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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Asthma and pregnancy

7 replies

fluffandnonsense · 14/07/2013 21:06

I've been asthmatic since I was about 10 but not really suffered too badly. Not had any severe attacks etc. I'm now 10 weeks pregnant and have been wheezing/coughing for over 2 weeks. I went to the docs on Friday and she said it was no wonder I was feeling so ill as my chest was incredibly wheezy. She prescribed Clerin inhaler, salbutamol inhaler, antibiotics and salamol to be used in a nebuliser 4x a day. That was 2 days ago and while I'm not as wheezy I'm still suffering :( Feel miserable and exhausted with all the coughing! She mentioned giving me steroid tablets but hesitated when I told her I was pregnant and decided against it. What is everyone else's experience of asthma in pregnancy? I was fine in my last 2 but now I'm dreading that this flare up is the start of an horrendous 6 months!

OP posts:
fluffandnonsense · 14/07/2013 21:34

Anyone?

OP posts:
TwickyWoo · 14/07/2013 21:36

Hi Fluff... I'm an on and off asthma sufferer too. Most of the time I don't take anything, but since being pregnant (17 weeks now) and not being able to take any antihistamines (which seems to keep all my asthma symptoms in check - long story!) my asthma has been worse. Wheezing and coughing, not helped by this time of year either and seasonal allergies. When I found out I was pregnant they stopped my prescription antihistamine, but I have continued with a steroid inhaler (Clenil) and I have salbutamol for those "just in case" situations. If you give it a week or so the steroids will kick in and I find that if I take this daily (I only take the basic doses) I don't need to take anything else and it keeps me chest in check.

I hope that you start to feel better soon and the 'drugs' start to do their thing. Pregnancy can make you short of breath etc anyway so just be patient and take what you can to keep symptoms manageable and hopefully you will start to feel better. Take care of you!

TobyLerone · 14/07/2013 22:03

My asthma has been especially awful for the last few weeks, since the lovely weather started and the pollen count went right up. Can't take any antihistamines, so I'm basically stuck with it for a while!

fluffandnonsense · 15/07/2013 01:31

Booooo Im so miserable :( still not been to bed, can't stop coughing :( I'm so exhausted. Should I go back to the doctors tomorrow if its no better?

OP posts:
froubylou · 15/07/2013 08:04

If you think hayfever/pollen allergies are making your asthma worse whilst pg then kick off to get them to prescribe Piriton. Ask to see a consultant if your GP can't/won't prescribe.

Long story but I have asthma and was also smoking when I got PG. I stopped smoking and went onto patches with the support of the stop smoking midwife. After 5 days of not smoking, rather than feeling better I felt horrendous. Asthma was awful (got that dry, tickly cough all night), chest tight and wheezy, and had streaming nose and eyes and couldn't stop sneezing long enough to string a sentance together. Because of the trauma my poor nose was suffering I also got a nose, then lips full of coldsores.

I was a mess. After speaking to practise M/W, practise nurse then seeing GP at doctors, all who said I couldn't have any anti-histamanes my stop smoking M/W asked me what I was going to do. Told her I would start smoking again (all symptoms triggered by stopping smoking). She had seen the state of me and agreed I couldn't continue in that state all through the summer and we were both concerned that if the asthma got much worse I would end up in a big mess.

She spoke to a consultant at the local hospital. He laughed and told her to tell me to take the recommended adults dose of piriton until it was under control, then drop it down a little. I was about 8 weeks at the time so still in the first trimester.

Was much better within hours lol.

GP's don't like prescribing anything to PG women as most things are not tested on PG women and they are terrified of being sued. But Piriton has been around for many years and from my research on the web no adverse affects have ever been reported when used by PG women. Of course we have to calculate any risk when taking any medication. In my case it really was Pirtion vs Smoking and Piriton won hands down. Even before I smoked my asthma was always much worse in summer. They don't like giving oral steriods whilst PG and I had those quite a lot to sort out attacks in the past. Without the steriods I think I would have ended up being in hospital on a few occasions. And a lack of oxygen can't be good for baby either.

cakeandcava · 15/07/2013 09:20

Hi fluff,
I'm an asmathic too, and my symptoms got worse when I got pregnant. Apparently about 1/3 of asmathic women get better when pregnant, 1/3 get worse and 1/3 stay the same, so I guess we were the unlucky ones!
If you can hang in there for another few days, the clenil inhaler should start kicking in, and you should feel better. It probably is better to stay off oral steroids while pregnant, if you can, but at the same time, it's important to be able to breathe! Only you know when it is too much.

Anyway, my experience was that it got much better around 16-18 weeks, and stayed fine. It was mainly a first trimester thing, so hopefully it will be the same for you.

babyhmummy01 · 15/07/2013 12:19

I am 35 weeks and up to the last 3 my asthma has been better than ever but pollen is making it awful. Loratadine is safe in pg according to NHS website.

My obs consultant on Friday told me the std dose of steroids will be fine for baby if that helps

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