Pregnant with asthma and rhinitis

[browneyedgirl626]

Hi 👋🏼

I'm curious as to whether other ladies are experiencing a worsening of their asthma and rhinitis during pregnancy? My nose was blocked from about 5 months , I've been using nasonex which helped but then I caught a cold and after two rounds of antibiotics for my chesty cough I'm still feeling awful, which has made me think it's actually an asthma flare and rhinitis. My sinuses are completely blocked and my asthma is making me wheeze especially at night. None of the inhalers I've been prescribed are working, I'm now thinking I need a course of oral steroids. Has anyone else been through this? I'm 31 weeks pregnant with my second and I am struggling so much, I'd cry but then it just makes me more snotty!!!

I’m 7 weeks and my asthma has gotten worse from the start. I’ve been prescribed fostair nexthaler a year ago and still take it now but at a lower dose and that helps a lot. I tried managing with only ventolin but it wasn’t helping so I continued with fostair. I also take zyrtec for allergies but nothing for the congestion since I’m kinda used to my sinuses being blocked and it doesn’t bother me.

I'm 26 weeks. My asthma didn't get worse until I got a cold just after Christmas and I had an awful cough and wheezing which lingered for ages (far longer than it did with my partner). Thankfully it's eased with inhaler use.

I also have a nose that's often blocked (we've made plenty of jokes over the years over it just not working) which is a lot worse since being pregnant. Blocked, sneezing, all that fun. I've not been able to take anything for it so just kind of putting up with it.

For the asthma, I'd definitely keep speaking to your doctors. They do say that for around a third (I think it was) of people pregnancy can make asthma worse sadly

I used saline nasal rinses when pregnant as no-one would allow anything stronger 🙄 but I could take some antihistamines. The saline rinses kept the worst sinusitis at bay mostly.

Thanks for your reply @emmatcc1 I'm definitely in the camp of it getting worse too! I'm also on fostair though I can't say it's made any difference annoyingly. I hope it all stays under control for you and good luck for the rest of your pregnancy 🍀

Hi @PinguGiraffe I think that's what happened to me too, the chesty cough lingered after the cold, I feel like we get a double whammy being pregnant and asthmatic 🥴

I went to the docs this morning and they put me on the nebuliser for 15 mins which really helped, they've now given me a course of oral steroids (prednisone) which I'm praying helps because the wheezy cough is never ending and the more I try to suppress it at night (to not wake my toddler) the worse it gets. I'm considering buying a nebuliser , they're around £70 and they are really useful to have especially in the event of an asthma attack. You can also use them with a special kind of saline so you're not overusing salbutamol

Hi @crisismode I have recently discovered NeilMed and I love it, it does feel like you're doing a colonic on your face though 😂

I'm glad the nebuliser helped give you some relief. There's enough rubbish feelings as it is without struggling to breathe on top! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that between that and the oral steroids it settles things down again. The last time I had oral steroids (pre pregnancy but still a bad flare up) they really helped.

@PinguGiraffe the prednisolone has already made a noticeable difference, I'm less sinusy and the wheeze has eased up a bit. It's mad how quickly they work. I was on pred from conception to 12 weeks as I did an ivf frozen transfer and it was part of my protocol for high nk cells. It does make me wonder if the reason I struggled staying pregnant before was because of my overactive immune system. I don't really know how it all works but it kind of makes sense in my head 🙃