Atrovent vs Spiriva

I have just restarted spiriva- when I originally tried it, it was felt that it didnt make a significant enough difference to me. A couple of months down the line and have been struggling badly with the pollen- having failed since May to get pred below 20mg and keep it there. Everytime I reduce my peak flow nosedives and I end up back at drs very wheezy (and back on 30/40mg pred.)

Anyway- having picked up yet another lovely chest infection- my 2nd in 3 weeks- it was decided that giving spiriva another go was potentially beneficial. So now I have rambled my question is-

Is there any evidence either way to indicate whether spiriva or atrovent is more effective in asthma?

Any input would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Em

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Hi,

Tiotropium (Spiriva) was originally designed for people with COPD, as a replacement for ipratropium (Atrovent). Compared with ipratropium, some studies have shown that tiotropium produces an improvement in lung function and a reduction in number of exacerbations in people with COPD.

It's currently being studied in people with asthma, but as far as I am aware, none of these studies have been completed or published yet, therefore there's no evidence to answer the question that you ask. Hopefully there will be some evidence before too much longer.

I am on it, despite the lack of evidence, and I do think it's slightly better than ipratropium - the only disadvantage, for me, is that when I am bad I struggle to breathe in forcefully enough to use the inhaler, and unlike ipratropium, it doesn't come as a neb. This is probably only an issue if you have quite bad lung function, though.

Hope this helps

Em H

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Thanks for that I was just wondering. I think my GP is struggling to find ways to keep me relatively stable and not on lots of pred until we hear either way about funding for xolair- I dont think it helps being hugely allergic to grass pollen and living right next to a hay meadow and being outdoors with the ponies all the time.

I only asked incase one was proven more effective than the other- am grasping at straws at the moment.

Em

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