Fostair causing coughing?

[Monkeybuns]

I have been diagnosed with asthma, either atopic asthma or non-asmatic allergic bronchitis in February of last year, had one appointment and now followed by a consultant vis phone appointments. I was on Clenil 100, 2 puffs 2x a day, and having sore throat, hoarse voice, etc. After a trial of montelukast that did not go well (great for my asthma, not great for my mental health), I contacted the GP to go to the next step as outlined by my consultant. I had been using my blue inhaler for coughing fits and noticing a drop in peak flow when I would have them.

I am now taking Fostair 100/6, 2 puff in in morning, 2 puffs at night. For my morning dose, I cough a ton afterwards, almost like I am clearing something from my throat. After that, breathing is good. I have only been on this for 3 days, but it’s not something I noticed with Clenil. Is this a common thing with Fostair? It doesn’t happen at night. I will have a review again in 6 weeks, but curious if this is normal/expected.

[twinkly29]

It can be - sometimes it's like a reflex reaction cough which using a spacer is supposed to help. For some people it's the propellant in the inhaler (assuming it's an MDI one, one you press). But presumably that would have been in the brown inhaler you had before and if you didn't have the 'coughing fits' then I'd guess at it not being the propellant here.

It's good your breathing is better afterwards though... but that doesn't help the initial bit...

[Monkeybuns in reply to twinkly29]

Thanks for replying. I do use a spacer, I have a volumetric and an aerochamber. I switched to the aerochamber as the nurse suggested, I feel like I get more of the propellants from the aero one. I’ll give it a go with my other spacer and see if this helps. It lasts for about 15 minutes. Might call the nurse on Monday. Weird that it’s only happening in the morning and not when I use it at night.

[twinkly29 in reply to Monkeybuns]

Yes it is weird - maybe something to do with things typically being worse in the mornings so it affects it more (but I just made that up so might be complete rubbish!)

EmmaF91 any ideas?

[EmmaF91 Community Ambassador in reply to twinkly29]

Hi

Maybe try taking your blue inhaler before you use the fostair and see if that helps? If it does then it suggests that your lungs are extra ‘twitchy’ in the mornings (not unusual) and that there’s something in the inhaler that isn’t agreeable to your system (but only noticeable when there are issues).

It may be the propellant in the inhaler, esp if you’ve gone from a CFC inhaler to a CFC-free inhaler (or vice versa).

It’s a good idea to talk to your AN when you can, or you may want to talk it over with a AUK nurse before hand just to see why they think 😉

[Glty]

I don't know if it's the same, but for my first few weeks on fostair, I'd cough alot, clearing mucus in the 30min after my morning dose - we put it down to the long acting reliever kicking in. After a few weeks it all settled down as the steroid starred to calm things down.

[Superzob]

You might have a reaction to the propellant. I tried 5 preventers until I realised this, and now use a dry powder one. With other people, though, it's the other way round, so I'm afraid it's trial and error!