asthma adult chitchat

[giraffesCantDonateBoneMarrow]

New thread. Can't find old one, not been used in months.

Shaking now as just had neb, gone from ok to really bresthless and tight chested in space of an hour, no idea of trigger at all.

On steroids atm, peak flow still down at 270ish

Had a bad day mon after builders made loadsof dust and got really breathless.

Did loads of walking today and needed lots of ventolin - was lovely and sunny though so i didn;t want to sit inside.

Been out since 7.50 and just home now.

How are you all?

Hello peeps, can I rejoin you all...? It seems like a really long time since the last thread was properly up and running - it would be lovely to be in touch on MN again. Can't quite recall where we were up to last time, but my baby is now a week off six months old - I have no idea where the time has gone or is going. Through all of her newborn days, autumn, winter, etc etc, fairly inexplicably I have had the best wintertime in about 4 years with very little asthma episodes (just one chesty cold I think - again !) The only thing though is that throughout it all, my 'chest stamina' has remained crap quite poor and my peak flow equally crap consistently low at around 270-290 as a normal reading and lower when poorly - not dramatic drops but perhaps around 230-260 when unwell (though as I said, I've been remarkably well in myself) - by 'chest stamina' I basically mean my ability to walk up stairs, hills or distances, and also I have noticed that chest subtly worsening at times (no massive flares or persistent asthma symptoms) when I can't sing along to songs or finish sentences without 'losing the end of the sentence' to a lack of breath - does that make any sense to anyone? I ask, because it's so hard to explain to doctors who are looking for overt asthma symptoms, yet this general sense of my lung function being shite less effective than it should is actually persistently very frustrating and a teensy bit depressing, since it's been like this for the best part of 12-18 months.

The period of relative wellness is also playing havoc with my 'fraudplex' problem and I think back to my very bad asthmatic moments of the last few years as if that is never going to happen again and maybe it wasn't all that bad anyway My asthma nurse - who is lovely btw - has reached a point where she doesn't know what else to suggest and so I have been trying more purposefully to get as much exercise as possible (not easy with four children) which pretty much means trying to walk at least a couple of miles a day if I can (usually possible 3-4 times a week at least) and not to get all phobic about getting puffed out - logic tells me that the only way to improve my chest stamina is to stretch myself as much as possible - like working and toning a muscle. Tonight however, my ribs and back hurt , especially if I try to take a deep breath, and I am coughing, though not badly. Medications are all over the place as no-one seems to know what the best treatment options are and a combination of frustration of not improving, putting everyone else's needs first (family-wise) and not wanting to get chronic oral thrush means that I have not been properly taking any steroid inhaler for sometime. Chest has not been too bad, but I just wonder - with the aching chest tonight - whether I am about to hit critical mass...probably need to get a handle on things really, but GO says see the asthma nurse, and the asthma nurse says she doesn't know what more to suggest

Bloody hell, I can talk, eh?! (This is partly because I can't post about any of this on Facebook - Giraffes - because my mother stalks me and makes fussing phonecalls....arrgh!) Anyway, how are you...?! MPD

That's GP not GO - apols

Just taken PF - 270 tonight. Have also taken painkillers and am hoping baby gives me a bit of sleep...

Hi Misspolly and congratulations on the newest dd! Would it be worth asking for referral to a respiratory specialist? I did this privately - through Dhs then health insurance but only to look at stabilising from pneumonia episde as health insurance will not cover chronic conditions. I was given a plan - which allows a higher dose of inhaled steroid than the asthma nurse would be allowed to suggest and I am stable now since going to this dose when I have the potential for a flare up usually stops the need for oral steroids ( I was needing a course every month at one stage!).
I think I am much like you - lacking in 'chest stamina' which affects walking and talking and pretty much everything. I also have CFS which holds me back on physical improvment even when my breathing doesn't. I'm in awe of you 2 miles a day - but in the past thought nothing of this. My PF on waking is around 270 ( worse if I have forgotten my serevent the night before!) but when at my best I get 330 . I am much better than when the last thread was running - no longer 'a bit brittle' - Hooray! I have bought a breathing gadget (power breather)but frankly do not know if it is helping. I think the improvement is due to a range of factors - time being one of them!

My PF is never above 300 and 270 is about normal for me.I am very breathless/wheezy atm because I am just over a chest infection which followed a prolonged virus and has left me with an awful cough.I never find Ventolin does much for me.I take a QVar inhaler twice a day.No way I could walk 2 miles without a sit down half way.I have been wondering about one of those devices which 'trains' your breathing' I'd be interested to know how you get on magso.
It may sound daft but at night I find f I put Vicks on my chest last thing and breathe down the neck of my nightie then I sleep better-as long as I am propped up.

Hello MPD sounds frustrating you getting passed between gp and nurse. Do you go to a resp clinic?

Been especially wheezey last few days - along with funny feeling in eyes, runny nose and scratchy throat. Sounds a bit like a cold but I dont feel ill or coldy at all. Wondering if hayfever might be it? Had hayfever once or twice as a teenager, but not since. However sicne I have dveloped allergies to animals/airfreshneers etc then maybe I have developed hayfever too?

Oh and LOVE that this thread has taken off!

Giraffes that sounds very like hay fever- but of course equally it may not be! I often cannot tell whether it's the beginning of an allergic episode or a cold, my throat can feel really sore with either and I often feel feverish too it just stays like the first signs of a cold IYSWIM. I think I developed rhinitis after several years of asthma. For me the allergic rhinitis usually precedes worsening asthma by a few minutes so it's a useful warning sign I suppose. When I was younger I could get very tight chested for no warning at all.
Thegreylady I might try that vicks trick! I tend to keep an old fashioned vicks sniffer thing next to the bed because I hate breathing through my mouth at night!

