Do others taking Symbicort, Pred or Montelukast suffer with cramp in their feet?
I think it might the the Symbicort which I started a couple of weeks ago (i'm on the smart system and using my max allowance most days at the moment).
Its driving me maaadddd its so painful with several episodes every day!!!
Well montelukast doesn't do that for me, so it could be the Symbicort. Have heard Seretide can cause low potassium which causes cramps, maybe it's the same with Symbicort (and Ventolin I think does the same). Bananas and dark chocolate are good sources of potassium I believe.
I get those but from Seretide. I guess Symbicort has similar components so it sounds likely to me. I sympathise as I go through patches of having them several times a day eg. every time I try to put on a shoe! I was late for an appointment once because every time I tried to put my foot on the clutch I got cramp and had to pull over. I ended up driving the rest of the way wearing only one shoe!
Yep, I had to stop the Symbicort because of the cramps, I found Seretide did the same too (which was actually the worst!) . The AUK nurse said it the LABA in them and since stopping taking any LABA's, I've had no cramp problems at all.
Might be worth seeing if you can have seperate steroid and LABA, then you can play about with different LABA's to see if a different one doesn't give you the cramps.
i get cramps and tightness in my muscles too, but from seretide. not just in feet, but anywhere around body. yesterday i was driving back from the supermarket when i was attacked by cramp just by my right knee. i was on dual carriageway so just had to sit it out going ""oooee ooo aaa eeeooo"", other half couldn't stop laughing.
philomela- interesting to know that it might be low potassium, i eat bananas, but perhaps i should do so more often
Please, please try pickle juice. Any kind. Just 5-6 swallows. It's safe and cheap and it WORKS.
Thanks for the replies, I can totally relate to the driving and shoe incidents!!! Lol
Maybe low potassium us an issue as I currently have low blood pressure due to the meds, will eat more bananas!!
Thanks all again x
I too get spasms and contractures. Mostly it feels like a spike is being driven through my foot and my toes curl under and the side of my foot pulls up. Recently my fingers will be paralyzed and hard. I'm afraid I'm going to break them by trying to straighten them out. I'm on ventolin and symbicort. I googled this and found out they DO cause muscle, tendons and connecting fibers to spasm. Then I saw that major sports teams are using PICKLE JUICE! I swear it works. As soon as the pain hits, I have three or four swallows of pickle juice and in around 5-6 minutes, Viola! no pain. Any brand will work. I like clausen bread and butter pickles best, but many others swear by dill. Now I have to figure out what to do with all the pickles. It's cheap and safe. 'COPD store' website says the same thing and also say that some people use an old timey remedy of putting a bar of soap under the sheet at the foot of the bed. They say people swear by this. I saw this on lots of web sites too. Good luck.
Symbicort 
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