Around 1.5 million people in the UK suffer from asthma and need to be a bit more careful in this the cold weather – I definitely feel it as soon as I go outside. It’s my first winter with asthma so I have been looking for tips about how to be more careful while out walking in the frost and the snow and these seem to be working for me:

• Cold air can exacerbate your asthma, so cover your face with a good scarf as this will help to warm up the air before you breathe it in
• In really cold conditions, prescribed inhalers may not work properly. They should be warmed (eg, in the hands) before use.
• If you know that cold air triggers your asthma, take a couple of puffs of your reliever inhaler before going outside and keep it with you at all times
• Keep taking your regular preventer medicines as prescribed by your doctor
• Take extra special care when exercising in cold weather. Warm up for 10–15 minutes first.
• If you are going out and about with others, make sure they know you have asthma should  you become short of breath.

Goodness, it seems a long time since I wrote anything on this lovely blog…..the main reason being that I haven’t been walking anywhere at all, which is bloody frustrating. My chest hasn’t been great since Christmas but seemed to get worse around the start of February. Not being the skinniest person in the world, I’m used to getting out of puff after a bit of exercise but I then started to have difficulty breathing after I had stopped – getting worse and worse after about 10 mins and I was starting to take up to 30 minutes to fully recover and breathe normally again. Then, about 2 weeks ago, I had what I realise now are a couple of big asthma attacks in the space of two days – one of which occured in public and was really very frightening, for me and the first aid man involved So, back to the doctors again to finally be diagnosed with ‘exercise-induced asthma’ and to have my peak flow confirmed at 290. I know nothing about asthma but the doctor told me that was pretty poor so she gave me a course of steroids and an inhaler, both of which have made a huge difference, but my peak flow remains at 290 so further tests are required to see why I’m not up around the 400-500 mark as I should be. Walking is on the back burner until things are sorted but I hope to get out and about on the hills very soon – I’m dying to walk in the Peak District this summer so that’s something to aim for.