Asthma !!!!!

[gozza]

wrong thread....

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by SupahStah

my brother has had asthma his whole life, done everthing to get wear it down. pills, preventors, pumps you name it, its been done, he goes thru a ventolin in about a week and a half and uses it up to 5-6 times a day. his comes and goes when it feels like it, usually after drinking milk it will flare up for some reason? or if he has a little bit of asthma and has some milk it will turn that bad he would try and run for his puffer.

I find milk gives me flem and Im constantly coughing it up. Perhaps he is better off not drinking full cream and try skinny milk or better yet, try soy. Keeps the flem off the chest.

[gtfpv]

just an update for anyone interested .
we took my daughter to her GP today, and he listened to our concern , listened to her chest , and believes she is ok !!!!
he says the singulair is working and has been for 5 years , because she has never needed hospital treatment for asthma . he says her asthma is therefore controlled . he also says side effects of other preventatives are worse than her symptoms. he only recommends singulair for children , unless they have a serious prolonged attack , on more than one occasion which requires medical intervention. and this does not include a cold which causes asthma and needs oral steroids . he says that asthma; needing ventolin daily at this time of year is normally expected for asthmatics , even whilst on preventative medicine, as long as the ventolin is working. therefore he believes that the singulair is doing it's job, because she is responding to ventolin.
we asked about spirometers and flow metres, and he said they are in the chemist if we wish to use them to monitor her asthma , but in his consultation today her lungs are clear. which is an indication that the meds are working. so in his opinion, her daily requirement for ventolin is acceptable .
to me this is both RE ASSURING , and , CONFUSING.

anyhow i guess we'll have to take his word for it .

[MO]

Well good news sort of but being a parent you still worry like crap...keep doing what your doing mate..hope it all works out good.

[J.C.]

Well, I guess at present she is clear. Would it be wise to gather a second opinion?

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by J.C.

Well, I guess at present she is clear. Would it be wise to gather a second opinion?

yes i guess it is always wise . but if you get a conflicting opinion, then you need a 3rd, and then a 4th to even it up, then your forced to make a choice , on something you have no idea about, against a combined 60 years of medical proffesion . scary isn't it !!!

[DivHunter]

I've had asthma since I was born. I spent a lot of time in hospital as a kid, I am basically allergic to every grass known to man, no joke. Just touching it makes me itchy and I can have hay fever so bad I can't see, never stopped me playing outdoor sports though . I was also severely allergic to legumes so much so that eating chicken fed on legumes would result in an (possibly fatal) attack. I grew out of the legume allergy and can eat what I like since I was a teen. In recent years I have not been using any medication preventative or otherwise directly for asthma however Telfast (180mg+) will sort out hay fever and wheezing, my brother has to alternate b/w telfast, zertec etc. Since the asthma seemed to have moved on I did develop a bit off eczema which a little quarterzone(?) cream takes care of. The changes occurred probably around when I turned 20 possibly coincidentally a year or two after I stopped playing sports, when I was 15-16 I played for 3 basketball teams (under 16, 18 and 21), being pretty fit didn't do jack. I have lived in the same place for almost 18 years since moving from Penrith to get away from the bulk of Rye grass (one of my major ones).

I'm pretty free of it now as long as I take care of hay fever.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

yes i guess it is always wise . but if you get a conflicting opinion, then you need a 3rd, and then a 4th to even it up, then your forced to make a choice , on something you have no idea about, against a combined 60 years of medical proffesion . scary isn't it !!!

GT she sounds like she is doing OK, but if in doubt seek some more advice, try not to stress over it to much and if you like come and stay with me for a few months :-) after that youll find you have very little to worry / stress over or be scared about. Keep it in perspective

[Mark351]

I got asthma from about the age of 11-12, sport and smoking being the primary triggers - tickling would guarantee an attack within seconds. It was discovered after a particularly nasty attack, which was probably the worst I had due to it being undiagnosed. I only ever had ventolin, early on it was morning and night as a preventative, later progressed to just managing it when I had a minor attack.

When I was twenty-odd, I had an asthma checkup and it showed that my flow was normal, so not so bad. It's at the stage now where I hardly need it, maybe winter because a cold seems to aggravate it. I use ventolin so infrequently now I only replace them because the used by date is up.

So asthma isn't always a really bad thing, so I would trust your doctor.

Speaking of ventolin (and other puffers), why is it the majority of users I see use them wrong? I see people barely exhale, punch in 2-3 blasts them seem to hardly inhale. Doesn't anyone get taught to use these/read instructions? I find fully exhaling, one blast while sucking in as much air as possible then holding it for 5-10 seconds is the trick - why waste the medicine?

[DivHunter]

I've noticed that as well and never understood it. Maybe if the medication was used correctly it would work better. 'Spacers' are apparently pretty good for kids using inhalers.

