Table 2.

Theme 1, “Life is Just Easier”

Theme: “Life is Just Easier”
Subthemes	Exemplars
Asthma has stabilized	“ … it’s very much stabilised my asthma … it stopped the exacerbations to the extent that I wasn’t locked into that cycle of high doses of Prednisone” Ian, 63, male. “Just a levelling out of symptoms which I think it has done”, Anthony, Male, 72. “I think it’s more to do with the severity of asthma attacks, if you want to call it that. The severity, the time taken to recovery; which is - to recover, rather, is something that until I actually started to piece together what I was - what was happening, I wouldn’t have thought of it” – Clyde, male, 57. “It levels the symptoms out. Instead of having those ups and downs, I still get tight but yeah, it’s levelled it”. Jane, 61, female. “I was taking all the other medication, and I was not getting any better. I was staring, and I was thinking … you are not going to live too much longer … then it changed [after I took Nucala], and it is not the cough that is better, it is the effort”. Nicholas, male, 77. “It eliminates the condition. Well, it does not eliminate the condition but eliminates the intensity of the condition.” Ian, 63, male.
Participation in life	“I’ve gone from none, to 90% better … ” Nicholas, male, 77. “The other thing is just the quality of life is just so much better. Sleeping better. Just not having to be restricted because I’m constantly coughing and spluttering away”. Howard, Male, 62. “At that point it was just a dramatic change [when I started the medication], I could walk around and I could talk, you know, because even 30% lung function I couldn’t even hold normally a sentence properly”. Rhonda female, 56. ”It [Nucala] gives me longer running time. It’s like unleaded petrol versus the leaded version. It can go further. You can do more things and you can go a bit harder” Jennifer female, 61. ‘It’s not earth-shattering but it does give you a degree of comfort, it does give you the ability to do more things … ” Clyde, male, 57. “I can mow a lawn without stopping, or just stopping one or two times; if I can take the rubbish out, if I can prune a tree, if I can wash the car, help the wife shopping, if I can do those without the major discomfort that I used to have, whilst there is still discomfort, it is nowhere near as uncomfortable as it used to be, if I can put it that way”. Clyde, male, 57. “Having azithromycin and Nucala, I think, as I said, is making my life so that I am able to live it.” Helen, female, 76
Reduced healthcare and medication use	“The main thing I’ve noticed is that with me not coming to hospital, I think I would’ve been in hospital more times if I didn’t have it”. Diane, female, 66. “Before I started taking it [the add-on] I was using the Ventolin quite a bit. Since I’ve started on that [the add-on therapy] I haven’t used it half as much”. [sic] Harold, male, 81 “Now I’m not taking any Ventolin at all which is quite amazing.” William, Male, 72. “I think it’s kept me out of hospital. That’s the main thing I have noticed”. Diane, Female 66. “I used to use my Butamol four puffs every four hours. Now I’m down to two puffs, morning and night … when I get sick, yeah. I take that less [prednisone] too-” Jennifer, Female, 61. “I used to have Prednisone [all the time]; like the last few months I really haven’t - I haven’t had as many - near as many the number of issues [of Prednisone] as I did have with, say, for six to 10 months previous”. [sic] Clyde, male 57.
Asthma before the add-on	“I mean I was trying to work at lung function that was within the 30% range and I had been there for over six months. Life had just ground to almost a halt.” Rhonda female, 56. “I was having so many exacerbations … I had enough Prednisone in six months to qualify for the 12 months, probably twice as much if I need it”- Albert, Male 58 “I’ve got fruit trees and things, but not - I couldn’t look after them properly … I can’t do the housework”. Margaret, Female, 70 “It was the last stop. You know, we had tried at that time all the puffers that were out, you know, [the doctor] tried [Spiriva] but that actually made me worse. You know, I’ve done all of the current puffers that there were, I mean there’s more that have come out since but tried all of them still. But yeah, I was on everything that there was and nothing.” Rhonda female, 56. “I was feeling lousy [from asthma], like I could barely get myself up, like I was dragging myself, and I had always been a person who my motto was why burn the candle at both ends when you burn it in the middle to.” Rhonda, female, 56