Asthma

This is the problem (or one of them) with tick-box medicine. You do, however, have the right to refuse treatment which you don't want for any reason, and the fact that you know that it will do the opposite of helping your condition is a very good reason. Keep saying so and keep refusing the steroid inhalers - you know your own body better than anyone else.

And the very best of luck to you!

Refuse them - they are not being prescibed for your benefit but by diktat - that is pretty scary. Whatever happened to clinical freedom?

Ask to go back on the regime that helped and do not leave till you have succeeded!

maddyone, I'm sorry that you are not having an easy time.
I'm a chronic asthmatic, have been since I was diagnosed at 21.
I found that most steroid inhalers didn't suit me, but I had a very good respiratory consultant who listened to me. I was also a teacher and was constantly hoarse.
There is a good reason for taking steroid inhalers, which help prevent attacks, but they do have side effects which you have to balance with the benefits.
Would it be possible to go and speak to your GP and explain your concerns?
At my last asthma review, the practice nurse demanded to know why I was on certain inhalers (3 of them) , as she didn't think they were appropriate.
I explained that a respiratory consultant had recently prescribed them, as the best treatment for me, because my condition was presently unstable.
Asthma nurses are not doctors, they do an excellent job supporting asthmatics, but they are not experts.
You have the right to make a choice about your own treatment. I would make an appointment to see your GP, if I was in a similar position.
I hope you manage to resolve this soon.

My asthma is getting much worse as I age. I went for routine appointment two weeks ago and the nurse changed my inhaler. I was completely ignorant of side effects. So when I had a permanent headache and my sinuses felt like they’d been brushed down with Brillo pads I was amazed that it was the inhaler. The problem now is I’ve looked up the side affects of all the asthma steroid treatments and scared myself into being very reluctant to take them. Good luck with your next appointment.

That's another trouble with modern medicine, morethan2. In the old days (when some of us were young!) nobody thought it important that patients should know anything about their treatment. Do you remember bottles labelled "The Mixture" or "The Tablets"? Now the pendulum has swung perhaps too far the other way. Most people would agree, I think, that it is much better for people to know more about what they are taking and why, but now we get every side effect which might possibly occur listed for us, and it's just too scary. DH used to get patients who had been put off taking their prescribed treatment, not because they had tried it and got side effects, but because the packet insert leaflet frightened them! Unintended consequences...

Thank you for your responses ladies (or gents). I do understand that taking the steroid inhaler is regarded as the best treatment, but up to now, for me, this hasn’t worked. I feel as if the doctor or the asthma nurse simply don’t believe me when I tell them of this problem. They just repeat the mantra that NICE recommends etc etc. One of the reasons, not the only reason by any means, that we changed GP Practice after 35 years was that I felt I wasn’t being listened to at all with regard to this. I was refused any further Ventolin at all in order to force my compliance. Since then I have had to resort to buying my Ventolin on the internet. Luckily there are reputable online pharmacies, because initially I was nervous about doing this. When I went for my initial consultation with my new GP, in order to review my medication, I did tell her I don’t get on with steroid inhalers, and she said I should see the asthma nurse, hence next weeks appointment. I already know what the outcome of that consultation will be, I will end up leaving with a prescription for a steroid inhaler! Hopefully I’ll get some Ventolin prescribed too, but I noticed that it’s not on my repeat list, and my new GP didn’t add it. She simply repeated the mantra my last GP used, NICE recommends........
What to do? I don’t know, but I sincerely thank you all for responding.

I think that sounds like verging on malpractice for you to be refused what could be a life-saving treatment to force you to take a preventative one. You will need to be quite firm with the nurse and with your new GP and explain again that you need Ventolin and cannot take steroids.

Just an update, I visited the asthma nurse at my new practice last week, the whole experience couldn’t have been more different. She didn’t push the steroids, I can use the regime that has suited me. However she did show me a new type of steroid inhaler that is only used once a day and is also a bronchodilator, she left it to me to decide. I decided to at least try this new one because if I could find an inhaler that suits me, it would be a less onerous regime, especially if it only needs to be taken once a day.
Thank you all for your responses.

Hi maddyone I'm using a prophylactic inhaler once a day (Serotide, I think) but also have Ventolin which I rarely need to use. My understanding is that Serotide contains both a small amount of steroid and a reliever, and works very well for me, I take a couple of puffs a day. Have you tried that? (It's a purple inhaler).

I've never had Seretide Humpty, but thanks for the heads up. My new inhaler is called Relvar Ellipta but I've only collected it from the pharmacy today, so I will use it for first time tonight. I'll come back on here Humpty to let you know how I get on. I didn't manage to get to the pharmacy last week after it was prescribed because we had full care of our four year old twin grandchildren for three days, and unsurprisingly we hardly had time to turn round with them here, it was lovely though , but I needed a well deserved glass of and several cups of after we returned them to their parents.

I was put on the highest strength of Relvar Elipta by my respiratory consultant last year, (I have various lung conditions).
I never did well with steroid inhalers (thrush, dry mouth, hoarseness), but I have had absolutely no side effects at all and only one one asthma exacerbation in the year since I started taking it. I usually have quite a few episodes in a year.
Give it a go, you have nothing to lose.
Good luck.

Thanks for that Marydoll, that’s encouraging. Here’s hoping I do as well as you on this inhaler. I’ll let you all know.