Pureocd

If you have severe asthma and your only treatment is a puffer when you get breathless and some pills, sack your doctor! Many doctors are still treating their patients the way they did twenty years ago. You may be missing out on treatments that could transform your life, simply because your doctor is poorly informed about the latest asthma treatments.

My severe asthma caused me to miss half my schooling and has put me in hospital more than once – yet I haven’t had an asthma attack (touch wood!) in ten years. My life was transformed by the use of the new preventative asthma puffers.s Now, the only time I wheeze is if I catch a bad cold or flu, and I can dance the night away without worrying about getting out of breath. If I can achieve that, so can you!

Essentially, if you need to use a puffer to relieve wheezing more than once or twice a week, you should be taking a preventive puffer instead. This is a puffer that you take every day, whether you wheeze or not. They’ve been around for twenty years, but are constantly being improved. Sure, they contain cortisone, which can be harmful – but we’re talking micrograms, not milligrams like the tablets. The strain you’re imposing on your heart and body when you wheeze, plus the risk of a severe attack, all pose greater risks to your health than a few micrograms of cortisone a day.

When you go to the doctor to ask for a preventative puffer, he may doubt whether you need it – especially if you’re not visibly wheezing at the time. I’m astonished how many doctors don’t have peak flow meters or spirometers to check their patients’ lung capacity. If he needs convincing, go and buy a peak flow meter from the pharmacy yourself. It will usually come with a chart. Use the chart to record your peak flow for a week or two, morning and evening, then take it to show your doctor. If your flow is constantly low, or (even more dangerous) if it fluctuates wildly up and down, that should ring alarm bells with your doctor and persuade him that you need a preventer.

If your asthma is severe enough to limit your activities, you should definitely see a specialist. They have sophisticated tests these days which can assess the causes and type of your asthma, and they are aware of all the latest drug treatments (unlike your local doctor, probably). I only needed to see a specialist twice. He conducted several tests, prescribed a suitable preventive puffer, and then taught me how to manage my own asthma plan (which included how to adjust my dosage in response to changes in my health, what extra medication I can take if I had an attack, at what threshold I should give up and go to hospital, etc). I’ve never seen another specialist since, and if I do need some extra medication, I tell my doctor what I need, not vice versa!

Asthma need not dictate your life!