Question
Ok so I'm only 15, almost 16 so I'm not that old but I've had asthma all my life and have gone to the hospital a couple times for it although not in the past 8-9 years. But still, my asthma's pretty bad all the same. Anyways, I've used Flovent although not in a while and so I don't remember if that worked very well but since I had it for a while and then switched to something else, I'm pretty sure it was ok but not the best. Then I'm on Singulair now, although I don't take it everyday, however I've been on it for a couple of months and when I did take it everyday for about at least a month, it didn't help all that much. My doctor a few years ago gave me Advair to try when it just came out but I said no just because it tasted funny. I'm considering that and Symbicort now though. Both said that they are only recommended if nothing else works and they may cause asthma related deaths. So is there any other medicine I could try before those or would it be safe to just go ahead and see if one of those work? What works for everyone else? By the way, my asthma is effected by weather, allergens(In my case cats, and some furry dogs), exercise, strong odors, and also sometimes at night its kinda bad. I don't know if that matters or not though..
Ok so I'm only 15, almost 16 so I'm not that old but I've had asthma all my life and have gone to the hospital a couple times for it although not in the past 8-9 years. But still, my asthma's pretty bad all the same. Anyways, I've used Flovent although not in a while and so I don't remember if that worked very well but since I had it for a while and then switched to something else, I'm pretty sure it was ok but not the best. Then I'm on Singulair now, although I don't take it everyday, however I've been on it for a couple of months and when I did take it everyday for about at least a month, it didn't help all that much. My doctor a few years ago gave me Advair to try when it just came out but I said no just because it tasted funny. I'm considering that and Symbicort now though. Both said that they are only recommended if nothing else works and they may cause asthma related deaths. So is there any other medicine I could try before those or would it be safe to just go ahead and see if one of those work? What works for everyone else? By the way, my asthma is effected by weather, allergens(In my case cats, and some furry dogs), exercise, strong odors, and also sometimes at night its kinda bad. I don't know if that matters or not though..
Answer
First off... minor correction. Symbicort has been around for a few years now. I have been giving it to my patients for the past several years. It is composed of 2 drugs.... pulmicort and foradil. Which one is better...... symbicort or advair? Depends on the individual. I would say.... try one for a few weeks.... it does take a while to take its full effect. If after several weeks, you do not feel that your asthma is being controlled properly, then try the other preventative medicine. As far as deaths go... I have taken care of 100's of patients who took one of those preventative meds and not a single one of them died from it. The only deaths that I was told about or read about, where deaths in which an individual misused the medication. Preventative inhalers are meant to do just that.... PREVENT. Some people do not understand that and when they are having an asthma attack, they take a preventative inhaler instead of a rescue. It takes too long for the preventative to give relief to an asthmatic during an attack and therefore can lead to death.... so I don't know if you want to blame so much of the inhaler for the problem or the person who misused it. I am sure that there are other cases in which it has actually caused deaths..... maybe someone had an allergic reaction to one of the preventatives.... but if I were to guess that would be quite rare. You should be OK. Just give it a chance and time.
First off... minor correction. Symbicort has been around for a few years now. I have been giving it to my patients for the past several years. It is composed of 2 drugs.... pulmicort and foradil. Which one is better...... symbicort or advair? Depends on the individual. I would say.... try one for a few weeks.... it does take a while to take its full effect. If after several weeks, you do not feel that your asthma is being controlled properly, then try the other preventative medicine. As far as deaths go... I have taken care of 100's of patients who took one of those preventative meds and not a single one of them died from it. The only deaths that I was told about or read about, where deaths in which an individual misused the medication. Preventative inhalers are meant to do just that.... PREVENT. Some people do not understand that and when they are having an asthma attack, they take a preventative inhaler instead of a rescue. It takes too long for the preventative to give relief to an asthmatic during an attack and therefore can lead to death.... so I don't know if you want to blame so much of the inhaler for the problem or the person who misused it. I am sure that there are other cases in which it has actually caused deaths..... maybe someone had an allergic reaction to one of the preventatives.... but if I were to guess that would be quite rare. You should be OK. Just give it a chance and time.
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