Does anyone here use Ventolin every day? I need it every time I go outside, and it gives me 4-5 hrs of relief from the chest tightness, "bubble" in my chest, and shortness of breath. So I am thinking just to take it in the morning every day and so be it. I need to get things done (e.g. to get a new job), and I cannot stay at home in my filtered-air environment forever.
I wonder if there are any long-term effects of using Ventolin every day (e.g can I get desensitized?). In terms of side effects, I notice that my heart rate is high (100-120 when lying down). Other than ventolin, high prednisone works, I but I try to stay off it for as long as I can. I am also on Xolair and Trimbow. Thee two allow me to sleep and to work at the computer; without them, I would be in a hospital. But they are not enough for living a productive life.
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runcyclexcski
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I don’t think there is as my prescription says “1-2 puffs 4 times a day or as required” - this has remained the same for four years, although I rarely use it now.
Trollus -- thank you! Which drug made the difference that allowed you to use less of it? Xolair used to work quite well for me (I was able to go outside and do mountaineering and marathon-running), now it's not as good of an effect. Although at the time when I thought it "worked great" I also was on immunotherapy desensitization shots in the USA. The UK does not believe in these shots, and Germany believes them to only be necessary for a few months in a lifetime -- i.e. not more shots for me.
I think it was just time for the inflammation to settle, understanding my condition and finding a nurse who listened. Things were starting to improve for me, then a respiratory nurse in the hospital clinic lowered my Fostair to 100/6 “ like everyone else” 3 courses of prednisone later I was upped to F200/6, Spivira Respimat was added in at some point as was Montelukast. I was then given an additional Fostair inhaler, double dose antihistamine. Next thing was Flixonase nasal spray and nasal antihistamine.
>>> F200/6, Spivira Respimat was added in at some point as was Montelukast.
I see. Montelukast never did anything to me, nor did the steroid nasal spray, so I just stopped them (less drugs to refill). In Germany, they are now moving everyone to Trimbow which is a LABA, a steroid and the Spireva compound all in one can. It did not make it worse compared to my old good Advair 500/50 (aka Seretide), so I complied (they would not prescribe Xolair unless I was on Trimbow). Still, I prefer the idea of the well-dosed Seretide: every dose is exactly identical the other one, whereas the pressure of "traditional" inhalers drops as they get more empty. So I get worried that I get less of the good stuff by the time the can goes empty.
Tree -- I've been on/off Xolair: 2007-2014 (felt better), then 2020-2022 (felt better), and currently for 2 months. After I moved to Germany/Switzerland, they wanted to "try something better than Xolair" and switched me to Fazenra on which I got worse again. So they -- thankfully -- switched me back. Now the pollen season is over, and yet I still get sick outdoors when it's hot, so I attribute it to ozone. I get data on the ozone every hour, and the symptoms correlate pretty well during the day (ozone fluctuates by a factor of 6 or higher where I am during 24 hrs).
I was in bad shape when I started on Xolair. I have had much less exacerbations since starting on Xolair so that is really good. The last two flares, I just needed smaller doses of prednisone for less days. The last flare requiring prednisone was in Dec 2021!
I have had less illness since I have been wearing a mask at work. (I'm a Peds nurse in a hospital.) I usually flare with illness and in fall, occasionally in spring. It has been so much better on Xolair. Albuterol does the trick. NO PREDNISONE!
I use ventolin, now replaced by salamol most days.
I tend to just get on with things, so my asthma gets triggered a lot. I do what I want, have an asthma issue, recover then continue.
At one stage I used salamol too much so it lost its effectiveness.
My answer was switching from fostair 200 to fostair 100 mart, fostair 100 mart allows me to take fostair throughout the day, 8 doses spread over the day as I want, reducing, though not removing, the need for salamol.
For me fostair 100 mart is not long term quite enough, so I need patches of fostair 200, but using fostair 100 mart as much as possible, keeps my use of salamol down, so it remains effective. It has also reduced my use of pred.
To help me carry on using fostair 100 mart they give me spiriva and are just adding something else that they say intensifies it's effect.
If you need to get out and about more, a mask helps, an air conditioned car is good. Avoiding centre of towns is good. Having somebody to go with you is superb. My work said that I could not not go out to client meetings by myself, it was great to be looked after.
Thank you, Homely. When asthma is bad, I can't walk, stay upright, or sit, and have previously been strangled wherever I was at the time, for an hour, until steroids/ventolin worked. I even used an epipen twice when it got really bad (and where A&E could not reach me -- in the wilderness).
My previous employer put restrictions on when I can work (only 8-4pm -- I am used to working 12 hrs a day and often on weekends, so at the time I thought this was very intrusive).
I hear a lot of good things here about Fostair, but I am allergic to it (my face gets swollen).
I am a big fan off FFP2 masks, but here in Germany they do not seem to do enough in the summer: they work for pollen, but not for polluting gasses (O3 and NOx). Plus, when asthma is bad, breathing through the mask gets hard. So I am putting together a powered respirator which would help be breathe, and has a thick layer of activated carbon to get rid of the O3/NOx better. It looks like a space life-support backpack, but I do not care anymore at this point.
Have you considered moving. I am much better up in the hills away from the pollution. When family commitments let me in a few years, it is up to the hills for me.
I just moved from the UK to Germany b.c. my wife took a great job, enough moving. UK had more particulate pollution, Germany has more pollen. UK was difficult to prescribe mAbs, Germany is much easier. So there are +s and -s, and there is never a perfect place. Plus there are not many jobs up in the hills...
