I was changed to Fostair a few days ago which i understand is a combination steroid preventer and a long-acting reliever. I also have my salbutamol reliever for as and when needed.
I did a 10k this morning so as a result i'm still coughing. I can feel the reliever part of the Fostair working when i take it cos i get slighlt shakes and i was wondering if it's getting close to bedtime, within an hour or two and i'm feeling like i need my reliever is it worth taking the bedtime Fostair dose rather than the salbutamol or should i just take the salbutamol then get the other reliever bit a short time later?
I think you're saying that your Fostair LABA seems to wearing off as you get towards bedtime. Are you taking the Fostair morning and evening? For example 8am and 8pm, as this is every 12 hours. It's common to take steroid only inhalers when you brush teeth, so first thing in morning and last thing at night before bed so can be 7am and 11pm, therefore 8 and 16 hours between doses. If you're doing this then maybe worth adjusting the timing of your combined inhaler.
Yeah thanks Lou, especially for such a quick reply. I don't really know at the moment. I was diagnosed asthmatic about 26 years ago but i've literally only just come off separate preventer to combination inhaler yesterday so i feel a little bit unsure. I did run a 10k this morning and when i run that distance it nearly always takes me 2 days to get my breathing back to normal (although the last one took the best part of 3 days) so i'm not sure what i should be expecting, especially with such a short time on the Fostair.
I decided earlier it was 14 hours since i'd taken the morning Fostair and i wanted reliever of some description so i took the Fostair again and it did make a difference. I know the LABA in the fostair is meant to be long acting and slower to work but on the leaflet in the box it says fostair can be used as maintenance and reliever so i figured it must be fast enough to work. I wasn't desparately in need NOW so decided to take the fostair, see how i went on and if necessary i'd take the salbutamol as well.
It has been decided that the LABA in fostair works as fast as salbutamol and so that is why it can be used as a reliever as well. If it works enough to give you relief and still only needing the two doses a day then it seems like you may as well because it saves using both!
I was swopped to Fostair from Clenil Modulite and Salbutamol about two months back. I was told that since the Fostair particles were smaller the dose needed was only half
the Clenil dose.
It worked very well but simply didn't last long enough, It seemed to ""run out of steam"" at about 4.00 am and around the same time PM.
Using Clenil at twice the dose suited me much better and would last through the day and night (two puffs twice a day).
The reason I was swapped was because I needed to use the Salbutamol more than a ""couple of times a week"". I actually needed it maybe twice day.
I have swapped myself back to my old meds and will see the doc soon to get things sorted. My asthma nurse swapped me over.
I also suffered from side effects on the Fostair, a low level headache almost permanently and worst of all acid reflux causing heartburn etc.
Within a day of stopping Fostair things got better. It seems that Clenil on it's own at twice the dose doesn't have the side effects.
I suppose we are all different, I will stick with my old treatment thanks!
Geoff
Well i've only been on the Fostair a couple ofdays AND i did a 10k race yesterday so it's really too early to tell
I've been told to spend 2-3 weeks at 1 puff twice a day while tracking my symptoms and if it's still bothering me to double the dose and i've got to go back and see the nurse in about 6 weeks.
Like you Geoff, i'd got to the stage where i was needing my reliever more or less every day and often multiple times a day. My physio happens to also be trained in asthma management and she told me to keep a symptoms / reliever use diary alongside my PF diary. Annoyingly, the nurse at my surgery was very dismissive - if she'd even had a glance at it she'd have seen i was regularly using 4/6/8+ puffs a day. At least she did change my meds so i'll just have to see how it goes now
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