Possibly exercised induced asthma - brown inhaler..

[Sameshitdifferentdayx]

My son for the last couple of months has been struggling during sports (mainly his football matches, training) with what he says is a pain in his chest, breathlessness suddenly.
After an episode at sports day we ended up in A&E who have done ECGs, halter monitor, and a heart scan under consultant, the heart has been given the all clear.
Following on from this he had a bad episode during a match, to where he was in tears, taking odd deep breathes in to try and catch his breathe, and holding his chest. Once he's taken to the side when this happens, has a cold drink of water and chills for a bit, after 10-20 mins or so it seems to calm down but still ends up taking the odd deep breathe in after for a while.
After the latest episode I took him to the GP to say it was still happening, have had no further report and neither did the GP of a discharge note from hospital, or any record of seeing the consultant or the heart scan.
The GP has prescribed him a brown preventative inhaler to take twice daily for 2-3 weeks to see if there is improvement and whether it could be asthma.
He has been on this for 3 days and had a match today, played a full match and still ended up a bit groggy but nothing close to what he was experiencing previously in regards to chest pain.
I was told it would take at least a week if not longer to see slight improvement, but wondered if anyone had seen faster improvement off this inhaler quicker than that?
Unsure as to whether it could already be making a difference or if it's just coincidence and not asthma after all, it's confusing the hell out of me 🙈😂
Tia!

Sounds to me like it’s working. You’ll need a blue inhaler too, for him to use when he gets a tight chest etc

Thank you!
Will definitely keep to the inhaler regardless until his review in a couple of weeks, the GP has said he doesn't want to prescribe the blue at the moment, so assuming it is working, they should then prescribe the blue after the review?

My son has asthma and took brown as preventer and blue as and when needed.

For doing any sports at school he'd need a couple of puffs of the blue before and after to keep things in control.

If your son does have asthma then the brown will be helping, especially when he's been on it long enough to build up the effect.

If he's still struggling during exercise he may need a blue inhaler as well

My son was given the brown inhaler as a trial for 3 weeks. We had to do a week of peak flows without the inhaler, then 3 weeks with the inhaler, note it in a graph, and the difference was seen within the first week.

Yes, it will start improving quickly but takes a couple weeks to build up to its full effect. I have the peak flow readings from when my son started a brown inhaler and they started stabilising within a few days, started rising after a week or two.

Definitely ask for a blue inhaler too. Every asthmatic should have one with them at all times to take when needed (though if needed more than 3 times a week, the asthma isn’t under control and needs a review with the asthma nurse). Also ask for a peak flow meter to have at home as that helps you keep a check on how things are.

Thank you! 😊

There has definitely been the slightest of improvement as he's not been able to play a full match until today without being pulled off half way through.

Will see how he gets on, and hopefully we've got the answers. 🥴🤞

I wouldn’t be surprised if they won’t give a blue inhaler until he’s got an actual diagnosis of asthma. And make sure to get his flu spray/jab.

Thank you 😊
Reassuring to know it is probably already making a difference, I was just worried it was too soon somehow going from what the GP said and we're back to square one kind of thing.

I will definitely be asking for a peak flow and blue inhaler at the review. There was no mention of a peak flow which I thought would of been the first step before the brown inhaler but I'm no GP haha.

I have exercise induced asthma and was advised to take the blue inhaler before starting any sport. So I just take a few puffs before I start. It's made a massive difference.

Yes he has his flu done every year at school 😊
Ahhh ok, he did say he didn't want to diagnose yet and that must be why he didn't want to give the blue yet either!
Thank you x

A question for PPs or anyone who has experience with preventer inhalers.
DS has been on this just shy of 2 weeks now. Has been playing and doing sports a lot better than previously.
However, the last 2 days, he has come down with a horrendous cold and mild cough on and off and since this started, when he has his puffs (morning & night) he is giving a couple of coughs straight after, as if it's aggravated him with being unwell. Is this normal? 🥴
Tia!

Sounds like he really needs a blue (salbutamol) inhaler. In asthma, the airways can become sore and swollen and gunky and twitchy. The brown inhaler contains a tiny dose of steroids, which constantly sends a message to the airways telling them to calm down, and be less likely to overreact to stuff. Things that they can overreact to include exercise, cold viruses and things like pollen or dust or animals. Once the airways have started to overreact, it means that the tiny dose of steroids just can't send enough calming down message to overcome whatever is currently setting off the airways. That's where the blue (salbutamol) comes in. The salbutamol sends a message to the muscles round the airways, telling them to make more space to breathe through. This makes breathing feel easier, means you can cough gunk up rather than just having a tight ineffective cough, and basically helps you breathe and cope whilst things start to calm down again. In a worse episode, a bigger dose of steroids, orally, may be needed to calm things down, but quite often that can be avoided by taking enough blue inhaler regularly enough at onset. Cough getting worse with a cold really backs up the asthma theory.

You might find this is useful for more information.