symbicort smart

anyone else find this method rubbish or is it just me ?

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haha, i love your subtlety Jay!

I personally found the plan rubbish because I told my consultant and asthma nurse and GP that I could not do powder inhalation with post nasal drip and they insisted I could - I was right!! Lungs sent a message of complaint to say the medication was not received!

I thought others found it really good though?

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i can be subltle lol but this annoys me. i keep getting told to use this method and i do try but i dont get enough relief and end up having a worse attack than if i were to just use salbutamol. i understand that its a more long lasting steroid but its rubbish lol

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As I say I can't talk about the actual drug as my lungs didn't receive it.

How long have you been trying it for?

Maybe you could talk to you dr or cons about it from a lack of spacer point of view, can't take it with a a spacer and maybe don't have the breath when haing exacerbation. Were you on seretide before? There is a link somewhere on here to a document produced by Southampton General Hospital about alternatives meds at every stage and symbicort is just one in it's step. My nurse na dcons were adament montelukast was the wonder drug for me and 2 years and 14 admissions later they finally believed that it just might not be helping.

I am afraid there is not much I can say to help other than to empathise with the frustration of playing the trial and error games, when it is with your health it is more than just frustrating though it is bloddy frightening. Best of luck, hope someone else can actually be helpful AND understanding

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I've no experience of symbicort smart but for a while I was on symbicort as my preventer. My asthma didn't respond particularly well, infact the most notable effect symbicort had on me was increasing the frequency of my migraines to several times a week, not fun! My asthma responds much better to seretide which doesn't seem to increase my migraines.

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very subtle jay

i agree though! even though bad patch now, had around the same amount attacks when i was on it last year!! was awful stuff, just gave me headaches when increased the dose??

x

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Haven't tried it myself, not sure where it would come in? think the link in the post nickynoo mentions about southhampton may be suht.nhs.uk/Media/SUHTInter...

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haha, Jay I like that you're straight to the point

I'm on symbicort 400/12 which isn't actually licensed for the smart regime. I did go through a phase of increasing my dose when I was struggling, in agreement with my consultant, and found that it had absolutely no effect apart from making me shake stupidly. I find that mid attack, I just don't have enough strength/breath to take in a big enough breath to inhaler the powder. Because of this, I really don't understand how it can be an effective reliever.... or maybe I'm just stupid lol

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Symicort is just rubbish, I end up taking both salbutmaol and symicort for my little blips in the day (for attacks skip straight to nebs!) it dosn't get to bottom of lungs and not having taste makes me wonder if Ive had the drug or not!

I can see the idea of using a LABA to reduce the need for salbutamol but I think once you get past a certain point in severity of asthma it wont!

[yaf_user681_30355]

I was on symbicort SMART for almost 4 years and for the first 3 it was wonderful! Now i have other problems with my breathing as well as my asthma it stopped working well as a quick reliever and i had to switch back to ventolin. I am now on the 400/12 symbicort (2 puffs twice a day) and uniphyllin.

Jac

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That is the one I was talking about TJ.

I think in answer to your question Jay - no, you are not the only one that thinks it is rubbish!!

I know that LABAs are a 'next step approach and I think one of my inhalers is one (you get lost after a while don't you?) but have you ever heard that they can make your symptoms and the severity of attacks worse?n I took this from an article online:

There has been some concern regarding whether LABA treatment increases severity of asthma exacerbations and possibly increases the risk of fatal asthma. These concerns have resulted in a black box warning from the FDA. Even though a LABA may decrease the frequency of asthma episodes and severity of symptoms, a LABA may make asthma episodes more severe when they occur. Despite this warning, if inhaled steroids do not adequately control your asthma symptoms, you can:

-increase your steroid inhaler

-add on an LABA

Hmm, interesting! Kind of sounds like when it's good it's really good and when it's bad it's rubbish!!

[Skee-skee]

I am so glad that you brought this up Jay! My consultant thinks it is wonderful, I am not so sure. My standard does is 3 puffs twice a day off the 400/12 and puffs as required.

When my peak flow drops much below half I am sure that hardly any ends up in my lungs as I can taste it!

I think it might work better if you are on the standard (licensed!!) way of doing it. Does anyone on here do it with the 200/6 inhaler?

Bryony

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I found it rubbish as well. They tried me on it after a disastrous switch from Symbicort to Seretide. When I had to switch back to Symbicort I was on max dose so they made me try SMART with the 200/6. It was hopeless but the registrar I was seeing then said this is as good as it gets so you will just have to put up with it! Grrrrr! Thankfully I have since seen a great consultant who added Spiriva to my full dose symbicort which has done the trick.

[KateMoss]

Hello,

I haven't taken symbicort (lactose, powder etc) but you do need a good degree of 'suck' to use a turbohaler! (I tried the Oxis one many years ago)

Regarding the issues with LABAs such as serevent and Oxis/ Formoterol stems from the issues that people were switching to using LABAs with NO steroid inhaler. Using LABAs with steroid inhalers or as a combination such as Symbicort and seretide (Purple one) are much safer.

Basically using just a LABA with no steroid component in your treatment means the airways are held open but there is nothing to supress the inflamation which a steroid inhaler does.

Therefore Combination inhalers are much better for compliance - one inhaler to take instead of two, though the two components or a mix of components can be prescribed seperately eg Flixotide and Oxis to suit the individual.

The symbicort system seems to work for some people and it is good because it is a one stop inhaler but then some people can't take powder inhalers.

With Asthma medication, everyone is different and people need different combinations of preventers to help their asthma. Sometimes this can take a bit to get right through trial and error.

(bit like mixing and matching your wardrobe for a night on the town.......... how many outfits do you try on before deciding that pair or jeans and that shirt works .....???)

If you are prescribed a LABA without steroid inhaler, please ask your GP why. Though some people are allergic to or can't take steroids. And lastly, the internet is full of scary stuff! Often the scary stuff is more often posted than the good stuff!

Kate

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good to know im not the only one-which i suppose is the great thing about this site so cheers all. spoke to the community matron about it today and she suggeested to keep taking it during the day as well as my normal morning and night but to still use my ventolin when im having an attack, which is basically what ive been doing but at least i know that im not doing something wrong and thats why its hasnt been working. xxx

[yaf_user681_30355]

Perhaps symbicort is less effective as a quick reliever when asthma gets past a certain severity. I didn't use ventolin for nearly 3 years and Symbicort SMART even controlled my exercise induced asthma and i would have raved about it to anyone who listened!! lol. But then last May it just stopped working as a quick reliever and didn't control my symptoms at all. I guess we are all of the guinea pigs and it is only as time goes by that the consultants learn the limitations and quirks of any new meds

Jac xxx