Hi all

Several months ago I was diagnosed with asthma. Apparently a little gift from my last bought of bad flu, plus it also runs in my family.

It has been quite an adjustment but am slowly adapting to the sometimes restricting and uncomfortable experience that will now be part of my life.

I am on flixotide and ventolin and now that I have a spacer it seems to help quite a bit.

Are there any other adult asthmatics out there to chat with?

Im 29 - and have had Asthma since a young child ... so its not a new thing to me ... however it has recently made a come back - after being quite domant whilst pregnant with the kids. It appears as I get older, my attacks come on faster, and without warning - which can be quite scary - esp for my family ... some days I feel chained to my inhalers

I am aslo on Ventolin / flixotide - but possible time to re visit these options with my GP - as they certainly arent working like they used to - and Im going through a LOT of ventolin. And this is whilst well - my Asthma is 100x worse when sick with the flu or even just a simple cold.

I find it frustrating at the best of times ... but something Ive had to learn to live with unfortunately ... and so far - it hasnt really *stopped* me doing anything ... there have been times Ive has to postpone stuff - if recovering from an attack / symptoms ... but nothing Ive not been able to do yanno ?

All the best ...

I don't have much advice really. Asthma runs in our family (and hubby's family) and my older two kids have it. I had it in my late teens/early 20's for a while (probably environmental related) but haven't had it since until my last pregnancy. I had two courses of Redipred and then was put on Flixotide . Baby is just over 3 weeks old and I have stopped the Flixotide and have been fine so far, so hopefuly it was just a pregnancy related thing.

Hi there and thanks for the replies.

What do you find are your triggers?

Humidity or moist air seems to be a big one for me, as well as dust etc.

Moist air - is def a trigger for me ... as is dust ... and sudden change in temp (whether it be cool-hot or hot-cool) ... and having a virus.

I find it difficult to avoid the triggers - as often you cant really ...

If you haven't already then I can highly recommend seeing a specialist, particularly if your asthma is difficult to control. If you are using your ventolin a lot then its a sign that it is not under control.

My sister has had severe asthma for years and her best form of management was to visit a specialist and to get newish good effective drugs. Specialists often have access to different medications and really know their stuff. My sis recently had issues and a visit and tests to a specialist revealed a long standing infection that was not easily identifiable and was treated and she has a action plan for when she gets a cold etc. The action plan can be easily sorted by the GP but GP's are not always experts in hard to control asthma.

Another useful thing is to get a referral to a respiratory physio to ensure that you are breathing properly and not hyperventilating. Its very common for people with asthma to develop poor breathing habits and it can make the symptoms worse.

hi Kiwimum, thanks so much for your reply. That is really helpful advice.

Adult onset here! Diagnosed age 21, within a year if having my tonsils remived. Triggers are fog, mould, aerosols & perfumes, and having colds/viruses. Found out when I had a cough (walking in fog) that would drop me to my knees, unable to gasp a breath before the next cough. I also wheeze, get blue around the mouth when exercising, and very prone to bronchitis/pneumonia when I get a simple cold.

Big helpers for me:
Getting an HRV system
A vacuum with a HEPA filter
Taking vitamin D - prescribed by GP, massively reduced amount of viruses I was contracting, and in the year I have been on it, no antibiotics, no nebulisers, no cold that required more than a few tissues.
Using ventolin rather than salamol
Using a spacer

Very rare now that I use my ventolin. First few years after diagnosis, I was on steroid inhalers, LABA inhaler, frequently oral steroids, and still using reliever frequently. Very happy with how it is now!

Hi blueberri

Awesome to read your post. Gives me hope that things will settle down here too some time

For what it is worth, my Dad had late onset of asthma at 35. The trigger for his was unknown. He was extremely fit and never allowed his asthma to slow him down. Cold air was a big trigger for him. The Dr was always amazed at his functional capacity given that his asthma was chronic in his later years with oxygen sats affected as a result. My Dad lived a long and full life with his asthma, and passed at 83. The moral of the story is, adult onset of asthma when well managed does not need to slow you down from living a long and full life ! All the best !

Hi there,

I am 23 and was diagnosed with asthma last July when I was staying in Christchurch for 2 months. Since then after returning back to Dunedin every time I leave again I seem to get it. I was in Perth for 2 months (in what has been their hottest summer since records began) and I still had one. I just can't work out what the trigger is. One thing I do know is that being near someone smoking I can instantly feel my chest tighten. (Thankfully I don't know or see many smokers).

I'm finding dealing with this really difficult as whenever I present somewhere for help with these symptoms they assume I know all about asthma and treat me like I'm stupid for having to ask and don't really help me. It wasn't until in Perth when I had to go to emergency and told them I don't know anything, that I found out you could take your inhailler more than twice in 2 hours!!! The amount of nights I spend waking every hour and waiting for the two hour mark before I took more makes me so mad that I wasn't told this when they were prescribed to me. Perth also told me that their is such a thing as an action plan!?

Does anyone have any suggestions about where I could go to find out more.. I have just started my 5th does of prednisone since July and I remember someone telling me that you shouldnt really have more than 2 in a year for asthma so why does it keep getting prescribed when even the doctors who give it to me think I've been on too much...

Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Hi there,

Not sure about the 2 doses a year of Prednisone...my kiddies have certainly had more than that in the past.

The Asthma Society would be the ones to help you. They provide a free education service for asthma sufferers. I will try and find the contact details and bump them up for you...