Has anyone experience foot cramp (more so at night) with certain steroid inhalers?
I never had a problem until I was doubled up on my Seretide and even when I was changed to Fostair the cramps have continued.
Before I make myself sound crazy at my appointment next week, I thought I’d ask in here.
Thanks in advance!
I suffered horrendous cramps with both Fostair & Seretide & my Consultant told me in the 10yrs he had been doing the job I was only about the 3rd case he had dealt with who had these side effects...he told me I must never use a duo inhaler again as something in the reliever part didn’t agree with me so he put me on Montelukast & Clenil 200 which has been ok so far although this weekend I used my salbutamol reliever a couple of times and I also had cramp after that..I will ask my GP when next over if this can be the case...you are not crazy believe me, I know what it’s like...hope this helps!
I’m sorry to hear that you experienced these symptoms so terribly and for so long but glad to hear that you eventually found relief.
It’s taken me so long to get myself listened to and my next appointment will only be the second one with my consultant. I have so much that I’d like to discuss with him that I don’t want to waste time whining about these foot cramps.
If I had to choose between breathlessness and cramps, I would choose cramps all day long 😂🙈
Really bad spasms and cramps on Forstair and much less so on Seratide. So I’m still on Seretide.
I have always had cramps, especially in my feet, but also in legs, back, chest, you name it, and with inhalers it got worse. But my Symbicort otherwise works so well for me I would hate to change it. So instead I try to do anything to lessen cramps in other ways - make sure I stay hydrated, keep moving, keep my feet warm ( my feet are by far the worst for me), make sure I sit in chairs that are good for me. As I am not tall, many chairs are a bit high for me, and that makes it worse, as it can reduce circulation in my legs. I also try to make sure I eat things with potassium, magnesium and calcium, and now I also take some supplements. I have considered asking for quinine tablets, but I don’t like the look of the side effects, so I rather stick to what I am doing now.
Cramp is generally a sign of magnesium deficiency and then calcium becomes a problem after that. Start adding sea salt to your main meals so you get extra minerals. Magnesium is the second most required mineral in the body after iodine. So eat eggs for iodine, pepitas/pumpkin seeds for magnesium, look up other sources and target eat. Include calcium rich foods. Look for things other than cooked milk which has much destroyed or heavily sugared yoghurt. Epsom salts baths are a lovely way to incorporate magnesium. Don't have any mold in the bathroom if we're discussing asthma and breathing difficulties. You could supplement a little magnesium, that may be convenient if you ever get constipated. Or there are spray on topical oils. Ensure you're well hydrated at all times but you must balance minerals. Hydration with no minerals causes imbalance and deficiencies. If you use reverse osmosis water filtration? Then minerals are removed with toxins, so adding sea salt to compensate is a must. Ensure its never table salt as that is a toxic imbalanced compound associated with cardiovascular difficulties. Himalayan sea salt or Celtic sea salt, unprocessed, beautiful. xx
Just a warning to anyone that reads this in the future - this is complete and utter nonsense. I created an account just to debunk this comment because the advice is potentially dangerous even if it was posted 2 years prior.
For starters, the drugs used to combat asthma symptoms like Beclometasone, Formoterol Fumarate and Salmeterol are all hypokalemic antagonizers that affect your body's ability to utilize potassium, absolutely nothing to do with magnesium.
The main source of stupid here is stating that table salt is a "toxic imbalanced compound associated with cardiovascular difficulties" is downright irresponsible.
Salt is salt, which is also salt. Table salt, sea salt, rock salt, dead sea salt, pink himalayan mountain salt, black salt... it's all Sodium Chloride. Yes there are additional trace minerals in some of the more exotic ones that may help with Hypokalemia if they contain additional potassium but to imply that only table salt is dangerous is to suggest that other salts are fine in large amounts.
The only difference between table salt and other types of salt is the crystal size and the fact that most table salts are Iodized (which is actually beneficial for the production of thyroid hormones). All salt will cause problems when consumed in excess.
If you are getting cramps from steroid inhalers, speak to your prescribing doctor or GP and eat a banana a day to boost your potassium intake.
Also - your point about epsom salt baths to boost magnesium levels is based on a single unpublished and non-peer reviewed paper that has been universally discredited as it was a non-blind study based on a sample size of just 19 people.