[MO]

gtfpv...on the news tonight..if asthmatics have a glass of pure apple juice everyday..lessens chance of an attack by fifty percent..check it out mate.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by gozza

I nearly died of pneumonia when i was born... i Sufferend pretty bad asthma untill high school....Ventolin Plus other type puffers..nebulisers....I used to swim alot and play a variety of sports.....I think sport is a key ingredient...Im not sure if you "grow out" of asthma or it just becomes controlled but i have not suffered from Asmtha attacks and the likes for many years

Sounds pretty much like what happened to me as well ... funnily enough though ... not long after finishing school ... it slowly dispappeared though.

I now do not need the use of a puffer at all .... and haven't really been short of breath that much. No more attacks either.

Whereas back when I was at school and in my infant years .... I needed to have a puffer on me at all times ... and to know the signs when to use it before it got too bad.

MattP ... awesome information there .... and a great read ... will help mant people here who suffer from it.

[atec77]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Ok,

In the past weeks I have almost fallen unconscious twice from attacks.

If it wasnt for the partner running to the lounge to grab the puffer I would either be dead or brain dead (as happened to a mate of mine).

My Asthma is triggered by a sneeze. Once i sneeze i have around 10 seconds to take my puffer or i'm pretty much turning purple.

The Standard doctors are useless, I have found a few research centres here in sydney that I will be making a visit to soon enough, why????

Because my Asthma is CURED when I visit South Korea. Yes. Within 2 days i can leave my puffer at home, by 4 days I can sprint for a bus and not die.

Why?? who knows. But im considering moving there at the end of the year, after setting up some sort of research using me as a guinea pig to see whats the bloody reason.

Ok, now there is a GREAT BOOK that i can recoment. "Fed up with Asthma" by Sue Dengate i think.

Buy it, read it, follow it. It links Asthma to food additives. I tried the diets and they DO work. But then again, in Korea i eat as much of the bad stuff as i can with not a problem.

I would pay any sum to be able to leave the home without a bloody puffer in my pocket.

SO you need to determine which part of the local fauna you have problems with and become desensitised

[Mechan1k]

Fauna and flora as well ... animals and plants can be both major triggers.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

WELL it's that time of year again . WHO , here is getting regular bouts of asthma . ????
my 8 year old daughter , has been getting it daily and taking her ventolin every day , for the last 3 weeks . just before bedtime . this has happened a couple of times before and passed , however this time everyday , between 6 and 9 pm , she is getting it , the ventolin works within a few minutes , it is not flu related . tonight she has told me she has been waking nightly with it as well .
off to the doctor tomorrow then , she is on a preventative tablet called singular, which she has been on for 5 years . now it aint working .
what i'm worried about is our doctors lack of concern .

any informed advice welcome thanks . if your asthma has been worse recently , what have you done about it .
thanks in advance . :(

and how do i go about seeing an asthma specialist . ? is a GP good enough ??

just an update on the outcome , my daughter was prescribed redipred tablets for 5 days . she hasnt had asthma or required a puffer since .

[Jason[98.EL]]

gtfpv we are going through the same thing at the moment with my 5 yr old daughter

it was an interesting read from mattp and we will monitor her for a few more days and if it hasnt improved we will take her to the doctor and discuss it

thanks again for the insight

jason

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by heljas

gtfpv we are going through the same thing at the moment with my 5 yr old daughter

it was an interesting read from mattp and we will monitor her for a few more days and if it hasnt improved we will take her to the doctor and discuss it

thanks again for the insight

jason

hope all goes well mate . just a little bit of info . if your doctor does prescribe prednisone/ prenisoline or redipred ( its all the same) ask for tablets instead of syrup , they are tiny. we found they worked on the 1st day, where as the syrup seemed to take a while before .

[Jason[98.EL]]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

hope all goes well mate . just a little bit of info . if your doctor does prescribe prednisone/ prenisoline or redipred ( its all the same) ask for tablets instead of syrup , they are tiny. we found they worked on the 1st day, where as the syrup seemed to take a while before .

i will mate i noticed that earlier in the thread

thanks again

jason

[gtfpv]

i have just dug up this thread because now i am having issues with a cough and a wheeze, and have just started taking FLIXOTIDE.

ANYHOW AN UPDATE TO STAY ON TOPIC!!!
my daughter is now approaching 10, she is still on singular daily , and hardly ever gets wheezy anymore .
occassionally a belly laugh will br9ng on a wheeze where she will need ventolin, but i do believ now , that persistance with singular mainly. + the decision to immediately take ventolin at the 1st sign of a wheeze, and prednisone during colds and flu. have paid off . i can only hope that the longer people are symptom free the more likely they may develop stronger lungs and allergy resistance . cheers guys . and hang in there anyone with children, with asthma, there is light at the end of the tunnel in the vast majority of cases.