inhalers and 1 or 2 relievers, if they have run out. It seems a waste of everyone's time (mine, the receptionist's, the doctor's, the pharmacist's) to be ordering these every few weeks.
I use the preventer twice a day. I use the reliever maybe a couple of times a month, so I don't carry it around in my pocket (how many outfits even have pockets anyway). I can have serious asthma attacks though, so I keep inhalers at home, in my office, in my gym bag.
My doctor won't prescribe more than one inhaler at a time. It seems to be a cost saving measure, to reduce waste for medicines that aren't used. But I use these medicines every day and will use them for the rest of my life, so they are not saving money, just creating more paperwork. I attach a note with every prescription request asking for more (they wont take orders over the phone). Every time I get just one inhaler from the pharmacy.
I get through exactly 1 preventer inhaler a month. It is dangerous for me to have just 1 preventer in the house, in case I run out before I remember to reorder. It is even more dangerous to have just 1 reliever inhaler. It means I might not have an inhaler on me when I need it.
AIBU?
To want more than one inhaler prescribed at a time
satsooma · 19/03/2016 09:42
Ventolin are dirt cheap, they cost about £1.30 each!
My DH gets 2 at a time, his asthma is very unstable and I always make sure I have a couple hidden away as he often forgets to tell me he is running out 
If you are getting through a blue inhaler in a couple of months then your asthma isn't well controlled.
I totally understand wanting a few around the place and I often issue 2 at a time, eg one for school and one at home, but if you're getting through 2 every few months then I would question whether you're really as well controlled as they seem to think you are. And you certainly shouldn't be having attacks.
As an asthma nurse I get very frustrated by prescribing limitations imposed on us by above, they don't give us much wiggle room to allow common sense. However I won't prescribe lots of preventers on repeat (some of them cost up to 75 quid) and if someone is getting through their relievers it is flagged up to me by the prescription clerks so I can call them and maybe get them in to review. It's a balance between common sense and prescribing authority limitations which don't always match clinical necessity, hence the need for regular review.
LavenderRain you said "DH gets 4 blue inhalers on each prescription. He gets about 2-3 prescription a year. The practice nurse once told him he should only have one inhaler per script but DH told her that the GP had prescribed that amount so it was nothing to do with her nosey bint" - this would really concern me and I would want to know why my asthma patient was getting through 8-12 blue inhalers a year - that would demonstrate an incredibly high level of use and would ring massive alarm bells for me. The GP may well have prescribed 4 inhalers once but that doesn't mean it's right. I would be really fucked off if you thought I was a nosey bint and nothing to do with me; I'm actually the respiratory nurse specialist at my practice and train the GP registrars in asthma management
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