Forgot to say the power breather I bought was medium/ average resistance and really I should have got the easier one as I struggle, so if you have poor Pfs as I do then it might be a tip. The man that sold it to me (at the outdoor show I think it was) did say that I could ask my gp to prescribe the NHS version.
I've mislaid my O2sats monitor thing too now. I agree too small!

I've never had hayfever Giraffes but that does sound like it could be, DD gets it and she has asthma. She's definitely more affected by allergies than me, cleaning the rats make her wheeze.
Go to GP and see if there's something you can take for it, I'd say the pharmacy but probably best to go to GP with your asthma.

I hope it's OK that I just joined in. Does anyone else find that Ventolin isn't very effective? My asthma started in 1954 when I was 10. It virtually disappeared until about 1970 when I had my first adult attack which was scary as we were living in Sierra Le one at the time. It wasn't too bad though until I had treatment ( chemo and rads) for breast cancer in 2006/7. Since then it is a real nuisance and impacts on many areas of my life.

Hi and welcome Greylady, I'm sure it is fine to join in!
Interesting my asthma was dormant few a few years until I went to a subtrobical part of Australia. I think the humidity and moulds etc triggared it back into action. It depends on why I am breathless ( not that I always know!) if ventolin helps and frankly I suspect some lung and airway damage due to poor asthma control and pneumonia in the past. In recent years treatment is aimed also at preventing longterm damage to airways - but it hasn't always been so. I don't suppose chemo and radiotherapy whilst essential and life preserving where cancer is concerned, is all that good for the rest of the body. I am afraid I get breathless just doing ordinary things and even walking on the flat never mind a hill. It is a nuisance. I think people can be dismissive of asthma and breathing difficulties and not realise how limiting it can be.
Do you have an asthma clinic that can help? Have you had allergy test to see if allergy is adding to your difficulties? I do know little about radiotherapy, - can you discuss your deteriorated breathing with the GP or the breastcancer services?

For the record, I feel I should point out that my '2 mile' walk is split into about three chunks usually...! I've basically started trying to make a point of NOT getting around in the car all the time, which means sending DH to work in the car so that I have no choice but to walk/use public transport to get DS2 from playgroup. So my regular walk consists of: walk half a mile to the train station, get the local train three stops (two stops is nearer to church, but three stops gives more opportunity for walking), walk just under a mile to our church where DS2 is at playgroup, collect DS2, walk a short distance to the station nearest to church, travel two stops, walk the half a mile home. So all in all about 2 miles. But with a fair amount of stops, most of it flat or downhill. The middle mile up to church is a continuous gradient upwards and it is this that I dread but which I am forcing myself to do. I have become fairly phobic of getting puffed out, but figure that my lung stamina will not improve if I avoid doing so. It's interesting to hear your experiences of the Powerbreathe, magso - I have wondered about this but it seemed expensive for something that I wasn't sure would actually be effective. I didn't know that your GP could prescribe it....? Tell me more...! At the moment, whilst I'm well I am trying to take full advantage of walking for my chest first and fitness/weight second. There will ?inevitably potentially be a time when exercising is more impossible difficult. I wonder if the Powerbreathe would help maintain lung function then...?

I walked on Monday and today. There no playgroup yesterday, but I couldn't have managed it anyway as my chest was so achey. Not wheezy, not poorly, just achey and tight. No idea if this is a good thing - the chest exercise is 'working' and I just need to power on through it, or whether I'm knackering my chest muscles... I've been doing an increased amount o walking since half term, so this is not week one or anything, so I don't know what the cause of the chest pain is really. I am definitely feeling the effects of it being tree pollen season so it could also be this coming into play. I guess time will tell..!

Good on you for walking. I dread hills too. My main fear is is ending up on the pavement when out and about with ds (a good runner but with sn that sometimes set off his running in unsuitable situations and i try to catch him and keel over!) leaving him vunerable. I am trying to build up my general and extremel poor fitness. And yes I'm getting fat! What on earth do you do if you cannot exersize properly and put on weight? I know steroids don't help with this!

Apparently there is a basic powerbreather version made for the NHS. Its worth asking. As our local HA will not fund nebulisers ( essential for some) I thought it was highly unlikely they would fork out for a powerbreather until there is strong evidence they are cost effective. Meanwhile being at the show ( for ds and dh) made me so 'homesick' for my old active life I splashed out in the hope it might work enough to get me back well on hills if not mountains. I will keep you updated on whether it helps!

magso thanks for hayfever description, yes do think I have it then - bah another allergy developed! If you find sats monitor tell me and I will see if mine is in the same place!!

Ditto giraffes!

Gah! The thread fell off my 'I'm on' list...!

How are we all...?

boo!

How are you and every one else? I found my sats monitor at last! But just mine all on its little own. Hope yours surfaced eventually - was it potholing?

found mine in a bathrom drawer, its been a regulr feature beside my bed since last month.

was in hosp lastmonth aftwe a bad reaction to being in same room as paint - couldnt breathe well within 5 min.

then have has chest infection for a week and a bit, asthma still bad fromthat so still on steroids bluugh.

you?

Sorry to hear you have been in hospital yet again Giraffes. You must be worn out! Hope the summer will bring better health.
Me -asthma wise not bad so I feel a bit of a fraud on this thread. I am even managing to walk at a near normal speed without getting breathless - still cannot rush about or run - worried my legs will have forgotten how! The last few colds (including present one) seem to have worked on upsetting my ears and sinuses! Have been listed for sinus surgery but awaiting date.
How is everyone else?