I have been on sere tide 250 nearly 10 years, without many problems, but my inhaler was then changed to fostair. This gave me terrible leg cramps in the night, it was then changed to qvar which gave me muscle pain, and a continuous cough . I asked for my old inhaler back to which the Gp said yes and when I went to pick it up, I had been given Sirdupla. Does anyone have any experience with this new inhaler ? Thank you
Sirdupla: I have been on sere tide 25... - Lung Conditions C...
Sirdupla
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26 Replies
•
Hi, if you put Sirdupla in the search bar top, my post about it will come up along with very helpful replies.
Same happened to me. I haven't used it yet and not sure I will. I put in my repeat for seretide 250 and given this. Blooming cheek.
I asked the chemist if it was cheaper & he said no, if you don't get on with it just ask your GP for the seretide.
Peege
It is cheaper, if you type in costs for seretide and then costs for sirdupla you will see it's nearly half the cost
• in reply tokasiap
Yes you are right and after all these years I had all of a sudden received a letter last month that they had reasons to believe I might also have COPD as well as asthma and I had to come in for a spirometer test. The test showed I had no COPD and therefore they could change my inhaler as sere tide covers both and they can use sirdupla for asthma only. I was so scared when I received that letter for 3 whole weeks until the test, now discovering it was all just to save on cost how awful and how many others might have had the same scare….
kasiap• in reply to
Precisely, I've been on seretide for 15 years, same dose no problems, this is the third time they've altered my prescription, each time I've have the most horrendous oral thrush, this time with sirdupla I can't stop coughing at night, I admit they gave to save costs but it isn't as if we get our prescriptions free even though we suffer from a life threatening disorder, my comment to the doctors the last time they altered my prescription was ' if it ain't broke leave it alone 'it's all down to costs
SquirrelsHolt• in reply to
Its all about costs at the end if the day I'm afraid. X
Hi. I have struggled for 6 mths using sirdupla after being on symbicort for 20 yrs for my asthma. After 3 chest infection needing antibiotics & steroids on one occasion I have bought a symbicort inhaler whilst abroad in Spain & my asthma is more controlled. My voice changed as well & is croaky & faint at times necessitating an ENT OPA - yet to have. When I get back I will be seeing my GP. I think this whole switchover thing needs investigating. It has not worked for me & cost myself & the NHS more money.
Hi
Same active ingredient, just a different brand name.
I believe it is to do with licensing, as they expire more choices come to market.
I think it has slightly different doses of the ingredients Stone - according to the replies on my post about it.
I have both leaflets so will check them out when I've got the where with all.
I just googled it peege, and there was a blf post where a reply said the person's doctor has enquired and found there are two new ingredients added. People seem to be having such trouble adjusting to these new drugs - Im waiting for my Symbicort to run out as i will be on Duoresp then.
Thank you for your replies…..it was very interesting to read all the replies on your post Peege, it must have some differences though with the seretide, as seretide is used for asthma AND COPD whereas sirdupla only asthma….
Hi Anne, i don't know about that other inhaler, but i use seritide 500, i get bad leg cramps, im not so sure its the inhaler, i thinks its water tablets, lack potassium maybe.maybe even other meds,
but learned to put up with this, as a minor hitch.
quinine is good for cramp,
hope you get things sorted out,
love jimmy xxx 
Thanks Jimmy :)x
I have been on this new inhaler 2 weeks now and have notice that I've started coughing at night which I never did with seretide, my doctors wrote to me telling me that they were issuing this new inhaler instead of seretide, when I asked if it was to do with costs they said yes, the new inhaler is half the price of seretide. I will be going back to the doctors to ask to be put back on seretide, hope this answers your question
Thank you very much for your answer, I have used this now for 1 week and my voice is now as if I have a heavy cold and I am coughing so yes, I agree it is not the same at all thanks for letting me now about you
SquirrelsHolt• in reply to
Must voice your opinions to your doctors and they may understand that it's not as good as the seretide.
I have recently been prescribed sirdupla after being on seretide for over 15 years. I am living in a new town and with a new doctor. My old dr managed to get my asthma under control with years of trial and error. Then I get my repeat prescription changed to this crap. I have just had an horrendous night of coughing, wheezing, palpitations, and feeling generally crap. I suffer with fybromyalgia so having my asthma disturbed is not what I want. I was assured on the phone by my Dr when I raised concerns when my repeat prescription was changed that sirdupla is exactly the same. It is not! Having read the ingredients which I foolishly read after taking the medication that Sirdupla has two noticeable extra ingredients listed, one is ethanol and the other is anhydrous. I have no idea what these two ingredients can do but what does concern me is a new Dr who has never examined me for asthma because the condition is managed quite adequete by seretide and ventolin changes my drugs and assures me it's the same when it clearly isn't Without any concern for the medication I am also on for my fybromyalgia. It's dangerous and clearly irresponsible and its decisions like this that could cost lives. As soon as I have changed my prescription back to seretide I will be registering for another GP because I find this unacceptable.
What was the outcome Luxozade?
My respiratory nurse stopped the useless (to me) Sirdupla and put me on Fostair which is turning out to be brilliant. This after a telephone call from a doctor at my new practice refused to change the Sirdupla back to seretide stating "you only have asthma" grrrrr. At the chemist I'd requested to go back to Seretide. It wasn't my GP who turns out to be excellent as was the nurse. All's well that ends well. 😃
• in reply topeege
peege if anyone ever says "only asthma" to you again, please remind them that 3 people in the UK die of asthma every single day 
according to Asthma UK.
Also, if a GP is being difficult about changing a med back to one which suits you better, tell them you realise the active drug is the same or very similar, but can see from the package that the excipients are different, & you suspect this could be the cause. They can't really argue with that, & it shows you're "in the know" 
I have been on Seretide for many years (for C.O.P.D.. Recently, I was changed to Sirdupla and I had horrific side effects, almost all of the ones mentioned on the accompanying form. I have been changed back to Seretide, but I am still feeling ill; my chest is clogged up, I am still having nightmares, cramps etc. Serious research needs to be done on the effects of Sirdupla.
• in reply toSapper21
Hi Sapper. Did you know about the MHRA's Yellow Card scheme? yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/the-... This is an important monitoring system whereby individuals can report adverse drug reactions direct to the MHRA, which can then investigate whether there's a problem with the drug which wasn't revealed during the clinical trials. Here's the form you use yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/ Given your experience I think it would be a good idea for you to do this
Thankyou very much, Hanne52, I will do that. .
I received a letter from my GP saying that my Seretide inhaler was going to be changed to a Surdupla inhaler. I've had problems in the past when the pharmacy has given me a cheaper generic inhaler called Aliflus. I complained because it gave me a sore throat so they gave me the Seretide again. I have been given the Aliflus inhaler a few times since that and I know it's all about cost. What concerns me is I started having really bad heart palpitations, almost all day, every day and now I'm wondering if it's due to the change in inhaler. I've had ecg's and a 24 hour heart monitor. I had an abnormal thyroid test so at first they thought the hp's were because of that though after a second normal test I was referred back to the cardiac unit. I was told the hp's are not having a significant affect on my heart or health though I have to have a 7 day heart monitor just to be sure. If the hp's are due to the inhaler change it would be ironic, it must have cost a fortune for me to be referred to the cardiac unit and probably would have cost a lot less to just keep me on the Seretide inhaler! I'm really concerned about the Sirdupla inhaler and I contacted my surgery to be told that it is exactly the same as the Seretide with the same side effects though after reading this post I am not convinced.
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