Asthma pregnancy chest infection

[tiltedtree]

Just had a little wobble - I'm due for an asthma review and will make an appt ASAP.

I was only diagnosed a couple of years ago and it's still new to me tho fb it's clear Ive had it mildly my whole life.

My usual routine is to double my brown the second I feel a virus coming on and take blue as needed. I don't wheeze but cough horribly. Have caught the nasty cough that's going round. I can now taste yucky gunk in my upper airways and have a nasty cough. Reliever isn't always helping but I don't think my peak flow is too bad (it's never been low enough to need to be in hospital, I just seem to cough constantly and get exhausted till the brown kicks in) .

I'm 19 wks pregnant. I do take it this is all ok in pregnancy medicine wise? I feel like I'm constantly puffing. I really hope I can avoid antibiotics. I've managed to avoid since diagnosis via this method.

I guess I'm a bit anxious partly as I was in a terrible state whey finally diagnosed (took ages) and so fear that state and partly as I'm thinking of baby re meds. But I know it's better I'm breathing well for baby.

Hi there I've used brown and blue inhalers thru three pregnancies , doubling brown when virus hits and puffing on blue like it's going out of fashion !!!! Absolutely fine.

I have used inhalers in all 4 pregnancies - Dr was very clear that it was a very bad idea to limit use of inhaler. Far worse if your asthma isn’t treated. I use a red inhaler called symbicourt which is brown and blue combined. My brilliant asthma nurse put me on it years ago and it’s genuinely changed my life. Can you book in to see the asthma nurse at your practice? Will he/she do the review? They generally have more time to talk to you and might be able to reassure you about effects on the baby.

I also found yoga and hypnobirthing helpful in regulating my breathing.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. .And I really hope the review is helpful. I also found hot sugary drinks good when my coughing was really bad. And it might be worth trying to track if particular triggers make it worse - wrapping a scalf around my face so I don’t breathe in cold air really helps me at this time of year.

Thank you so much for your responses! Very reassuring. Tbh the actual asthma bothers me more; I simply can't stand it after years of appalling coughs. This is my first really bad one since diagnosis. I always struggle to talk without coughing and talking always exacerbates it.

I've hinted at trying simbicort before but I think as I'm mostly well controlled they won't. Though I have to say I've used my blue more than usual during pregnancy, and not really understood the triggers. I'm not allergic to usual things, just chemicals and smoke so could be hormones. And obviously viruses are my Achilles heel.

Thanks again!

Funnily enough my go to drink when coughs rear has always been hot ribena lal!

I'm another whose life was changed by symbicort. Weighing up the possible harm that could result from your meds against the possible harm from not taking them means that it's in yours and baby's interests to stop anything getting worse by taking meds as you normally would if you get a chest infection. I hope you feel better soon

Sorry yes it's the practice nurse. It was a nurse friend who suggested I try a blue inhaler before diagnosis and I noticed it helped, then she encouraged me to contact the nurse and asthma uk. The gp had just said maybe I should always have a blue at home. When the practice nurse did the peak flow test and started me on brown I believe she told the gp off for not sorting it all out properly, so it's always the nurse now!

Totally agree. Hot ribena is the drink of kings
Do ask again about symbicourt. My asthma isn’t particularly bad - I’ve only been in hospital 2 or 3 times in 40 years. But I’ve not had a proper asthma attack since I started on it and I don’t get the side effects of taking lots of ventolin. It seems to do a much better job of nipping it in the bud.

Thanks liz. Yes, baby wobble stabilised!

The thing is lal, I feel a little fraudulent; my peak flow never went below 350 at my worst. My good level is 420 iirc. I know that's really not bad. It's more the symptoms that are a right royal pain. I teach and simply cannot talk without triggering coughing attacks when like this. To be fair, this is probably the worst since I was diagnosed 2 years ago. Possibly 'cough variant asthma'?

So I just don't think they'd want to try me on symbicourt.

(Though I'm wondering if the pharmacist even suggested it a while ago...)

Go back and ask for symbicourt or similar combined inhaler. I got started on seretide whilst pregnant as my asthma suddenly got really bad at around 22 weeks (this is unusual but keep an eye out). I had to have course of steroids and highest dose of seretide, but it changed my life. As my practice nurse very firmly pointed out, during pregnancy it's much much better to take the medicine than to have major asthma attack and end up in A&E.