Inhalers and tinnitus

[Hayman111]

Hello!

For the past two months I've been taking Fostair 100/6 and now Q-var 100. I've noticed that both drugs, for me at least, lead to bad tinnitus.

I've recently got some Alvesco 160 which I'm looking to start soon in the hopes that it won't have this side effect. However, I'm wondering if maybe it could be to do with the other ingredients, namely the HFA and ethanol.

Has anybody had this experience on either of these inhlaers, or others? Or, might provide any explanation for whether it's the drug or the other ingredients?

Many thanks in advance,

Aaron

[Itswonderful]

watching

[Poobah]

I have tinnitus and apparently it's not that uncommon in asthmatics. Mine has worsened with age but I can't pin point a medication to definitively say, "that's what's caused it". My Fostair is dry powder, so I'm not exposed to the ethanol or propellant, but my tinnitus existed before I started Fostair. I've been on dry powder inhalers for over 40 years, so I can definitely exclude propellant and ethanol as a cause.

Some meds can exacerbate tinnitus, such as Ventolin, antidepressants, antibiotics, Prednisolone and NSAIDs. Dysfunctional breathing can affect our ear health, thanks to our ears being adjacent to the upper respiratory tract - mouth breathing in detrimental to our nasal health and that can affect ear health in turn. Allergies, rhinitis, polyps, rheumatoid arthritis, ear wax, ear infections, workplace noise, headphones/ear buds, meniers disease are all culprits too.

I did have a theory that my high blood pressure was a factor, but now that my BP is 108/70, I know that's not a contributing factor.

I hope you find relief from a change in inhaler. Keep us posted on that as it would be an interesting to know how you get on. All the best.

[Hayman111 in reply to Poobah]

Hello Poobah,

Thanks for your detailed reply. Unlike yourself, I can pinpoint when my tinnitus started: at the same time as I started taking Fostair 200/6 3 years ago. At the time I was open to it just being a conincidence. But since restarting back on Fostair/Q-var the tinnitus has again got much worse, making me think that it's likely related to these inhlaers. Of course dry-powder inhlaers are an option. However, when I tried these a year ago I found them to be not as effective for me. Might try again in the future.

Interesting what you say about the importance of dysfunctional breathing. For the past two years I've been nasal breathing as much as possible and implimenting the Buteyko method. I've found this, for me personally, to be a great help. I was on Fostair 200/6 4 puffs a day and now I'm only on Q-var 100 2 puffs a day, with my peak flow and control pause staying consistent.

I could do with checking my blood pressure more frequently!

Will do! I'm planning on starting the new inhaler around the middle of June, after I give the Q-var a good 6 weeks trial. All the best to you too

[Merryroundabout]

How are you doing on the Alvesco? I’ve picked up my first prescription of it today and the plan is to start on Monday (when I’ll have recovered from a cold). ( I’ve been back on Qvar for 11 months, previously Fostair, from what I’ve read it’s a very effective preventer and less likely to irritate my throat). It seemed to take much longer than usual for the pharmacy to obtain it for me, I wondered if that’s standard as both the Consultant and GP said it’s not normally prescribed.