Flixotide 250

[HC26]

Hi all,

I am looking for more advice! This time regarding an inhaler. I have recently been given Flixotide 250 and have been instructed to take 2 puffs morning and night. After doing a bit of research, I see this is quite a high dose inhaler. I recently had a flare up (not sure of the trigger) and was told to up my Qvar 100 inhaler to 3 puffs morning and night, instead of 2 (about 5 weeks ago) and put on prednisone for 5 days (about 2 weeks ago). I didn’t find any of them particularly helpful at the time but my asthma now seems to be a bit more controller, although I still have a tight chest and wheeze often. Although I have had asthma my whole life, it has not really bothered me until this year (I am 27 years old). I am worried if I take this new inhaler that I’ll be stuck on it when really, I am desperate to lower what I am already taking.

Is this the case? Does anyone have experience with this inhaler? Is it given to those with quite bad asthma?

I tried to phone asthma uk to speak about it with them but they are currently closed for training

[twinkly29]

It's very common in asthma for meds to be increased when required and it should be equally common for them to be reduced when things are controlled too - the aim is always to be well controlled on the lowest amount of medication needed. However it's important that there is a period of good control (I think it's 3 months but could be wrong) before a GP or AN decides to reduce things.

My inclination would be to go with your new inhaler (which of course might take a couple of months to become fully effective), then you'll hopefully get that period of control and then you can discuss reducing things.

[HC26 in reply to twinkly29]

Apologies for the delayed reply! Thank you very much for your reply twinkly29! I am now on my new inhaler so hopefully that works for me!

[twinkly29 in reply to HC26]

I hope it does too 🙂

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador]

Hi

The aim with asthma is to get full control. This means no tightness or wheeze, even if you hit a low level trigger for you (and hopefully still nothing when you hit a bigger trigger). Medics want you do be like this on the minimum amount of meds possible. As twinkly said, it is common for asthmatic med regimes to change, but once you’ve had 3 months of no symptoms again (and no needing of reliever) they should offer to downgrade again (or you can ask to).

Flixotide 250, by itself (with no other add ons), is still a first level asthma drug, as it’s ‘just’ a steroid inhaler (fluticasone) with no add on long acting reliever in it. Qvar has a different steroid base (beclometasone) and sometimes people can become used to the base and it stops working as well as it could, so doesn’t properly manage a flare.

Think of it like pain drugs - pretend you’ve been on 1x200mg ibuprofen/a day tablet for years cause of an old injury, but then you sprained your ankle so your doc tells you to take 2x500mg of paracetamol 4x a day for a while until things calm down, then go back to ibuprofen. It’s sounds like a massive change, but actually they are both first level otc drugs at a normally acceptable level, and nothing like morphine etc.

Atm your asthma is worse than it has been for a long time (if ever), so they want you to try a different inhaler at a higher dose to get control of things, before they go back to your old treatment. Inhalers take time to build up in your system so you may not notice a difference for a few weeks, but please keep at it.

Hope this helps

[HC26 in reply to EmmaF91]

Hi EmmaF91, thank you very much for your reply! And apologies about my delayed response! That is a very good way of putting it! I’m just so reluctant to go up on meds, but I’m getting desperate. I have now started my new inhaler so hopefully that works for me.