I a SO Effed Off with my Asthma.....

[pofacedandproud]

I haven't had symptoms for 8 years and suddenly since October I've been struggling with bronchitis and the worst asthma I have ever had. Struggling for breath walking back from ds's school this morning. Back on inhaled steroids for the first time since childhood. Wtf is going on? Anyone else struggling this year? Anyone got any tips for getting better apart from steroids and ventolin? [short of moving to a mountain in Switzerland]I am so depressed about it. Would have to be the year of the swine flu too. Any asthmatics out there?

also piriton allergy reliever - my mother ( who was a nurse many many many many years ago) swore by this as she hated taking the steroids.

now i have done a google - but i don't really want to link to anything - i think perhaps you should ask your doctor.

Well I have been on inhaled steroids permanently and wouldn't come off them. If I go for more than a week or so without them I get constant athsma attacks. I personally would rather use them than get sick.

As a child I developed athsma at about 5 but it wasn't diagnosed and had constant pneumonia, bronchitis, pleurisy every winter. My lungs are now quite damaged and if I stop taking them steroids I risk getting all those nasties again.

I would imagine that the bronchitis is causing the athsma and vice versa.

Or try the west coast of Scotland - preferably an island. Didn't seem to have problems there.

Yes, I do have asthma though usually too mild to need medication. I grew up in Lincolnshire which is a v bad area for me (agriculural pollution and all that). London was much better despite the pollution, and am now in Essex (and on a hill) which helps a lot.

I'd really recommend sorting the bedding out (washing at high temps, hoovering etc.) as it makes a big difference for me. Hope the steriods kick in soon.

it is an awful area for asthma and allergies, so many of my schoolmates were asthamtic or had eczema or hay fever or all three. Oilseed rape is a big factor in the summer and general crop sprays/reckless farming the rest of the year (apologes to any eco-friendly Lincs farmers, I'm sure there must be some)

That's a good point, Orm.

Actually, that's reminded me. I use my asthma as an alternative therapy bullshit detector. Any therapy that tells you to immediately drop the steroids in favour of is pedalling downright dangerous (and potentially lethal) advice - time to run for the hills.

Asthma steroids and relievers are some of the best researched and studied drugs out there. We have an astounding amount of data and they really are very safe and effective. Of course, you should always use the lowest dose that controls your asthma well, but that's just common sense.

I think the problem is the name 'steroids' gets unfairly mixed up in the public perception with the anabolic steroids abused by some athletes and bodybuilders and they are NOT the same thing at all.

and DH didn;t have eczema as a child till he moved to Lincoln...

was also going to say do NOT feel guilty for being miserable, I hate having long periods of wheeziness, you just feel exhausted and achy and cross all the time

I am extremely bad tempered at present. Especially as I consented to yet another chest x ray this week [went to see private specialist in desperation stupid idea nothing more to say than gp] and now worried about breast cancer too.

Interesting about the caffeine study Custardo. what do you not want to link to? A piriton or a steroid study? Clues please!

I don't like steroids as they are immune suppressants. There is some research to say pneumonia is more likely if you take inhaled steroids.

herbietea: my GP used to refer to oilseed rape as agricultural pollution, but he was old-school (and had dealt with a vast rise in local allergy cases) so what would he know?

pofaced: if the steriods help breathing, I'd rate that over any possible long-term effects. But I can see why you'd be worried. The DSs have been prescribed blue inhalers but not steriods as yet (they're still too young to be diagnosed as asthmatic and are usually only wheezy after viruses) and I know I'd worry about them starting steriods young.

Pofaced: re corticosteroids and pneumonia - I think I've found the study you refer to. www.medpagetoday.com/Pulmonary/SmokingCOPD/6163

Three things worth noting:

1. these were not asthma patients, these were patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
2. the doses were at least 1,000 µg/day of fluticasone - that is MASSES (as an example, I'm on 50 µg in winter/ill or 25 µg a day normally).
3. the average age of the study participants was 77 years.

I really wouldn't class that in the same league or a significant consideration for most asthmatics.

good point RD. A rapid response to a bmj article about asthmatics and SF postulated that it was because of inhaled steroids that asthmatics were getting SF so badly, will find link. Not a proven theory though.

Apologies read the packet wrong. I'm on 100 µg in winter/ill or 50 µg a day normally - still significantly smaller quantities than in the study mentioned.

here is the link, you have to click on rapid responses. I guess you had the SF jab? did you feel ok?

Yes, I saw that too, although it's a bit 6 of one, half dozen of the other for me. Without the steroids I probably wouldn't survive any type of flu anyway

Yep, had the SF jab. Sore arm for a couple of days and that was it. Don't regret it for an instant.

well yes it is good to survive long enough to get the bloody flu

Glad it was ok for you.

(Feck... running up the stairs to read the inhaler packet has made me wheezy... bloody chest infection )

i know how you feel. It is awful. I have to move like an old person.

I wouldn't mind, but I keep forgetting. I feel fit and energetic, until I do something then start wheezing and coughing like I'm a 50-a-day smoker!!

Can we group together and buy a holiday house somewhere very clean? We can rent it out to asthmatics only. No carpets, no pets allowed, emergency inhalers in every room.

HAHA... sounds fantastic. Can it be somewhere warm too. I mean, I know the air must be cleaner in Switzerland... but I do like to be warm....