My asthma has always been fairly well controlled but since I’ve been pregnant I’ve had the worst flare up and was having to use my blue inhaler about 15 or more times a day for over 8 weeks now. The nurse tried me on symbicort and it didn’t really do much (I was on sereflo before this). My dad told me when his asthma got worse his nurse put him on fostair and it’s been life changing. He said he’s not had to use his reliever since. I asked my nurse about trying fostair and she said there’s no point because it’s so similar to symbicort. Has anyone tried fostair and symbicort and found fostair works better for them?
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Malexm
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I have not had one problem with fostair I have been on it for about 4 year's and I have not had one attack the second inhaler I tried after the brown inhaler and it works miracles for me.
This is good to hear! I know it might not work for me anyway but I have heard good things and my dad acts like it’s his saviour ha. It was just so disappointing when the nurse wouldn’t even let me try it.
I’ve been fighting for the last 8 weeks haha. I suppose another few weeks battling won’t hurt 😂 I’m so glad I can say I’ve heard from people as well as my dad about how well fostair works for them as well though. None of the GPs or the asthma nurse even knew pregnancy can make asthma worse in a third of women. I found that out myself from the asthma uk website and the NHS website. I had no idea of that beforehand. They kept sending me antibiotics because they thought an infection was causing it.
It puzzles me wgen nurse or doctors say inhalers are all the same so jyst sticj with what you have. If they are all the same there wouldn't be all these different kinds. What works for one person won't work for the next. Fostair didn't work at all for me but try to ask again for your new inhaler. It makes you feel so powerless having an inhaler that doesn't work but no one listening to you ☹️ Good luck 🤞
Yeah I didn’t understand that either. Also a quick google tells me that there are differences between them. She also said ‘symbicort is a very very good inhaler so if that doesn’t work I doubt fostair would’. That’s not how it works though! I have a phone appointment with her next week so I’ll nag again. It took me 6 weeks to get her to even give me the symbicort. It was all antibiotics and ‘try this nasal spray’ that I’d been on for a year already!
Don't nag her for it. Just insist. You're the patient, not her. It's your condition, not hers. She doesn't manage your health, you do. She is just part of your advisory team, of which YOU are the manager. YOU make every decision, based on the advice of the best people you have around you.
My own experience was that Symbicort didn't seem to do much for me, and when I was on it I seemed to still have coughing fits and use Ventolin so often that I became quite hyper. Then I was on holiday in Scotland and had a major attack for the first time in my life and was hospitalised. They put me on Fostair and it's been much better. The coughing fits eventually died down and now I only take the Fostair once a day x 2 puffs and haven't used Ventolin for a year.
Yes, the two are "similar". They both contain a steroid and a bronchodillator. It just happens to be a completely different steroid and twice as strong. Remember, you're in charge!
This is an older post so the user may not see it (HealthUnlocked often brings up older posts). I'll be turning replies off shortly to avoid confusion.
But as it has come up, I wanted to reinforce your point, Picard2Bridge, that not every inhaler/every medication works for everyone the same way. The drug class is the same but what is 'good' can definitely vary between patients. I have very limited patience with healthcare professionals who say drugs are 'good' or 'bad' as some kind of binary - it's more nuanced than that.
I was on Symbicort and it was ok but I do better on Fostair Nexthaler. It's easier for me to take when I'm struggling and as you say, it has finer particles which mean more drug gets to where it needs to be with a lower dose. Both of mine were dry powder but the design of the inhaler is not the same.
Sorry not tried symbicort but Fostair works so well for me and hubby i was amazed. I'd deff ask for it again , maybe try the gp. Its ridiculous for the nurse to deny you trying it on the basis that its "similar" For example I can react badly to diff brands of the same tablets as am sensitive to diff fillers.
My dad said the same he couldn’t believe it. Said it worked from from the first dose and he’s not had to use a single puff of reliever. I know it might not work the same for me but seems worth a try.
I was on Symbicort 200/6 for over 3 years, and it worked well for me. But it was then changed to Fostair 100/6, so half the amount of steroids, and it seemed to work more or less as well, due, I assume, to the much finer particles that penetrate deeper. For many that swap works. I am now on 200/6 as I was struggling anyway for quite a while, on Symbicort as well. And things are good just now. The inhalers are not identical, the reliever in them is the same, but not the steroid. It seems to me to be obvious to have a chance to give it a try, or at the very least sort something else out as you are struggling.
Yeah I can’t understand why they wouldn’t try everything they could try. I know they can’t try montelukast (which did work for me in the past) or other tablets but please let me try everything that could work. They seem to think I should just get on with it because it’s not so bad I need A&E. But it is affecting my daily life and it is worrying when I’m pregnant as well.
I didn't get on with symbicort but took to fostair straight away. It's the best inhaler I've found for my asthma and I tried a few before getting to it.
Note of caution. I did get a few palpitations and muscle cramps when I first started taking it but these went after a couple of weeks. I was very poorly at the time having had a major attack but I heard fostair has caused the same with other users. Just something to be aware of and not alarmed by when you're already dealing with pregnancy!
