I have a question about Asthma...?

Question

I was diagnosed with Asthma yesterday... the doctors gave me a shot of steroids for the inflammation in my lungs and boy did they ever open up... my question is .. is it normal for steroids to keep you awake? And if it is what can I do to go to sleep because last night was awful...

And can anyone give me any pointers on how I can keep myself breathing better even though I am being treated with Advair and such....

Thanks so much for any help!

Answer 1

YEAH THE STEROIDS TAKE A WHILE TO GET USE TO.
WALKING OF COURSE HELPS LUNG FUNCTION SO DOES BREATHING EXERCISES. ANOTHER THING IS TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOUR ASTHMA TRIGGERS ARE SUCH AS DUST COLD AIR SEASONAL ALLERGIES AND TRY TO PREVENT THEM. I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH ASTHMA MOST MY LIFE LET ME KNOW IF THERE IS ANY THING ELSE I CAN HELP YOU WIT OR YOU HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS

Answer 2

Advair 500/50 is the best, I just had mine refilled. As to the steroids, maybe you were just over antious from the diagnosis and the doctor visit they do have some affect, it's different for everyone.. Don't worry it'll pass.
Get used to the steroids, you'll be getting them form time to time in the shot and pill form. The pill form is worse, you take them for ten days, They make you so hungry. My inhaler gives me the jitters.

Do you have a nebulizer, I don't know what the doctor gave you. You might go on one soon. There are some things to help. Stay away from people that are smoking up a storm, second hand smoke, bomb fires and trash burning, especially plastics, smelly things like the Wal-Mart candle isle, the perfumes, etc. Good luck

Answer 3

The steroids can sometimes produce agitation. It is more likely that the bronchodilator you are using (Ventolin (salbutamol or albuterol) or some similar) is causing jitters and sleep problems. Atrovent (ipratropium) is another possible culprit.

You might want to see if your family doctor would prescribe you a short course of benzodiazepines (such as temazepam) to help you sleep. The rest of the sleep management involves getting up and greeting the sun in the morning, do nothing in your bedroom apart from sleep (reading and lounging and watching TV etc all to be done in a different room, bedroom only for sleeping), developing a sleep routine so that your body knows once you brush your teeth and read your book that it's time to sleep. (Good sleep hygiene)

Avoid triggers for your asthma - animals, pollens, housedust mite, viruses, etc. avoid cigarette smoke - inhalation of this is likely to damage your lung defences and makes asthma worse.

Consider an air purifier for home/office

Keep tabs on your breathing by measuring your Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR).

Answer 4

Each Asthma sufferer is different. I was diagnosed with asthma about 17 years ago after suffering double pneumonia. I have been on and tried many medications, but now I am just taking Advair and have an inhaler should I need it. I have found that by strengthening my lungs, via cardiovascular exercise, I am less likely to have asthma attacks. As far as internal steroids go, yes, they can effect your sleep. Most asthma medicines produce some form of jitters and sleeplessness at first. Inform your doctor of your problems.

Answer 5

Just another thing to consider, I also suffered from Asthma and after years I decided to try allergy testing, I found out Dairy products were really exasperating my problems, I now only get the congestion and shortness of breath rarely, here's a pretty good paragraph I found.

"Many other doctors and researchers are now beginning to feel that undiagnosed milk allergies may be the underlying problem behind the link between milk and asthma. As Dr. Robert M. Giller writes in Natural Prescriptions, eliminating dairy products from the diets of many adult and child asthma patients helps "not because dairy products stimulate mucus production but because they're very common causes of allergy, upper-respiratory allergies and asthma (which may be an allergy in itself)."

I stopped and thought, why don't I find out what is causing my asthma instead of taking Advair all the time, It helped me, something to think about, good luck.

Answer 6

My brother is an asthmatic and after ten years his bronchial asthma has proven no signal of bettering. He has been to a couple of medical professionals however they did not aid a lot. If you desire a established, all-typical method to remedy your bronchial asthma, with no need to pay for vain medicines with detrimental facet-results, then that is the major web page you can ever learn.

Answer 7

some and more of the time we do not have asthma......but if we have wheezing problems.doctors give us asthma medication,
which converts a small problem in asthma.

thats what happened to me....when I was 10 I used to get wheezing.my Dad will give me homeopathy medicine NAT.MUR6x.........i'll be fine.
but when we went to Japan a doctor gave me asthma medicine.
I lived with it all my life..........until 3 yrs ago.
a doctor gave me a steroid inhalor Pulmicort for a year......I had no side effects..no wait gain.
I then myself reduced the dosage slowlt.and stopped taking it.
7 months passed by. I went to U K....got it again.
I came to USA and took the inhalor for a month and slowly stopped it..........and now by the grace of God it is more than a year I am ok......my last day was JUNE 24th to inhalor.

Answer 8

Yes, get yourself tested for allergies, air born allergies, and find out everything your allergic to and then take precautions to avoid those things. I am still trying to figure out what is making my son cough and it has been 5 months. Stay away from smoke of course.