My Medication

It always frustrates me when I come across patients on placement who don't take their medications. I know that taking tablets isn't fun but unless you're suffering from bad side effects (in which case you should go back to your GP about it!) I honestly don't see any reason to not take them - its such a small chore and can make such a difference to your life!

For example, I'm 23 and below is the list of my regular medications. I don't put this here to complain or attract sympathy, but just to demonstrate the sort of things that severe asthmatics can end up taking every day ("oh, but its only asthma!" I hear you say!) and as much as this can be annoying, it does allow me to live some kind of life and I would almost certainly be dead without them!

This is my current medication list, if you have any questions about them I can try to answer them!

  • Fostair inhaler 2 puffs twice a day
  • Spireva inhaler 2 puffs in the morning
  • Salbutamol inhaler as needed
  • Prednisolone 35mg daily (7 tablets!)
  • Montelukast 10mg once a day
  • Phyllocontin 450mg twice a day
  • Fexofenadine 180mg twice daily (antihistamine)
  • Avamys nasal spray, 2 sprays per nostril twice a day
  • Lansoprazole 30mg once a day
  • Citalopram 30mg once a day
  • Desogestrel 75mg once a day
  • Lymecycline 408mg once a day
  • Azithromycin 250mg once a day
  • Co-trimoxazole 960mg three times a week
  • Carbocysteine 375mg three times a day
  • Epipens as needed
  • Xolair (omalizumab) injections every 2 weeks
I also take over the counter Vitamin D supplements (as my vitamin D has been low a few times on testing) and a multivitamin on the advice of dietitians due to my oral allergy syndrome (this means I can't eat much raw fruit or veg as it gives me an allergic reaction due to my pollen allergy.).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye Xolair!

So its happened, the time has come to say goodbye to xolair! The MDT all agreed that it clearly isn't giving me any benefit anymore in terms of preventing my flares, so we have decided to stop it. Unfortunately I'm already on all the maximum therapy and don't meet the criteria for any other biological treatments so my team have decided to refer me to Birmingham to hopefully undergo bronchial thermoplasty. Bronchial thermoplasty (BT) is a fairly new procedure ( https://www.asthma.org.uk/advice/severe-asthma/treating-severe-asthma/bronchial-thermoplasty/ ) that involves passing a tube down into the lungs and heating it to essentially burn away some of the thickened muscle. I'm not going to lie, it doesn't sound like a particularly pleasant experience and there are definitely risks associated with it, but surely it has to be better than spending a week of every month in hospital on oxygen and IV medication?! My centre is restarting their BT service but apparently b...
Read more

World Asthma Day 2019

So today is World Asthma Day and it would be very easy to make a post complaining about the symptoms, the medications, the admissions and all of the disruption it causes to my life and others (sorry mum and dad!). Instead I want to take a moment to think about some of the things I'm grateful for. Firstly my friends and family (particularly all my long suffering housemates and my parents!). Without you all there to listen to me moan, keep me company during long hospital admissions and prompt me to seek help when I'm being too stubborn I'd have gone mad (or more mad) long ago! Much as I moan about them and would rattle if you shook me I'm grateful for the incredible medications that just about keep me functioning on a daily basis. Yes, side effects and having to remember them sucks but let's be honest I wouldn't be here without them and medical science is amazing! Also my incredible asthma team (and all the respiratory and emergency staff) at Leicester, they ...
Read more

The Methacholine/HistamineChallenge

Enjoying yet another stay in the lovely hotel NHS and going a little stir crazy! One thing I notice a lot of people asking about in online support groups is what happens during a methacholine or histamine challenge test. I had one of these last summer and they sound very unpleasant so today I thought I'd write about my experience in the hope that it helps to put some worried minds at rest! What is the test? The methacholine and histamine tests are known as bronchial challenge tests. They're designed to irritate your airways and induce bronchoconstriction (which sounds awful!) which can then be measured. They're often used to try and confirm or rule out a diagnosis of asthma in people where it isn't so certain - for example if you have normal spirometry but still have asthma symptoms. Its carried out in hospital as an outpatient. These tests are known as "direct" challenge tests as they directly irritate the airway. There are some other tests known as ...
Read more