I’m getting heart palpitations some days just from the amount of ventolin I’m taking every day at the moment ha so should be able to manage them. Glad you said it settled down after a few weeks though! It’s just so depressing at the moment trying to be excited about the pregnancy even with all the covid stuff but not being able to get up the stairs!
I was on Symbicort but it didn't help me and I kept getting ill. I was switched to fostairnexthaler 2 years ago and I have been healthy with no flares ups and asthma controlled . The downside is the bruising I now get on my skin but that may be age related too as I'm 65 Take care Anita x
I want to screenshot this and blow it up huge and wave it in my asthma nurse’s face haha. I bruise really easily anyway so I’m with you already there! I’m going to push again to try it. This has made me feel like it’s definitely worth a try thank you x
I was on Symbicourt for years and with increasingly poorly controlled asthma. The consultant's response was to increase the Symbicourt 200/6 to the maximum dose 4 x 2 puffs pd. Eventually my asthma nurse put me on Fostair 100/6 & my current dose is 2 x 2 puffs a day. This is a much better inhaler for me. I'm not running marathons but feel much better.
I started on a dose of 1 puff twice a day and did have horrible headaches for a few days but they subsided. They didn't return when the dose was increased.
I know doctors say these meds are all the same but we have to remember that they don't have training in pharmaceuticals. Getting a doctor or asthma nurse who will listen and let you try different meds are worth their weight in gold.
It’s not been great the whole way through to be honest. I switched to this GP practice when I moved two years ago and have never had an asthma nurse assigned to me and no reviews. I read the NICE guidance and if you’re asthmatic and you’re pregnant you’re meant to have an asthma review immediately and they’re meant to then closely monitor it. I got nothing. When the flare up started I called up and for 6 weeks all they did was prescribe a nasal spray I was already on. An asthma nurse finally called me after about 6 calls to the GP and she switched to symbicort. I thought I was finally being listened to then but now that hasn’t worked she’s basically said I have to deal with it until the baby is born when it should go back to normal. That doesn’t seem right to me!
YES! Fostair can be better for some people and it is better for me. I stopped taking Symbicort because it was making me cough and I have cough variant asthma. Went back onto clenil. Few years later, started to get symptoms in hayfever season. GP put me on Fostair, I was worried that it would cause cough because of similarity, but no. And bonus effect, my peak flow is best ever - increased from typical range of 420 - 450 and is now usually 460 - 500.
I experienced asthma for first time in third trimester of pregnancy when exercising btw. Always astonishes me how narrow some health care workers' views / knowledge / experience is. It's like they stick to the text book or averages and if you don't fit, tough. Staggering that they keep giving you antibiotics whilst you're pregnant without looking for something else.
Keep pushing for it - and good luck with rest of pregnancy etc. x
And just read your comment that it should go back to normal after pregnancy???!!! I had to stop for a good swear because I'd have waited 15 years for it to go back to normal. GRRR.
I was on symbicort for about 8/9 years and it did nothing for me for about 5 of them. Last year I got switched to fostair due to being on the cusp of brittle asthma from severe, on the max dose and I do really see the difference. But then again I'm on the max. I don't take my blue inhaler due it not actually working so I wouldn't say it's cured me from having to take it.
If you feel like symbicort isn't working just keep pushing and telling them that. I only got switched to fostair due to my consultant retiring and in the process I got the hosps head of asthma as my new one.
Sorry to hear about the difficulty you have been having trying to change medications. Does your doctor's/medical centre have a pharmacist on the team? If so ,you could make an appointment with them to discuss your own particular case and the options available. We can all react differently to medicines. Hope you get help.
The only issue at the moment might be supply - I could not get my last Fostair prescription filled, and after a week on Sirdupla, which was making me very hoarse, I’ve gone back to Clenil Modulite. I had been feeling so much better on Fostair after an infection then flare last November. Hoping to restart Fostair when it reappears locally.
I'm a year late but adding a comment for the benefit of someone who stumbles across this thread like me. I used Symbicort and it was ok but it caused a weird thickened/swollen feeling at the back of my throat which resulted in bona fide sleep apnoea! It was just by chance I found the cause when my inhaler was changed - and I no longer woke with a gasp in the night. I believe the carrier powder contains lactose and I have allergies so could have been that. I have been moved to Fostair recently and it's like someone opened up new, undiscovered compartments in my lungs. And I no longer wheeze until I use my inhaler in the morning. It's a revelation! Hope this info helps someone.
Not tried Symbicort. Went straight onto Fostair after a recent diagnosis - and it works but for me - but it's been awful for side effects. The trembling and shaking for most of the day, the really painful mouth, losing my voice, muscle cramps especially at night - and more. At first, I didn't realise they were side effects and thought I was ill. I tend not to read about the side effects in advance because it tends to make you seek them out. That said, Everyone one is different so it won't hurt to give it a try. Good luck
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Ventolin vs Symbicort
Symbicort Turbohaler or should I ask to try fostair+? 
Symbicort 
Fostair excessive use maybe? 
