I take Symbicort 400/12. Started off with lowest dose - Symbicort 100/6 - and worked up to now current dose of four times inhalations per day of 400/12 Symbocort plus other meds.
I've found this combination by far the best for relief from EIA ( exercise induced asthma ). I can still run quite well - my favourite sport- (OK now veteran over 35 !) - despite diagnosed mild COPD, -cos of lifetime severe atopic asthma.
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Still get major hospital yuk splats - and minor splats -these last couple of years, but on the whole am much better off than before re other LABA combination meds. And I've tried them all!
Does anyone else get better relief from this drug combination?
im also on symbicort, mine is 200/6 4 doses twice daily,it was working brilliant along with some pred,i could do (nearly)just about everything i could before i got asthma,but since ive started to reduce the pred i am starting to strugle abit,hopefully its just because of the weather and it will get better once it cools down,lets hope it cools down soon
Mia- i have been on the 400/12 for about 18mths now and am on a higher dose(rbh prescibing). I have found that when im well it really helps with some stability but as soon as im down its not quite as efficient! if u get my meaning??!!
But either way it is definately better than other LABA combos as i have tried many over the yrs 2!! I have had problems in the past with EIA but have not been able to exercise for the last few because of the hip so i am hopeful that once im fully mobile and try to do some exercise that it may help!!
'Symbicort club'
Hi
Ive been useing symbicort 200/6 2p 3t aday but found i was getting pains in the back of my legs which my cons said was due to the oxis so combined it with pulmicort as well 2p 2t aday ended up in costa GRH for 2 weeks with very bad attack and chest infection a while ago so came out with loads of meds and a nebulizer how do you all manage to pay for it having to take 9 different meds is very costly
sorry heat is getting to me im of to neb
Symbicort Club
Hi Mia,
I'm on Symbicort 200/6, 2 puffs morning & night ever since I've been on it for 1yr now my voice is alsway hoarse even thought I rinse my mouth out thoroughly I can change to something else but Symbicort helps me, so am not changing another medication.
I'm also on other meds too.
Regards
I'm also on Symbicort, 400/12 four puffs a day (or 200/6 eight puffs, depending on what version is available, hospital pharmacy only stock the 200/6). Have been through multiple meds in different combinations over the last year - becotide, becloforte, pulmicort, serevent, oxis - have a whole drawer of half used inhalers. I prefer the symbicort, but it is partly because I get on better with breath acctuated inhalers. I used to use becotide rotacaps, back in the good old days! GP wanted me to use MDIs as she was worried I wasnt getting enough in my lungs when bad, but it was a pain having to take so many puffs of stuff, 4xpulmicort + 2xoxis (in a turbohaler anyway!) twice a day, and I'd sometimes forget what I had taken already... thankfully back on symbicort now. I reckon if I am bad enough that I cant get the meds in then I need more help anyway.
Only thing I DON'T like is the shakes! Thought I had become acclimatised to the stuff and the shakes weren't as bad, but they have come back big time the last month or so, though they do get less after a few hours. Just hope people don't think it is the DTs!!
PS Tas, just noticed your comment about cost of prescriptions - have you got a prepayment certificate? definitely worth it if you are taking lots of stuff. You still have to pay, but works out cheaper ppa.org.uk/ppa/ppc_intro.htm
Hiya gang,
I am on the lowest dose Symbicort 100/6 four twice daily. I am taking this with my ventilin as well. Does anyone have any side effets my voice box tends to go a bit sometimes well most of the time and I shake occasionally as found out playing giant jenga at my local pub probably didnt help that I was a little tipsy at the time.
Had a very bad spat early this year so it had to be upped to 4 puffs twice daily. I do have my off days though . Other than that seems to woork fine with me
Hope everyone is well.
Take care
Giggles xx
I didn't realise the shakes were to do with the symbicort, I thought it was to do with the bricanyl I'm taking too. I had terrible shakes when I first went on it and when I'm bad I also get the shakes too its odd.
I don't seem to get enough medication in when I'm not well, its either that or it doesn't work. I was told to up the dose to 2 puffs 4 times a day (400/12) last week when I had my chest infection but it had no use whatsoever and I got worse over that 24 hours.
I find these type of inhalers much easier to take though.
I too am on symbicort 400/12, was on the 200/6 for about 3 yrs but this year the pollen hit me hard quite early in the year, then i came down with a chest infection and didn't quite get back on track from there. Like you Ali, i also ended up with a draw full of half used inhaler, beclomethasone, servent and sertide. But as symbicort seems to work well for me, dr decided to try the 400/12 and altho not a mircule worker, has helped a lot, even managed to get back to the 200/6 for about a week til the weather got all silly! Hoping to get back to 200/6 when the weather starts to behave!
As for side effects, i've always had the shakes from the symbicort, got better the longer i took it, have started getting leg cramps since i've been on the 400/12, altho can't be 100% certain it is the stronger inhaler. Also, have had problems with my throat, had laryngitis 3 times and when i get a simple virus it takes me longer now to get my voice back to normal. I had a virus a couple of weeks ago and my voice still goes funny and can't get all the range, high notes for example just not there lol. I also rinse my mouth out after using my inhaler. I guess it's just one of those things, annoying as it is, i'd rather breathe :o)
Christine
hello all,
I'm gatecrashing as I don't take symbicort but seretide, but wanted to say I also suffer from laringitis, hoarsness and throat problems in general - it seem s a general thread with all the steroid inhalers - what we put ourselves through to be able to breathe hey!
