Breathe easy!

85 and still working 10 hours a day. All my grown life I have had asthma (low-grade that can be pushed into serious problems.) Have used Ventolin when necessary and Simbicort Morning and Night for over 40 years. If you get Thrush you have not rinsed your mouth and gargled after using the Simbicort. The Ventolin might keep you awake because of its immediate impact but it lets you relax all those chest muscles that are locked tight. I work in a very stressful and competitive field (which I love) and I would not have made it this far without my Asthma meds.

Cheers from Canada

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Delighted to hear that your asthma is so well controlled and that you are (and from the sound of it always have been) able to lead a full life. I’m not unlike you in that (though I did go through ten more difficult years when it was not as well controlled - a change of medication eventually sorted that out). Like you I’ve had it for decades (since I was three years old - I’m now in my sixties). However, I have been (as is the case with others on this site) prone to getting thrush. Not oral thrush - as far as I’m aware I’ve never had that - but oesophageal thrush, and it has nothing to do with my rinsing out and gargling routine; even the consultants admit that is more than adequate.

It’s an unfortunate fact that some people just do seem to be more prone to thrush than others, and sometimes no amount of rinsing out and gargling seems to help with it. Some asthma medications, particularly at the greater strengths, do seem to have more of a reputation for causing issues in that area than others (I was on one of them for years - though for many years I had no thrush issues with it at all) and there is no doubt that some other medications for different medical conditions can increase the risk of it occurring when taken in conjunction with asthma inhalers. That is what we now think may have happened in my case - though we still don’t know for certain. I’ve never been on Simbicort, so I can’t really comment on it but I was switched to the medication I’m currently on (Alvesco) in an effort to improve the thrush situation. Doing that was not without risk; I was very well controlled on the medication I was on and there has to be a good reason for taking someone off an asthma medication they are stable on and introducing an element of uncertainty by trying a new one. Fortunately I have been fine, but that is not always the case.

As I said, it’s great to hear that your asthma is so well controlled and long may that continue to be the case!