Asthma in pregnacy

[CoolCat2014]

I usually gave very mild asthma, only take a reliever inhaler one or two times a month, but in the last couple of weeks I've had to start taking the preventer twice a day, and am still having to take the reliever a lot. Everything has been really bad in the last couple of days as there are several grass fires burning locally.

Did anyone else struggle more with asthma in pregnancy (I'm 20 weeks now) I'm a bit concerned I seem a bit out of control the last couple of days. Will see a Gp in the week if it's not better tomorrow, but just wondering if anyone has any advice or tips on how to manage it better?

My asthma nurse told me 1/3 of people will suffer more with their asthma during pregnancy, for 1/3 nothing will change and for 1/3 it will improve.

Personally I suffered a bit up until 19 weeks, but mainly due to heartburn. I have suffered from acid reflux since I was diagnosed with asthma, and the heartburn triggers asthma attacks. I went to see gp and they agreed I could go back on omeprazole for the acid reflux. Things were much better for rest of pregnancy, bar a few really hot days when I was near full term.

Were you on meds before you were pregnant that you aren't taking now? I would book appointment with GP / asthma nurse asap, and mention it at next midwife appointment.

I've never had asthma but had it just during pregnancy.

Oh I should also point out, before and during pregnancy I was on Symbicort turbohaler (preventer & reliever in 1, quite strong). So perhaps this helped limit my attacks.

Also, my asthma has greatly improved since I gave birth. I have had 2 attacks in 19 months, and no longer use a preventer. I take slow deep breaths when I feel an attack starting(usually exercise induced), hence just needing reliever twice since giving birth.

coldfeet - no I wasn't on anything prior to pregnancy, just the blue inhaler as and when needed, though I've had periods in the past where I've been on the brown one for a couple of months

teamedward it's highly possible as there seems to be a lot of pollen around at the moment and my eyes keep watering and I feel a bit hayfeverish, but don't know if I can take antihistamines. Plus as mentioned, a lot of grass fires this year (teens deliberately set them off). I'm pretty new to the area, so haven't really had the chance to see what through the year makes a difference, but I suspect with the dry weather that pollen and air pollution is quite high here right now!

I was told the same thing as coldfeet about thirds and that was true for me in micro: first pregnancy, no change from my usual mild asthma. Second pregnancy, asthma had been bad before being pregnant (can't remember why it was worse now) and seemed to get better as soon as I was pregnant, third pregnancy my asthma was a problem, had a nasty flare up at about 4 months and was on double my usual amount of preventative inhalor for the rest of the pregnancy. I wasn't very happy about taking so much but wasn't able to reduce it without having to use lots of reliever, so resigned myself to it and once ds3 was born it improved again.
I was told using the reliever wouldn't harm the baby but may make him a bit hyperactive,.and it definitely seemed to make bim wiggle a lot!

My asthma is usually very well controlled (Symbicort twice daily, bricanyl as needed - rarely have to take it), but mine has got significantly worse over the past few weeks - am 32 weeks pregnant now.

I spoke to the nurse about it when I went for my whooping cough vaccination last week and she said it was fine to double up on my preventer as needed in the same way as I might do if I had a cold for example. Everything is getting more squished so not very much space for the lungs now!

I'm going to mention it to the midwife when I see her next week too. Definitely check with your GP - see what he/she recommends.

I sympathise, I can hardly get a breath some days and usually my asthma doesn't bother me at all.