Hope you all ok tonight (still muggy - I thoguht it was gonna rain today - sorely disappointed!!)
hey
i reacently got put on symbicort and its been great so far. really helped- i was taking far to much ventolin before and the doc said i was getting immune to it but dont take it as much now
yeh i find that it make my voice horse and my throat really dry. The dr said i should swill my mouth out after taking it but sometimes that really isnt an option lol.
did anyone else find it wierd taking a powder type inhaler after using an aerosol one for so long?
You're not gate crashing Cal.
But you and others have raised an important issue re what seems to be a shared side effect of all combination LABA/ steroid inhaler meds.
I've tried the Seretide different strengths and types of inhalers plus other combined inhalers. I’ve tried all the mouthwash, teeth cleaning gargling, salty water advice and the only thing that seemed to work was Peroxyl mouthwash, which I’ve often commented upon in the past. But, and a big BUT here, I don’t believe that is the only reason my hoarse, and sinking to a whisper voice was, and has been SO problematical, and believe me when your voice is an important part of your job you need to find ‘solutions’ Ooops….!
Being serious (?!), I tracked my dosage combinations inhalers and rate of hoarseness vs all add on anti losing voice therapies. I have noticed that, on higher doses of combined inhalers,- whether DPI or MDI,-the higher the amount of LABA ingredient, the better the voice. I can only put this down to high amounts of LABA ingredient opening up the bronchi in order to allow the steroid ingredient – which can affect the vocal chords - to bypass the vocal chords and just act upon the inflammed bronchi.
Using a short acting reliever inhaler like ventolin/salbutamol or terbutaline/bricanyl BEFORE combined LABA/Steroid inhalers must be worth a try as well.
I always neb ventolin/salbutamol before combined inhalers anyway, because of big breathlessness probs. But ventolin/bricanyl through a spacer BEFORE combined inhalers must be helpful too or at least worth a try if you don’t neb.
Hi Hazyknuf, I found the change from MDI inhalers to DPI inhalers a bit of a challenge, but was getting pants relief from the old MDI inhalers once the propellant was changed anyway. If you can get your asthma under control there shouldn’t be much a difference… or so they say! Now prefer the DPI inhalers, but would not like to rely on them if I did loads of watersports!
This is a bit of subject but is linked. For the past 3 or 4 weeks i've had this horrible cough, it's not just a irritating cough, it really makes me gag and i have actually been sick as a result. I have spoken to my gp but she says it's because of the weather and there is nothing that she can do. I am currently using the symbicort 400/12 on max dose of 2 puffs twice a day. Anyway, having read some stuff on this thread, it's got me thinking, i usually cough badly when taking my peak flow and my inhaler, obviously can't take reliever before peak flow as reading wouldn't be accurate but would it help if i took it before taking symbicort?
Christine
the asthma nurse has put me on 400/12
2 puffs twice a day insted of the 200/6 4 puffs twice a day.
excuse the expression (i'll have less sucking to do) no rudeness intended
Confused. Are we all going from flixotide to symbicort? how can you increase the steroid side of symbicort without increasing the 0xis at the same time? This is why my con says that you have better control over the two when taken seperately. But i notice that people are getting good results with symbicort. Looks like what suits one dont suit another.
I started off taking the symbicort inhaler when my doctor told me that my flixotide inhaler was going to be discontinued, which by the way worked very well for the many years i was on it. I started on the 100/6 and worked up to the 400/12 as i didnt find this inhaler relieving at all! Still after taking the full dose i find that i have to take my ventolin inhaler twice after to get my breathing back to normal!
Hi Jenny,
I always use my short term ‘reliever’-either vent nebs if very SOB, or bricanyl DPI inhaler ( tastes disgusting) if not too SOB – BEFORE using symbicort.
Think I already mentioned this in an earlier post.
The LABA ‘half’ of symbicort – formoterol - doesn’t deliver ‘instant’ relief, - takes about four hours for this combined inhaler to build up to a similar sort of relief as the short acting reliever type drugs. But it should last far longer, - does for me anyway, -and allows me to exercise for a certain length of time without too much worry re SOB and wheezing.
Could be worth a try?
Mia
Hi
I am new to symbicort my doc has just changed me from seretide 500 to symbicort 400/12. I hoping to see an improvement cos I have been having a bad time of late with my asthma.
Heidi
Hi guys,
Just wonderd if anyone has coughing fits after taking Symbicort I have had it a couple tmes now just wondered if its a coincidence or its part of the side effects
I've seen the resp nurse at chest clinic today, and they've switched me to symbicort 400/12 from seretide 250 as I have had a bad few weeks and pf still well into ""amber"" despite pred, antib's & 3 weeks off work...
Found this thread and was just wondering if anybody who switched to symbicort from seretide could give an update on how they've got on.... and how soon ther was an improvement - can I expect to see improvements before Christmas, and get some energy back....?
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