Having asthma attack. Have taken ventiolin and seretide

[Heyjudas]

Anything else I can do?

You should be on a high dose of pred tbh.
Also, trying to remember the name of the longer actting drug in nebs, atropine.

You came asking for help, and I agree, some reviews are such an exasperation g waste of everything, being asked if you know how to inhale properly an everything.

However, some really do a good job and clearly your meds are just not working.

The ones you are on are not the only ones. So how come you are on the highest dose?

You can also have collapsing trachea, which sounds like you described in a pp

I'm fine now. I think it was a panic attack.

You said you've had three, what's the matter with getting checked out?!

Clearly something is going on, whether it's asthma, will need managing better, or panic, that needs managing too.

Get some proper support in place

I'm fine now. I'm able to control it with the inhalers I have.

OP, you are not on the highest level of meds at all. Not by far, which is why you really need a asthma review. There are a number of other meds that might be more suitable to keep your asthma under control. You may need an additional inhaler, or switch to a combined preventer inhaler like Symbicort and take Aminophylline tablets. During the times, you are getting wheezier, you might need a course of Prednisolone steroid tablets, usually that’s 40-40 milligram per day for about a week. You seem worryingly clueless about looking after your condition.

These are very dramatic asthma attacks which come on instantaneously and last for about a half hour.
I have no chest infection which is when I normally get asthma attacks.
So it's new to me. I'm 44 and have asthma since 14.
They seem to be pure asthma, rather than anything underlying and I'm not sure how to deal with that.

If I get an asthma attack but know I have a chest infection, I get antibiotics. These attacks seem to have no physical basis. Suddenly, bam, woops, I can't breathe.

I guess I was diagnosed with asthma quite young and I get relief from inhalers, but I never actually believed asthma is a thing until this week. I pretty much figured it's a chest infection all the time. But this past week has frightened me. But now I'm thinking it's a panic attack instead. Lol, basically I don't believe in the thing called asthma.

You dont believe in asthma?

But you take medication for it every day?

I'm prescribed asthma medication, but my mother always told me that it was only in my head, so I guess that is still how I feel about it.
When doctors ask, I will tell them I have asthma.
But I really don't get asthma attacks that much outside of my lungs getting very badly hit with the common cold for example.
This past week has sort of frightened me as the attacks are out of the blue and quite severe. I've never really experienced that sort of asthma before. One time I did and the GP said I was having a panic attack. He gave me ventolin tablets. That was after being assaulted by my mother though, so could well have been a panic attack.
It's odd, it feels like the windpipe is shrinking so much that I can't get air in.
I've had doctors listen to my lungs and they're clear.
The other thing is and I was only told this about 5 months ago, is that you can be having an asthma attack while your lungs are completely clear.
So I actually have just realised that I don'f fucking know what asthma is!
I know how it feels, but I don't know what is actually happening in my body.

It's the airways constricting through inflammation and mucus filling.

Get a review done urgently. It's in important to establish whether these are asthma or panic attacks, really important.

Call 111 and ask about your symptoms, sounds like allergy reaction.

You might find that Seretide isntbwirking as well for for ayou anymore. I was on it for a fair number of years then after my control of my asthma seemed to start slipping and I needed to use the ventolin more I had to be switched onto a different preventer.

Asthma reviews only feel pointless when your asthma is well controlled. In the situation I was in, and that you are in, they are a chance to allow the asthma specialist in your surgery to tweak your medication to make things better.

once you are recovered, ask your doctor about a asthma medication called simbicort, he might need to google if its called something different in the UK, once i went on it, it is both reliever and prevention, i still have a Ventolin but haven't had to use it in ummm i cant even tell you when i last used it, also you should have a spacer to use with the Ventolin in an attack situation its very useful, coffee is a must, even if you never normally drink it, a half cup of really really strong sweet coffee can help relax your bronchial muscles, so a few dollars and having it there as a "just in case" is money well spent! and most importantly get a asthma plan worked up so you know how many doses you can take at a time and what steps to take.... asthma kills so many people and can do so very quickly

i meant to say once i went on the simbicort, you would never know i had asthma, its a marvel... see if its avaliable in the UK

@TheSerenDipitY It is available in the UK as Symbicort and contains a mix of Budesonide and Formoterol. The highest concentration is 400.

OP what you described is what actually happens in an asthma attack. You need to see a proper asthma team and have a review. You need some proper working preventative medication Ventolin is an instant reliever.

So you suffer from virus-induced wheeze, OP, which is one subset of asthma, but it sounds as though you're now suffering from other types with other triggers, which isn't uncommon as we age. You need to get some information about what's happening and how to manage it so that you're not having acute attacks, which are dangerous. I understand what you're saying about tick-box reviews with a practice nurse but actually you need higher level input than this. If you were currently asymptomatic I would say get your GP to do an asthma clinic referral but in the circumstances you need to be seen more urgently, A&E imo or at least a walk-in urgent care clinic, depending on what's available locally. Don't leave this. Your mother was wrong, it is not all in your head. I hope you're OK this morning.

Do the contents of this guideline sound familiar? www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng80/chapter/Recommendations#monitoring-asthma-control

If not you are not being treated properly. Asthma is real. It can and does kill. I know you want to play this down because you don’t want to deal with the problem, but next time the attack could kill you. You need to stop railing against the unfairness (it is very unfair) and get proper treatment.

Make an emergency appointment with your GP for today. Asthma isn’t ‘just’ anything.

A review is important - be clear in it that you want your treatment etc as your symptoms have now changed. You should also have an action plan of what exactly to do.

This time of year the cold can exacerbate symptoms so keep warm and make sure you have a scarf on when you go out.

It’s an unpredictable, life-threatening condition. Please don’t ignore it and think you can cope with what you have now.

OP, I realise you haven’t found reviews helpful in the past but by your own admission and it’s been well controlled in the past. Right now it isn’t and you need more help.

Your asthma needs to be reviewed as something is making it worse. The fact that they didn't change your medication in the past doesn't mean that they can't do it! It just means that they didn't think it necessary before but now things have obviously changed. In 2016, nearly 1,500 people died from an asthma attack so it needs to be taken seriously.

@TemptressofWaikiki awesome! i've been on a few different types of inhalers from the age of 15 and so far that's been the best, as long as i take it each day you would never know i have asthma, even in hay fever season or cold n flu season

@TemptressofWaikiki im on the 200 according to the tube, i tell every asthmatic i know to ask their doctors if it would suit them as its been a life changer for me

I know the moments passed for the OP but just writing this on the off chance that it could help someone in the future-

I was taught by St John Ambulance to sit the person having an asthma attack on a dining style chair backwards then hug the back of the chair, this helps open things up and steady your breathing.

I've only ever tried it on myself when I misplaced my inhaler but it really helped.

When you have been wheezy and feel constricted it might help to see an osteopath or chiropractor to work on that section of the back of your lungs to open them up. Also, those Shiatsu style back massagers with infrared heat can help to ease that tightness a bit.