Looking for some advice - I take a brown inhaler daily. Recently I took a break, as I'm well and having a gap from my usual exercise routine (which seems to be a trigger for me), because I keep getting bouts of oral thrush. Started taking my brown inhaler again yesterday as I felt things were going backwards a bit, and after two doses my tongue and throat is sore and burning again.
I've seen a pharmacist for this twice and mentioned it to my GP. I've been given Daktarin gel, which does work but only on the front of my tongue as I can't apply it to the back (frankly applying it at all is a nightmare - not sure who invented it haha), and some numbing/antibiotic lozenges (!?) - can't see how these will help as thrush is a fungus (and moreover antibiotics tend to encourage growth) :/.
Anyway, I'm really fed up with it now. I keep being told to rinse my mouth with water after - which I do - and typically I also take the inhaler prior to eating a meal.
Any ideas? Or is this something I just have to put up with?
You certainly should not put up with it - it's bad enough having Asthma without oral thrush as well. Ask your GP (in fact, insist!) to prescribe a spacer to use when taking your inhaler. More of the powder would go into your airways rather than stick to the back of your throat. I found that the larger spacers work better as they give more space for the powder to expand. you can then inhale and exhale through the spacer four times to ensure you get all the medication down. When using the daktarin gel, I usually apply it to my tongue and then use it to wipe all over the inside of my mouth and as much of the back of the throat that I can reach, then I swallow gently. That usually does it for me.
James.
I second James advice but also wanted to add that as well as using a spacer and rinsing/spitting, I was also advised by consultant and physio to gargle thoroughly to remove deposits from the throat afterwards. Thankfully by doing this and using spacer, Ive never had oral thrush despite being on two different steroid inhalers. I hope it feels better soon.
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