Eileen - help needed please!!

My daughter is out at A&E with her daughter who had one of her flash asthma attacks this morning! Must be something in the air! :roll: I wish she was here as she worked on the respiratory unit until she went back to Uni to do midwifery.

I think they probably suggested the upping of the dose to help the breathing problems. Your airways will be inflamed with the infection, producing loads of gunk and hence all the problems. If you take the short course of high dose pred you should be able to just drop back to the usual dose just as if you weren't on pred at all, especially as you are on a very low dose. I did something similar a week or so ago and am back on the 15mg I was on before I tried it with no ill effects (was put back up about 3 weeks ago because of ?PMR/GCA probs). The high pred will reduce the airway inflamation pretty quickly and help your recovery. When will they tell you the results of the sputum culture?

Hope you feel much better very soon - and I think if it were me, I would take the pred. I do understand the frustration but it shouldn't make any difference longerterm.

I've had a really severe chest infection 3 times in the last few years and they have always upped my Pred to 30mg for 5 days. I did have some problems reducing the last time, but I think that was just me!

I had to go back to 40mg at the end of Feb this year for a GCA flare, and I have now got down to 13.5. I was very upset because I had been on the lowest dose of Pred that I have ever managed to get down to - 2.5mg daily. Still, better having my eyesight than not!

As far as the chest infection goes, I would do it - it does help a great deal. Believe me, I do understand how you feel.

Nefret/Catie

Eileen, nefret

Thankyou very much for that. Another question, would the high dose pred mask the problem and make me think I'm better when I'm not??

Beev

Eileen

One more question! Will it be ok to reduce direct from the 30mg to my usual 2.5/0 right away from 1 day to the next without taper??

The sputum result should be here prob monday - with a bit of luck Fri.

Did you sort out your poss GCA scare re lungs??

Beev

Yes - I think you can just take the 5 days and go back to normal without too much difficulty. Natalie seemed to think so too (nurse daughter!). It's quite common with the patients she was working with. And Catie obviously did that.

I don't know it will mask the problem, it will help you get over it. When they have the culture result they will know if it is an infection and they will also know if they were using the best antibiotic if it is. Since they saw you really ill, it should be taken more seriously from now on. If they come up with results that suggest it is NOT an infection they should be investigating properly - like what hasn't been done so far :roll: !!!!!! Did they do a chest x-ray at A&E? Natalie says that the guidelines are that any cough lasting more than a couple of months in anyone over about 45 should be extensively investigated because of the nastier possibilities - and that applies even if they think they know what it is to rule out a second cause.

I am beginning to get extremely angry at the docs who seem to think they can see through skin and muscle without technical assistance and their utter inability to google guidelines they are not familiar with. If I can do it - so can they. :roll:

I saw my optician yesterday and he is going to write to the rheumy in Italy (well, an email via me :wink: ) suggesting that, in view of several signs and symptoms which are rather nebulous and not entirely typical it would be appropriate to do an MRI with contrast to rule out GCA. I saw the rheumy via the emergency dept and he was really helpful - but the symptoms are really vague and you'd only be aware of them with the background knowledge we all have after so long! Honestly - pity help the ignorant in this world.

Eileen

I already had a chest xray 2 weeks ago and that was clear. Also a spirometry but they got me on a good day.

Also dont know whether to continue with the 40mg Omeprazole which I started on Friday (that was the 1st night I had breathing problems) - just took 20mg this morning and have just had what I think is an oesophageal spasm (dull ache across chest after meal).

Beev

Did you mention having started the omeprazole that day when you were in A&E? Don't know what the side effects are offhand but that would make me suspicious - but I'm like that!

Eileen

And lo and behold - unusual side-effects for omeprazole include chest tightness and bronchspasm. And should be mentioned to the doc asap when they do occur. You didn't have any hives or itching did you? If so - do tell a doc somewhere as soon as you possibly can. Allergic reactions are not nice and can range from most unpleasant to downright dangerous.

