Rhinitis and uncontrolled asthma

[Magpieflies]

I have had uncontrolled asthma recently, I'm on symbicort 200/6, montelukast 10mg and also have bad rhinitis to the point I can barely breathe through one nostril. Doctor prescribed me flonase which me feel really ill, which is a shame as it cleared my nose. Does anyone else have suggestions of nasal steroids that help and have less side effects? I've tried red light therapy, steaming, using netti and humidifier/ purifier but all seem to be short lived. I think my nose is inflamed due to symbicort but I also had rhinitis symptoms before asthma was diagnosed so its hard to be sure.

[Wheezie1]

Dear Magpieflies:

You sound like me a few years back. I kept progressing through the various recommended steps of meds and, although Advair Discus 500/50 gave me huge improvement in my asthma for 15 years, and I was also using an albuterol inhaler, then added Montelukast, then progressed to Breo Ellipta and Spiriva Respimat with albuterol, I continued to need bursts of Prednisone several times a year. This caused my blood glucose to become elevated. The Montelucast didn't seem to be helping what was confirmed to be Severe Persistent Allergic Asthma, so I left off the Montelucast and switched to Trelegy Ellipta 200/62.5/25 (fluticasone furoate 200/ umeclidinium 62.5/ vilanterol 25) and started taking Xolair 300 mg. (2 150 mg injections) each month. Since I made that change, I have only had to take Prednisone about once a year and am sleeping better, with regards to nighttime asthma attacks. I still have daily mild asthma attacks, mostly in the mornings, but am much improved, and have had no ER visits in several years. I am now able to do mild to moderate exercise outdoors. The drawback is that these meds are very expensive. I hope this helps you.

[Magpieflies in reply to Wheezie1]

I'm onto nasobec nasal steroid, brown inhaler and anti histamines daily. I got so sick with the symbicort and montelukast which is weird as I'd been on them for 2 years and doc said they didn't think it was side effects. I think the symbicort made it harder for me to breath recently and I think I have food allergies and mast cell activation syndrome as it can cause breathlessness and asthma symptoms and rhinitis, some doctors don't know about it. My doc is hopefully going to refer me after I talk to her next week.

[Springtimeholly]

Have you tried budesonide nasal spray? It’s another steroid. I had to switch to it from Flonase when I was pregnant, which tells me maybe it’s less harsh.

[Dot21]

Hi I'm pretty much in the same situation as you but I use avamist for my nose allergies (chronic rhinitis) I also have a polyp in each nostril. My nose is so bad that is runs when bend down! I'm blighted with a chest infection and breathing prob at moment. On my second course of steroids and 2nd lot of antibiotics. I also have sleep apnoea and I'm pretty convinced that the cpap machine I use for that, blows germs and allergies further up into my respiratory system then causes infection. Do you have any of the same ailments that may be making your issue more troublesome?....stay safe

[Magpieflies in reply to Dot21]

I'm sorry to hear you're going through all of that. I have a lot of allergies that have recently been getting worse, I have to watch I don't eat a lot of high histamine containing foods as it makes my rhinitis and asthma worse.

[ck101]

In my case it was the Symbicort. I had polyps and really bad rhinitis so stopped it for 5 years and all cleared up. Took it again for a few days a month ago and the congestion returned with a vengeance after a day or so. I’m on both Becotide and 1 puff of Fostair 100/6 twice a day which seems ok.

[Magpieflies in reply to ck101]

I would agree symbicort seemed to make my rhinitis worse and dried out my nose, it also caused pains in my legs and I coughed a lot more on it with more phlegm. I think my asthma and rhinitis stem from mast cell activation syndrome and it explains a lot of the other symptoms I've been having over the years too.

[avernamethyst112]

This might sound silly but have you tried humming? I did it for a few days and it did wonders for my rhinitis. They did a case study that showed it actually does help:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/164...