Blow into this!

Every time I up-sticks and move to a new area, and let's face it I have done more than perhaps my fair share of that over the years, I have to go through what is fast becoming a bit of a 'ritual'.

I am asthmatic (yes I smoke I know, I never said I was perfect), I have been asthmatic since I was three years of age, I use an inhaler (or two) and my asthma is so well controlled that I barely, if at all, even think of myself as asthmatic. This is of no consequence.

Each time I sign up to a new doctors practice and go for my 'introductory' appointment, I am steered, despite my gentle protestations that it's only a few months since I last saw one, to an asthma nurse....who invariably puts me through the same old malarkey.

I am not a health care professional but I would hope at my age I am at least a little familiar with the workings of my own body. I can tell the nurse before she even hands me the peak flow meter what my reading will be to within five points but still he or she will insist that I huff and puff into it....and hey presto it dispays the same reading I already offered.

This done (and my reading is pretty decent even for a smoker) I will always be asked to illustrate how I use my inhalers and I will always be told I am doing it correctly, though this seems to be of no matter for always a new and modified regime of administration and dosage will be suggested. I try politely to mention that the dosage and timing I use has been worked out over many years and has been found to be the optimum for me but nope, it is always insisted that for 'just a few weeks' I adhere strictly to the new regime..... and in the face of professional opinion I always give in.

So, as always I have spent the last few weeks huffing and puffing and wheezing my way to the follow up appointment in a few days time, when I will present with a much lower peak flow reading than before and as a consequence the nurse will always 'advise' that I go back to my old regime!!

Hey, ho, I suppose he or she has no real idea that I know what I am talking about and so in these days of medical paranoia it all has to be checked and then re-checked but somewhere along the line it does seem something of a waste of precious resources to me.