My pulmo wanted me to try Symbicort and Spiriva at the same time.

For weeks now, I noticed that I have mild wheezing everyday that is why I was backed to Symbicort.

I read ( Physician Assistant actually said so) that Spiriva will cause dry mouth. I hope it will not make make my dry mouth worse.

Thanks.

At least he's willing to try something. Please let us know if you have any improvement. I would think you'd notice if it will work rather quickly (as in days).

Yes, I will.
Thank you.

I'm sorry you are having such a hard time. Yes, Spiriva can cause a little dry mouth, that didn't bother me too much but it can also cause dry eyes which did.

I wanted to let you know that some doctors are willing to titrate it a little if you do get side effects, people take it every other day or 3 times per week, etc. It has a long half life and still is effective for some people that way. You can ask your doctor about that if you do have problems.

It can take a couple of weeks to start working well, I don't know why.

I've had some problems with the med but they only started after I had been on it a long time and I think they would have been mild and easily remedied if my pulmo had listened so don't worry about the side effects too much, ok?

judi

And the result?...Was wondering if it helped? Also whether the dry mouth was more problematic?

I just got the Spiriva yesterday from the mail. I will start today. I will update you.

I noticed though that my breathing is little better with the aircon on or when there is a breeze. But, when its hot and humid, my breathing is bad.

I know I am asthmatic from childhood until my college years. I remember my last attack was during my graduation. All I know was I had this wheezing sound everytime I had an attack. However, I was not aware if the wheezing was when I inhale or when I exhale. Recently, I have more of that wheezing sound again. I am now aware that the wheezing is when I inhale. However, when I read about the asthma symptoms, it all says that the wheezing is when the patient exhale. Is this true to all asthmatics?

Thank you.

i also sometimes have wheezing on inhalation.

Certainly there can be an asthma component to all this, but IMO it is not the main cause of your current SOB. I just can't see it causing you continuous problems like this has now and not be improved with inhalers/treatment. And it certainly wouldn't improve when you lay down if asthma. I really think the fact you have improvement when laying down is key in determining what this is (or is not).

Of course you could do a methacholine challenge test if you want to confirm or rule out the asthma.

I have also an albuterol as rescue inhaler.

I started my spiriva yesterday. Do you take your Advair and Spiriva immediately one after the other or do you space them? I read that the proper way of taking these kind of medicines is to take the combo e.g. Advair or Symbicort then followed by Spiriva. I dont remember reading what is the proper spacing.

Thank you.

My SOB used to disappear when I lie down, unfortunately, it does not apply now. I still have shortness of breath when I lie down. I have not considered the metacholine challenge at this point because of my difficulty breathing.

I am sorry if I mentioned it before, my pulmo said that the diaphragm is okay. He said that if I have some diaphragm dysfunction, it would have shown on hte cat scan - it would have shown as elevated.

I got another rheumatologist - will be seeing her by September.

Thank you.