Requesting a nebuliser
I have been having an asthma flare up for around 4 weeks now and have completed two courses of antibiotics and steroids. My voice has been terrible and I have felt so wheezy that I could barely complete any tasks. My chest has been so tight I’ve barely been coughing.
Fast forward to last night, I went for a chest X-ray as requested by my gp and started to feel an asthma attack coming on so I walked around to the urgent care department (thankfully right next door) and spoke (ish) to a lovely receptionist who called for someone to come and help me. By this point, my PEF was below 50% of my personal best and so they gave me a nebuliser (2 doses, 1 of the rescue meds and 1 of a longer lasting steroid). It helped almost straight away and I feel so much better than I have in weeks. Apart from having to sit in a&e for 6 hours last night to be told that the nebuliser had in fact worked and I could go home!
So my question is, has anybody ever requested a nebuliser if they have suspected that it may help them even if they are not having an acute asthma attack? My gp has only just agreed to potentially send me to a specialist but in the meantime, am I able to request meds if I suspect they may be more useful to me?
Hi. Thank you for sharing your personal asthma experience here, and for your great question. Sorry that you have had to go through all of this. Although, glad to hear that you received quick treatment with a nebulizer when you needed it and that it helped you feel better. I do know that many here in this community also have nebulizers and prescriptions for nebulizer solutions (such as myself). I usually rely on my inhalers. Although, during flare-ups such as you describe, I find that my nebulizer seems to work better for opening my airways. I would think it would be a very logical for you -- especially in light of the fact that such a treatment helped you so much -- to ask your GP if you could get a nebulizer for home use. What do you think? John asthma.net community moderator
