Have you ever tried using "preventer" inhalers (e.g. Beclemetasone?), if you did, how did you find them in comparison to the tablet(s) you're on?

I did use Beclemetasone for a long time, and it was OK, but not brilliant. It did the job. I was taken off the Beclemetasone and on to Symbicort, which is also a preventer. It’s a newer drug, and my local surgery seems to prefer it. For me, it’s been much better. I’m told that I have more energy since I’ve been using it, and importantly, it’s rare to have a tight chest. I do at times, but no way like I used to. I did try another preventer - Serevent - but I got side effects, so was switched to what I am using now.

Cool thanks, I'll ask my GP about it when I get my next review in September.

The Symbicort worked well for me. It’s certainly worth asking about. You get a starting dose, and after a while you just slowly crank it down until you are at a level when you don’t need your reliever. If you do feel the need (say you get a chest infection, or you enter a seasonal time when things can get bad), you crank it up for a while. It takes a few weeks to build up, and you will probably be asked to monitor your progress with a peak flow meter which I do every day - it helps me determine whether things need adjustment.

I was told on one of my reviews that the Ventolin causes the linings of the lungs to get inflamed, and that restricts the airways and it can feel like asthma even though it isn’t a proper attack. The Symbicort helps reduce the inflammation, and the need for the Ventolin drops.

I was diagnosed at 3, have been in hospital several times with it and have had steroids probably once a year on average. I should probably be in the same category as Linux, but I never take my Beclamethasone and don't seem that much worse without it. I've certainly improved throughout my twenties. I use Salbutamol as required. Sometimes that's 3 or 4 does a day, sometimes that's 3 or 4 days between doses. I try to maintain reasonable health and don't get too many problems. Colds no knock me a little, but I find that a spot of ninjutsu usually fixes that relatively quickly.

As a side note, whenever I'm in the US, the dry air and altitude of the Rockies and the Mid-West seem to agree with my lungs and I rarely if ever need meds, regardless of my level of physical activity.



Finally, some common sense. This is precisely why I'm not having a jab.

I was on my way to a possible case of swine-flu yesterday. The person had apparently been in contact with someone who had it. I am not sure how true that is, because I hadn't heard of any confirmed cases in the area, although there is at least one from a town not too far away.

I am finally professionally (and a little bit personally) concerned, more so than I was a couple of months back when I was marginally more worried about the story that planets may collide in our solar system in about 3.5 billion years or so, but now it is getting quite real.

I am off for two weeks now, so if I don't get it while I am off then at least when I get back, the whole thing will have either died out (very doubtful) or all the necessary procedures and measures will have been put in place because the epidemic will be getting into full swing and at least we will know what to do with every suspected case.

I ask you, what is the point of sending an ambulance crew to a suspected flu case (unless they are acutely short of breath for example) when all that we will succeed in doing is getting two more people infected? We can't take them to A&E, and so it is ridiculous sending us there- with blue lights and sirens as well- in the first place.

By the time I go back to work, perhaps that will be sorted as well.

^ Better than getting a friendly neighbour or taxi driver who'll come into contact with more people potentially infected? I honestly don't know, just speculating

Well, it seems that a lot of people are calling their GPs:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8153051.stm



Though not in this article, the BBC news has been reporting concerns that we are on the verge of “mass hysteria”. I do think that the following drip of information has not been helpful:
• Every news report tells us to expect deaths. Also tells us that it will affect more “vulnerable” people.

• There are vaccines on order, but they won’t arrive for a while yet.

• Yesterday, there were some statistics bandied about predicting the % death rate based on GP contact and actual deaths in the country. Despite the point being made that these numbers were at best speculative (an expert said that the margins of error were quite big), it didn’t stop BBC News treating with gloomy severity.

So, in a nutshell; expect deaths, and it could be you. Vaccines won’t be around for a while. Oh, and try not to panic. Everything is under control. I think you can imagine the Monty Python sketch I am thinking of.

No wonder people are getting edgy about it all.

I will, just to keep family and friends quiet, and to stop parents from worrying.

The more people who receive a jab, the more likely the virus will develop a resistance.
I'll take my chances without it, I'm a fairly fit and healthy chap.

You had it right the first time Paul. I've stopped watching the news. It's all rubbish. I don't need to fill my head with rubbish. If something is that drastically important, I'll find out another way.

I found out today that my cousin's girlfriend has swine flu.

I'm going back to uni in a couple of months, and I really don't want to get it at uni. I'd imagine that it will spread like wild-fire at uni, with all those people from different areas of the country coming (childish giggle) together.

So my thoughts are, either get the vaccine or go and spend an afternoon with her and get infected. I'd rather slog it out for a while now than at uni, but I'd much prefer to get the vaccine for obvious reasons.

I understand that enough vaccine is ordered for 50% of the population??? How is it decided who will receive a dose?

Those who are most at risk - underlying health conditions etc.

But 'most at risk' isn't a clear phrase. Everyone is assuming that, as you say, it's people with conditions that could leave them in a very bad way should they get the virus.

Most at risk could also mean most at risk of infection. So health workers, or those who work in schools etc.

Even so, I doubt that people with a high risk of infection + people with health problems = 50% of the population.

*shrug*

It's those most at risk of copping it should they get infected, such as myself and the hairy dalek. Everyone has a pretty much equal chance of getting infected.