Pregnant Asthmatic

Hello all,

I'm currently 11.5 weeks pregnant. I have had asthma all my life but have had it very well controlled for the past decade or so. I noticed that I got a little bit worse around the time of conception (although I thought it was just the usual change in the seasons, only realised on countback that it worsened at conception) so have been very, VERY careful with my medication. I got a head cold this week, and have woken up this morning with pretty severe exacerbation. I am monitoring my peak flow (the amount of oxygen flowing through my lungs) and it is down - only 10 litres per minute from the point where I would usually start taking low dose cortico steroids - Prednisolone 25mg. I am taking ventolin but am terrified a) that my bub is not getting enough oxygen and b) that the Prednisolone could harm him/her.

I have phoned my obstetrician but he is out delivering a bub at the moment. I don't feel well enough to drive myself to my doctor (and my husband is flat on his back in hospital at the moment so he can't help) and as I'm not having an attack and am doing everything in my power to avoid it, I don't want to call an ambulance.

Any advice for me?

Take some Ventolin and if it doesn't make you feel better call an ambulance! You need to see a Dr (any dr) ASAP!

Ventolin is safe to take during pregnancy.

My Asthma flared up badly while I was pregnant and I was on prednisolone and ventolin throughout.

I'll come back and write more, gotta go to work.

I know you said you'd rather not, but if you're unable to drive to your GP you should probably call an ambulance. You know your body and if you're not feeling well, it's much better to err on the side of caution. All they can do is send you home if you don't need to be there. Alternatively, do you have anyone else that can take you down to your dr?

If you'd like to call and speak to a registered nurse, call 1800 022 222. It's a government funded health service that will assess how quickly you need to see a medical professional.

Thanks Tinks.

My obs just called me and he advised me to keep treating my asthma as though I wasn't pregnant. So, Prednisolone it is. Hopefully that will kick it in the bum, I'll keep monitoring it and see how I go.

Good info Hannanat - I will keep that number handy. Thank you.

Obviously a bit late, but yeah, keep treating it as per normal. You can't mess around with asthma. Hope you start feeling better soon.