Hi all,

I am looking to bounce some ideas off people before I go and see my GP again
next week. Grab a cuppa and have a read...

A few weeks ago I noticed I was feeling tight chested and, assuming it was
the start of the Spring asthma season for me personally, I started taking
puffs of my blue bricanyl inhaler. This helped but did not relieve the tight
chest long enough and I began to take more and more puffs.

So, last week I went and saw my GP and asked him for a brown pulmicort
inhaler as a reliever. I have had one of these pulmicort inhalers in the
past many years ago and, as I thought my asthma symptoms were long gone, I
had stopped using it. In fact, I only used it briefly if I recall when I
first had it.

Three days after using the pulmicort last week I had the most awful panic
attack which, after 2 hours of trying to control it, resulted in me going to
A&E - the A&E department was useless I have to say and they felt that
pulmicort would not cause a panic attack.

I stayed off the pulmicort for 3 or 4 days but, feeling tight-chested again,
went back on it and, blam, within 36 hours I had a second terrible panic
attack in Tesco's car-park. Needless to say, I am off the pulmicort now and
am aiming to see my GP on Monday.

Does anyone know anything about pulmicort and whether it can cause panic
attacks or not? I have found some information on Google from people who
claim they have had to come off it due to severe panic attacks but they all
seem to be in the US? I was wondering if any Brits had suffered this also?

What I have realised though is how I had been kidding myself that my asthma
had 'gone away' - the one plus to taking the pulmicort was the marked
improvement in my breathing with a relaxation in my tight chest, being able
to breathe freer through my nose and the left side of my chest not feeling
it was not 'inflating' properly anymore. I had not realised how much I had
managed to shrug these symptoms off and now, looking back over the past 15
months or so, I can recall times of obvious asthma distress in the car, out
shopping, in work, etc.

So, the bottom line is that I appear to need to go onto some reliever of
some kind but obviously, due to the panic attacks, not one that is called
pulmicort.

Any thoughts or comments welcome.

J.