Uncontrolable Asthma

[confusedallergicasthmatic]

I was diagnosed with allergic asthma two years ago.  I currently am on Advair 500\50, Singulair 10mg, Prednisone, Claritin, Mucinex, Flonase, Albuterol (fast and nebulizer) and Xolair injections every two weeks (300mg).  To this date I still have problems weekly-monthly.  I am not getting better.  Coughing seems to be my biggest symptom, I cough so much and so hard that I start hyperventilating.  My doctor says there is not much more he can do medicine wise.  My life is totally a disaster.  I live in fear of loosing my job, I am in financial difficulties due to the cost this disease has cost me.  So now the stress is contributing,  I am trying not to let the depression set in.  Any suggestions?

[Allisonc78]

Medicine wise yes your well taken care of. But I heard Mucinex makes asthma worse. Maybe you could try Symbicort instead of Advair and it will work better for you. Do you use a spacer with all your inhalers? You might need one to make sure the medication is getting into your smaller airways. I would also say exercise because that will help increase your lung function greatly. Besides that make sure you are taking lots of vitamin C, D, B6 and magnesium. Lastly, breathing exercises everyday can help you feel less short of breath. I am still trying to get my asthma under control as well. I have lots of allergies to everything too. I am having a hard time getting rid of our pets though. I agree with the above suggestions too because changing your envrionment is a great deal of help.

[tgal]

I had a similar situation although I got it under control quicker than you did...I had to spend 300 on a HEPA vacume cleaner, get a HEPA air filter for my house, buy an asthma friendly complete bed cover, get pillow covers for ALL pillow's on my bed, shower (or at least rinse off) at night, drink caffeine in the morning (proven to help short term with asthma symptoms), put cheese cloth on all of my vents in my house, get rid of some of my pets that are not asthmatic friendly, etc. Now it is in control! But my cleaning regime is insane! I have to dust at least once a week with a wet cloth, vacume at least twice a week, take out the trash every other day, and NO PERFUME in my house.
I hope this helps. I still struggle with some depression on bad breathing days and when I get a cold and it acts up but I hope this gives you hope and I also hope you are seeing a pulminologist? I wasn't until I ended up hospitalized because of my condition! Good luck and God Bless- Please keep me posted! - Tanja