Yeh thats the highest Trimbo I'm suprised its not as good for you as it is me im end stage so stage 4 do you know what stage you are ive got a friend in Germany he left Dublin years ago to go for work I moved to England years ago myself hope you find it good there
I take mine every day as I need it so when I need it it's 2 puffs each time I'm also on Trimbo thats to be taken twice a day but its a 3 in one inhaler so as to save a 3rd inhaler how do you find Trimbow and what strength are you on .
I am on 175 Trimbow. Not sure if it's the highest one available. It's OK, could be better than Seretide. It does not "cure" me, but allows me to linger on.
I don’t use Ventolin anymore. I’m on Symbicort 200/6 twice a day and use that as a reliever if I feel wheezy, but it’s rare. My heart rate, however, is high, which is down to the formoterol in the Symbicort
Hi there I've been taking ventolin for years I have stage 4 copd so us it about every 2 hours the only thing I find is the shakes and my heart goes fast but I use in a nebuliser with ipratropium that's the only side effects I get
Please be careful about saying things such as frequent salbutamol/Ventolin use is safer than steroids. It seems you were replying to runcyclexcski's point about staying off high pred (oral steroids for those not familiar), but it wasn't clear to me initially here and may also confuse others and worry them about the safety of inhaled steroids.
For others reading who are worried about their steroids, brief info dump: What is definitely *not* safe with asthma is underusing preventer medication - like steroid inhalers - and relying too much on reliever medication like salbutamol/Ventolin, which does nothing to treat the underlying inflammation. The link Ern007 provided points out that if someone is needing reliever frequently, it generally means their asthma is poorly controlled, which is dangerous.
Oral and inhaled steroids are not the same in terms of side effects. Poor control from underuse of steroid preventer inhalers is more likely to result in someone needing oral steroids. Those are definitely worse in terms of side effects than inhaled steroids, though still have their place and should be taken if needed.
>The link Ern007 provided points out that if someone is needing reliever frequently, it >generally means their asthma is poorly controlled, which is dangerous.
I fully agree that my asthma is poorly controlled, but there are no other options, since I am already on the maximal dose of inhaled steroids+ipratropium+LABA and Xolair. I tried combining Trimbow and Seretide, and I was not allowed to by my specialists. I would rather take preventers every day and have high heart rate than take 20+ mg of prednisone for life, b.c., in my experience, I get used to prednisone in a few months (I used to be on it for 1.5 years), and then it's all back to square one, plus all the prednisone side effects.
I edited my reply to Ern007 to make it a bit clearer it wasn't for you, so much as others reading who aren't in that situation and don't know that lots of Ventolin is typically a red flag - sorry it wasn't clear to start with!
I'm in the same situation re control, can't help what I need. But didn't want others to get the idea it's normal or steroids are more dangerous/lots of Ventolin is fine for everyone.
Ern007 (adding name due to the confusing thread structure on HU): It wasn't clear to me which you meant, so I was concerned it might not be clear or obvious to others who aren't familiar with asthma treatments. I've edited my reply to make it clearer that it's aimed at people who might think you meant *inhaled* steroids.
I didn't suggest you were advising anyone, but people can read something, especially out of context on here, and get worried, especially when they're new to asthma or no one has explained how their medications work and what they're for.
That's far more common than it should be. If people know this already or have read it as you intended, fine, but I prefer to make it very clear in case they don't.
(The things I'm replying to are vanishing so apologies if this seems a bit odd/out of context to anyone reading!)
No worries. I mentioned in the original post that I was on Trimbow. Trimbow has the 172 ug steroid component. It (and Xolair) helps to stay alive (sitting down and lying flat), but not enough to live a full life, with a job and leisure activities.
Sorry, that was a reply to Ern007 about it not being clear to me! HU drives me nuts with its layout sometimes, I need to remember to include usernames when I reply!
You sound as though your asthma is not well controlled. I use Ventolin as an emergency source of treatment otherwise I take Relvar Elipta (low dose steroid inhaler) which keeps me stable.
I also avoid all known triggers plus I do regular breathing exercises.
My condition is not monitored regularly… once in 3 years by a practice nurse. Therefore, I do the monitoring myself.
This is all very well when the condition is stable which your asthma would appear not to be.
Have you had the chest pain and breathlessness investigated for alternative causes? Maybe this is something you could ask your GP about.
Do you wear a wrist watch which monitors your heart rate? If so this might help your GP.
One of the side effects of Ventolin is an increased heart rate. This can make you feel jittery, sweaty with palpitations.
You need to get help from a Dr to get your issues sorted out.
Hi, I was using ventolin daily until recently. My asthma is poorly controlled so I have atrovent ( another reliever,) Fostair as MART, and I use the maximum doses of these everyday. Which left me Ventolin for nighttime.
I asked hospital asthma nurse at my last appointment if there were any other reliever inhalers that I could try and they let me try Bricanyl- which gives me the most relief of the lot, but only lasts an hour or two. However my nights are a bit better and I’m no longer using ventolin daily- it wasn’t working for me much anyway, but I at least have it for more acute episodes.
Hello . I take ventolin to open the air passages in my lungs I have been taking this inhaler for over 30 years and it still works on me. It does sometimes make my heart race but then I have been told all the asthma inhalers do that. I also get the shakes after a short while of having taken the inhaler that is just a side effect and wears off I. A short while.if you have any concerns please speak to your GP or practice nurse even your pharmacist will help and if not will advise you to see your GP.
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