I have just collected three salbutamol prescriptions from the pharmacy...

[Icanseethesea]

..one for me, one for dd2 and one for ds. That's 3 of us in the house who are struggling to breathe and are coughing all night. I then went to see a friend who has had two of her dcs off school all week with ... asthma. Is it getting more common?

Not sure if it's getting more common, but GPs certainly seem to be prescribing inhalers more often. My DCs have both been given them for bad coughs and I was a bit at first, but they do really help. I had a very "traditional" GP a couple of years ago who prescribed DS1 Salbutamol syrup - it was excellent and totally stopped the night coughing, but no other GP will ever prescribe it as they say it is outdated. Lots of my friends' DCs have also been given inhalers for coughs although they havent been diagnosed with asthma..

my dd1 is the only one i know of with asthma out of all my friends and even when she was at preschool she was alone with it, and her sport groups she is the only one!

Well, we had our first unbroken night's sleep for two weeks, so I think the salbutamol has done the job!

Glad to hear it!

I think not asthma as such but respitory issues are becoming more common. Also gps seem to eb more willing to prescribe salbutamol to help any respitary distress as it is a good drug. However I tend to view people with true asthma as those who are on preventer inhalers[only in my opinion of course] as they need their asthma controlling.