Eileen

Beev - oh what a terrible time you are having. If it just turns out to be the Omeprazole, how scary. I related my bad experience with it to you a week or so ago as I wondered then if it could be the culprit. At least, although unfortunately ending up in A&E, you are finally being taken seriously. Fingers crossed that you will now be properly diagnosed and treated quickly so that you can enjoy that holiday next month.

MrsOx

Beev, I was given similar instructions a couple of years ago when I reacted to AA ( wheezing and spectacular all over rash ). Like you I queried it in case I had misunderstood but I had not and all was fine. They wanted to keep me in to administer the big dose but I declined. I was not feeling ill, just looked awful.

Told them I had animals to feed and greenhouses to water. I'm sure they thought I was nuts and gave me a number for immediate readmission but nothing happened.

[quote:0173376193][color=blue:0173376193]Will it be ok to reduce direct from the 30mg to my usual 2.5/0 right away from 1 day to the next without taper?? [/color:0173376193][/quote:0173376193]

Sorry, meant to put that at the top. It won't let me insert it; cursor just returns to end of text.

Hello all

I had already been on Omep 20mg for 2 years, so thought it unlikely that I would have a bad reaction. I had read it in the drug notes tho so we asked in the hospital and the Doc went away and looked it up and said it wasn't mentioned!!

I took 20mg only yesterday and had an (I think) oesophageal spasm after evening meal. So took 40mg again today so far without adverse effect.

I have started the 30mg Pred today - felt awful looking at those 6 red tablets!

:evil:

I do think from my research on internet that my prob might well be due to acid reflux poss causing post nasal drip which drips down to throat and airways and lungs?? Trouble is, if I see the ENT chap next week, any problem (inflammation etc in throat) is likely to be masked by the high dose Pred?

Beev

You can develop a bad reaction to a drug at any time. An allergic reaction can only happen the second time you meet the trigger, you need the first time to develop the mechaism. But it doesn't have to be the second time - it could be the thousand and second time.

Where did the doc look it up? How come I can find something on the internet that everyone else says doesn't exist? My daughter tells me asthma isn't sub-typed - well, even direct.gov mentions types 1 and 2 of brittle asthma with the definitions. :roll:

Maybe PMR gives us hallucinations as well :wink:

Eileen

Yep - we are all mad! :wink:

I am even [b:5aafea283c]imagining[/b:5aafea283c] the receptionist at the surgery is being unpleasant and rude to me now. I rang to ask if my sputum test results were in and she aggressively told me that the clinic at the hospital where they had been done would have them. When i said that they hadn't been done at a clinic but at A & E she retorted in an unpleasant voice that they weren't in and that anyway the hospital would have them first.

I think maybe health staff get annoyed when they are actually used instead of being allowed to sit and do nothing. :evil: Next time I must start by apologising for bothering her and ask if its a convenient time to speak or should I just go away and quietly die so that i dont bother them anymore :twisted: :twisted: :evil: :evil:

Beev

Hi Beev,

That would have made me so cross :evil: . I seem to be very lucky where I am and mostly come into contact with pleasant and efficient staff at both my local GP and the Hospital. However, if anyone speaks to me in the way you were spoken to I simply say 'I'm terribly sorry, I didn't realize this was beyond your remit, please put me through to a more senior member of staff who will understand my needs and have the experience to answer my query, I'm happy to hold the line'. Works a treat with Banks as well. Hope you get it sorted.

Love from Lizzie xx

PS: Sunshine in Basingstoke, now that's unusual :D

Perfect, Lizzie. Only thing is that banks have an interest ( our money ) Not sure that some NHS staff have yet appreciated that we pay their salaries as someone on here ( Mrs. K ? ) has often pointed out.

I hasten to add that, perrsonally I have, with one exception, encountered nothing but polite and considerate treatment and responses.

Come and live in sunny (?) Norfolk. Beev.