RE RUNNY NOSE AND STEROIDS progress report

[rememdium]

As I said I was going to stop taking my corticosteroid inhaler to see if it made a difference to side effects after 2 weeks although not disappear completely the pnd has decreased by 75% and all other 4 about the same

[O2Trees]

Good re the side effects, especially the pnd, but do you have more s.o.b though from stopping it remedium?

I don't know why you were given it in the first place. I'd be terrified to stop mine (Symbicort).

[rememdium in reply to O2Trees]

no difference sob will start taking again if i notice a change

[soulsaver]

For others reading this be careful: If you know you're getting benefit from your steroid inhalers, then stopping them is a real risk. rem & I both believed we weren't getting any benefit from them.

I found the pnd hangs on in a milder way for a quite a while after stopping the steroid elemnt of the inhaler - I still take fomoterol which is only a long acting broncodilator.

The thing that made it virtually disappear was stopping statins. I went from drowning in the stuff with throat feeling thick - to less -to much less - to next to nothing after statin suspension, but then my sinuses would 'dump' a mouthful intermittently - then even that being unusual.

It's still there, especially if I get a cold. Even then, nowhere near as bad as it was.. then I use a netti pot saline rinse &/or take a otc hot lemon with the stuff that dries a runny nose in it - Beechams or Aldi's one works well - and I find that one before bed gets a comfortable nights sleep.

Note read the label - avoid the rebound effect, don't use continuously for more than 7 days.

Good luck with staying off the steroid inhaler, I went on a low dose & one puff instead of 2... but haven't taken it at all for months now - doesn't appear to have made any difference to me.

Just be aware that the effect lags the action so you may notice no difference for weeks and if you have to go back on them you may have symptoms for a couple of weeks for the steroid effect to build back up.

[rememdium in reply to soulsaver]

I did not mean for anyone to follow my example as like my doctor says each and every one of us knows our condition better than anyone else .I remembered afterwards why i was given why nurse gave it to me because she said it was long acting and lasted 12 hours to help with breathlessness also she wanted to try steroids to see if it made breathing any better I saw different nurses one told me they did not know much about copd then I changed doctors and we got a new nurse that had worked on the respiratory ward and she put me on spriva and a whole new life opened up for me but she left soon after, this was two years ago I am well acquainted with the disease after spending many hours research and am pretty much aware about any decisions I make regarding it .I would not like anyone to follow my example without first taking medical advice how to manage their disease as I would feel terrible if they were made worse from it I just say how I manage my condition thankyou for reply I am glad you found a way around your pnd I still get a little bit but more controllable thank you for reply

[Hidden in reply to rememdium]

I have Just started using a nasal spray as the PND was driving me mad. I spent the morning blowing my nose and felt drained. I have used it for four days now and have got some relief and have to get back to Dr after two weeks. Just hope it does help. I like reading all your comments. thank you all.

[soulsaver]

If it's a steroid spray - beconase, flixonase nasonex etc I found it helped at first then made mine worse... and aggravated the nasal passage making them dry scaley & sore.

I'd highly recommend trying a saline nasal wash (netti pot) search on amazon etc. Maybe not a cure but brilliant relief and not adding anymore drugs to your use.

[rememdium]

I remember my mother having me snuffle salt water through my nose and spitting out when I was a child as she noticed while on holiday at the coast runny nose cleared up so she put it down to salt sea air I live on coast now not due to nose though funny how different things affect people different people in working and not working