As a kid I was on all the things. I was on inhalators 2-4 times a day and even went to asthma camp (yep, you heard right). When I got older, my asthma naturally lessened so I was a Flovent guy until my insurance stopped covering it. Moved to advair (it is the same medicine as Flovent with something else added) at 220 twice a day. Mostly symptom free.
Cant believe asthma camp is a thing. Glad it worked out for ya
So far so good. I’m hoping as I age it doesn’t come back quite as bad.
I avoid the types of exercise that trigger mine.
No running, the bounce seems to be the trigger. Rowing machines, swimming, hiking, and weightlifting are fine even though I don’t do them often enough.
When doing work I stay aware of the signs that it is likely to happen and change up before it kicks in. This took a long time to learn due to ADHD, but I have been able to stop at slow breathing for over a decade now.
Cold weather sometimes kicks it off, but loose fitting scarves work wonders. Too tight and restricted breathing will be worse than the cold air, but loose and high enough to break a cold wind works for me.
Took about 30 years with a rescue inhaler handy before I was comfortable with being able to notice the signs and just forgetting to get the prescription refilled.
I take wixela 500/50 once a day and that’s pretty much all I need. I was taking Singulair before, but it was drastically affecting my mood (interestingly, it just got a black box warning) and didn’t really seem to do much.
I think it really depends on what your triggers are. Mine are mainly exercise and cold weather.
I actually just started Advair (fluticasone propionate and salmeterol) a couple weeks ago, after decades of not wanting to deal with a maintenance inhaler. I was starting to need my rescue inhaler way too often so I went for it, and I’m surprised how awesome it’s been. It’s one puff of a weird-tasting powder twice a day, but I haven’t used my rescue inhaler a single time since I started it.
Symbicort’s sick too. The fact you did well on only a corticosteroid (flutciasone) makes me wonder (if you have the option or Advair became not a choice availabillity-wise) if a single-corticosteroid med would do it in future. Keep us posted
Singulair daily and advair or symbicort when i start feeling it Rescue inhaler is rarely used anymore.
Two puffs of Flovent 44mcg per day keeps the asthma away. Only really use my rescue inhaler when I have a respiratory infection.
Mild asthma here. Prescribed Advair 250 diskus 2x daily for maintenance (diskus better than inhaler, IMO), with salbutamol as my emergency inhaler. I actually only use the Advair 2x daily when I start feeling a hint of a wheeze at the edges of my breath, which is a few doses every 2-4 weeks. This keeps it well under control for me, very rarely need my emerg inhaler.
Learned the importance of maintenance medication when I wound up in the hospital with a death rattle in my chest from a regular flu at a time I was unemployed with no insurance. Would have prevented me getting so sick. After I started again, rattle went away quickly and haven’t experienced that again.
Exercise: I build strength and cardio training slowly, not pushing too far too fast, then it doesn’t trigger my asthma. The cardio helps me a lot, long term.
Only trigger I cannot avoid or predict: ADHD distracting me when eating/drinking (boring repetitive task, lol), something going down the wrong pipe, and my throat closes up every time without fail. Am happy this is rare, it sucks.
Did you try other meds like Symbicort?
Sorry, I haven’t… Started on Advair when diagnosed in high school and it’s worked well for me for over 20 years. Only need my emerg inhaler maybe once every 1-2 years. Don’t wanna mess with what’s working, lol
Thats sorta crazy you take that chronically twice a day tho for mild asthma. Like, i would consider mine mild and I only take mine like on the less than 2x a week. For the combined longer broncho and corticosteroid and it gets lesser by the year
I’ve been on symbicort for the last decade, basically made me not have asthma at all, only had attacks when my allergies picked up strong. And my new doctor gave me montelukast and inhalan plus for those and I’ve been kinda living like a normal person ever since.
Well as long as I don’t run out of the stuff
Initially I was prescribed two doses of symbicort a day but during the pandemic I couldn’t afford it so I started stretching it out by using it only once a day and realized that was enough for me so I’ve been using it only once a day since then
This new doctor also tried to get me off symbicort but the tests showed I couldn’t breathe properly without it so we decided to try again on the summer with better weather to see if maybe I can go into a different schedule that is even more reduced in uses
Well this is kind of a no brainer, but my asthma has been significantly less prevalent since I stopped smoking/vaping weed. I have exercise induced asthma, and when I smoked or vaped every day, any amount of physical activity could potentially set it off. Now, it only ever bothers me if I perform intense cardio physical activity particularly in the cold, so I just avoid that as much as I can
