Seretide Vs Aloflute

[Warme]

Hello!

I’ve been taking seretide and ventolin inhalers as normal for the past 20 years, but the last time I went to pick up my preventer prescription it was Aloflute/generic.

I’ve been taking this daily (as normal) for the last month or so and an finding the puff to be really ineffective, not as strong as the branded and I’m now having to take my ventolin more often as a result. Has anyone else experienced this with generic vs branded inhalers?

I asked my doctor to change it to branded on my prescription but she refused. She’s now taking me off fluticasone/salmeretol combination completely and putting me on something else due to there being a high risk of lung infections with that combination inhaler! Why is this risk only being brought up now?! Very frustrating.

I’m worried if I’m no longer on a combination inhaler my asthmas going to go back to being awful again and I’ll have to take up more time from our NHS, but I guess I’ll find out soon how I get on with this new inhaler. She said it’s ‘a pinky coloured one’. Possibly just the fluticasone on its own.

Would love to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience with generic vs branded inhalers.

Thanks! Emma

[twinkly29]

It might be Fostair which is pink (a combi inhaler still) which many people find very good, although of course it's a personal thing. It will take several weeks to become fully effective so you might need your ventolin as that happens but hopefully it will work for you.

But gahhhhh it's so annoying when they suddenly change things and even more so when there's a probably stupid reason for it - I know of a few people on seretide and they've not been told that!

[Hidden]

Morning,

This is common practice due to the unfortunately higher cost of Seretide.

Cheaper generics as we know cannot be exactly the same although the prime constituents remain, the issue is often the reduced transmission of the active component for those who cannot tolerate the change.

The only way around this is to trial it for a few weeks, unless it becomes debilitating and you need to revert back and return to your GP straightaway.

The old route of keeping peak flow readings and a diary of generally how your lungs feel and present it to your GP and explain the replacement is not as effective and causing you breathing issues.

I have been through this once and was put back on the branded product once I could prove the replacement was not working for me.

Best wishes and good luck

[Poobah]

This is so annoying. Clearly a cost cutting decision rather than a clinical one, especially as you have explained that the generic brand is not as effective at controlling your asthma. The chest infection explanation doesn't hold either as the NHS has an asthma treatment Stepwise protocol for doctors to follow that clearly includes combination inhalers.

If your practice has an asthma nurse can you secure an appointment with them to discuss your meds, even if it's a telephone consultation? You can at least discuss your increased reliance on Ventolin since the doctor started meddling with your treatment. If they don't support you then I would consider changing doctors. You can have a chat with your pharmacist about finding a doctor who prescribes branded inhalers.

My pharmacist urged me to change GP practices when I started having trouble getting prescriptions sent through to my chosen chemist (my old practice closed and all patients were given a new practice). It would often leave me without meds and I would have to personally go into the practice to sort things out, only for the same thing to happen again the following month. It wasn't until I was in a different chemist's that I overheard the pharmacist explain to an angry customer that their prescription hadn't come through and they had alot of problems with that particular GP practice (it was mine). They also suggested another practice that had a better track record. I thought it was just me having problems as a new patient.

NICE have been recommending generic meds in order to save money but many Trusts have published statements about branded inhalers for asthma treatment, probably as they have seen enough patients who haven't done well on generic meds.

If you're having to take additional doses on the generic brand plus additional doses of Ventolin then the you'll need more inhaler prescriptions per annum, therefore there's no cost saving.