Thanks for the thoughts about magnesium; I am on moderate to high levels of steroids through oral & inhaled, plus all sorts of other stuff & suffer night cramps often. I'll give that a go.
Hi, I too suffer from foot cramps and muscle ache on fostair, it can reduce potassium levels in your blood which cause the cramps, (read the side effects on the leaflet) get a blood test done but believe it or not a banana or two a day does help.
Fostair has relieved asthma symptons so well I am reluctant to try another medication
Yes I am Fostair and suffer from cramps in hands and then in my legs especially at night. It is manageable and like you as fostair has worked for me I have just put up with it. It helps to breathe!
Not thought about asking for potassiom levels to be checked and might do so.
Try a banana or two a day, I know if I don’t have one for a few days I begin to cramp up in my calf’s and feet
Hi, I was on Fostair for over a year until the cramps became intolerable. Not just feet but legs too, and more alarmingly sometimes my fingers. On one occasion the fingers on one hand froze into an agonising cramp as I was driving and the pain was very unsettling.
I asked to change to Seretide and the asthma nurse at my practice said she had arranged this, but when the inhaler turned up, it was Sirdupla which I understood was not as good as Seretide. The nurse said they have the same ingredients but I'm sure I had read somewhere that there is a subtle difference between them.
Anyway, I tried the Sirdupla and not only was it better than Fostair at controlling my symptoms, but also the cramps have gone! Such a relief!
Now I have been given Combisal which is I believe the same as Sirdupla, but annoyingly the inhaler body doesn't include a counter so I have to write down how many doses are left after each use. A small thing I guess but it niggles because I don't feel as safe as when the automatic counter counts the doses.
Anyway, I'd definitely try a change from Fostair. At first I thought it was great but then realised the side effects of cramps, for me, were unbearable.
Good luck.
I’m on Fostair 100/6 and well controlled but also suffered foot cramps and sometimes in the calf. A friend suggested a magnesium supplement and that has improved them considerably.
I believe steroids in any form affect mineral balance in the body, kidney and adrenal function. I too get it, and take magnesium regularly!
I was getting quite bad foot cramp, I am on Fostair Nexthaler, and have pretty much sorted it by taking multivitamins.
Hope that helps
I managed a total of 4 months on Braltus before the side effects got too bad, and half way through, I got foot and leg cramps - a friend told me about magnesium spray, and I got some from Amazon. It did help, but once I stopped taking Braltus, the cramps subsided.
Thank you all for your replies. It appears that foot and leg cramp with certain preventer inhalers in much more common than I thought. I will certainly be raising this with my consultant next week!
Certain inhalers deplete Potassium which may increase incidence of cramp. Check the Patient Information Leaflet that comes with all your Inhalers / Meds to see if any mention this.
Don’t supplement with Potassium Tabs, as that can be dodgy unless your GP says it’s OK. However, you could increase your dietary potassium if necessary, bananas etc.
A very simple solution helps my cramp problems....vitamin D. I was reading the contents on a packet of cramp relieving tablets in Boots, and vit D main ingredient, so tried it, as recommended for asthmatics anyway. Seemed to help and cramps came back if I stopped taking it.
Then my GP put me on calcium and Vit D twice daily for steroid induced osteopenia, and like magic, cramps have gone. Soon return if I miss the tabs though.
I get foot, leg and hand cramps can't say if down to medication or not. My doctor thought it may be to do with my Vit D levels I do have low levels.
I also get horrendous cramps, in my feet, calves, fingers and absolutely worse in my neck. I'm convinced they started when I started using aloflute. I've been taking multi vit, magnesium, eating as healthily as possible, and potentially using seritide instead has made them slightly better.
The weird thing though is that even though they are mentioned in the side effects, my GPs aren't fussed and when I said I'd take vitamins they said no point just eat healthily. Then when I saw the asthma consultant she completely denied any link! So strange.
In the end I would definitely prefer to breathe (obvs!) And since they've got a bit better it's ok, but the neck ones are super scary and the lack of sympathy from the doctoring class is annoying!
So I'm very glad to hear from you all that I'm not alone.
Thank you - to all you weird and wonderful people in this community! 
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