About Asthma ADVAIR DISKUS Medince?
Question:
Rarely,serious(sometimes fatal) asthma-related breathing problems have occurred with the use of long-acting inhaled beta agonists(e.g.,salmeterol)
(2.) Does that mean that u can have a really bad asthma attack using this medince where u will be making noise when your breathing & everyone willl know that your having a really bad asthma attack?
(3.) If that was going to happen after taking the medince when would it?
(4.) If someone was going to have worseing of breathing after taking a medince when would they?
(5.) How do u know if your having wroseing of breathing from a medice or an asthma attack?
Since having wrosening of breathing is an asthma attack?
Please Answer ALL 5 Questions.
Everyone!
Answers:
1) Salmeterol (Serevent) is not a rescue medication. Because it takes about a half hour to take effect, if you use Salmeterol for an asthma attack, it won't work like an Albuterol inhaler would. When you're having an asthma attack, never take Advair to treat it. Use your rescue inhaler. Inhaled steroid, like the Flovent in Advair, is also not a rescue medication.
2) What this means is that Salmeterol is not for use as a rescue medication. If someone was to use it like that, it might not work fast enough to do anything about an asthma attack. Therefore, taking Salmeterol for an asthma attack is almost as bad as doing nothing about it. Using your rescue inhaler is recommended.
3) If you took Advair to treat an asthma attack, you might not get relief from it.
4) Bronchodilators (like Serevent and Albuterol) do have a potential side effect of bronchoconstriction/bronchospa... In my experience, I haven't seen it happen yet. Sometimes a stronger bronchodilator might be needed, if Albuterol isn't strong enough for rescue. Xopenex is often used in that situation. If you knew that your symptoms would worsen when using a medication, logically I would not use it. Getting a doctor's appointment and asking about switching to something else is a good idea if that happens.
5) If you take your medication and nothing happens, that's a good sign that your asthma is getting worse or your medication is losing effect (it happens rarely). Generally, I think that worsening of breathing and asthma attacks are similar enough to warrant the same treatment.
I was on Advair 500/50 for a few months. I found that it was safe and effective. One thing I noticed was that I had little spots of blood on tissues when I blew my nose. It was a bit weird, but actually is a side effect.
When taking an inhaled steroid, it's extremely important to gargle/rinse your mouth after you take it, then spit the water out. I've seen some patients I treated swallow the water after rinsing and I did it too, for a short time. My stomach was upset by this. I don't recommend swallowing the rinse water.
Not doing this can lead to thrust (fungus on your tongue) developing. It's something that you can also combat by brushing your tongue and using mouth watch.
It sounds like you've been reading the product manuscript or the information form that came from your pharmacy. Good job! Informed patients are a good thing. What you need to understand about the information you were provided with is that severe side effects are rare or happen when the medication is not used properly. I would keep in mind what the side effects are, so that you will know if it's related to what you're experiencing.
An alternative to Advair is Symbicort. It comes in a variety of strengths, just as Advair does. The advantage to Symbicort is that it has been approved (in Canada and Europe, I don't know about the US) for use as a rescue inhaler too. In effect, all you would be using is Symbicort. There have been studies showing that the Pulmicort (inhaled steroid) in Symbicort helps to reduce the severity of an asthma attack over time. This happens because, the patient takes their Symbicort for an asthma attack, then is fine. The dose of inhaled steroid they just took helps prevent further asthma attacks. I like the idea of it. I feel that Symbicort as a long-acting controller and as a rescue inhaler will revolutionize asthma treatment like Advair did when it came out. There is a possibility that asthmatics might only need one inhaler for all purposes. That's a lot simpler than knowing how to use an Advair diskus and an Albuterol inhaler. Less patient education is then required for them to be able to use their devices properly. Advair is great though, too. I'm not discounting it at all. It just isn't meant to be used during an asthma attack under any circumstances.
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