COPD & Emphysema Support Group
COPD is a progressive disease characterized by airflow obstruction or limitation. Emphysema is characterized by loss of elasticity of the lung tissue, destruction of structures supporting the alveoli and of capillaries feeding the alveoli. Both have symptoms that include shortness of breath, among other respiratory troubles. If you are a COPD or Emphysema sufferer, join...
Hello. I was diagnosed in December with emphysema. I'm having a spirometry test in a couple days.. I stopped smoking and I'm excercising. Walk a mile every day if its not too cold. I live in Canada.
The first time I saw my doctor he gave me a sample of spiriva. It bothered me, Chest tightness especially. I didn't use it, but he gave me a ventolin inhaler which I used for a month by itself. Eight puffs a day. The pharmacist said I shouldn't be doing that. I went to the doctor and he gave me a sample of Advair. I took it about three times but the steroid aspect of the drug scared me a little. Anyway, I decided to try the spirva again and it didn't tighten my chest this time. I've been taking spirva for about ten days and my weight has increased around my mid section and my eyes are burning like crazy. If I read or use the computer it gets worse. I decided to stop spiriva and go back to advair starting tomorrow. I took both drugs this morning. Still need at least three puffs a day of ventolin.
All these drugs bother me. The ventolin made my teeth hurt. I guess I took too much. I think its the spirva that burns my eyes. I didn't feel that with the advair. I think I need a new plan here. If I take nothing I get very short of breath and tight chest.
I'm 60 years old, not over weight and I don't want to put on weight either. I eat right and I should not be gaining weight. I know I'm all over the place here. Does anyone else have these symptoms with any of the drugs I mentioned?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
The first time I saw my doctor he gave me a sample of spiriva. It bothered me, Chest tightness especially. I didn't use it, but he gave me a ventolin inhaler which I used for a month by itself. Eight puffs a day. The pharmacist said I shouldn't be doing that. I went to the doctor and he gave me a sample of Advair. I took it about three times but the steroid aspect of the drug scared me a little. Anyway, I decided to try the spirva again and it didn't tighten my chest this time. I've been taking spirva for about ten days and my weight has increased around my mid section and my eyes are burning like crazy. If I read or use the computer it gets worse. I decided to stop spiriva and go back to advair starting tomorrow. I took both drugs this morning. Still need at least three puffs a day of ventolin.
All these drugs bother me. The ventolin made my teeth hurt. I guess I took too much. I think its the spirva that burns my eyes. I didn't feel that with the advair. I think I need a new plan here. If I take nothing I get very short of breath and tight chest.
I'm 60 years old, not over weight and I don't want to put on weight either. I eat right and I should not be gaining weight. I know I'm all over the place here. Does anyone else have these symptoms with any of the drugs I mentioned?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Howdy and welcome. You may want to diiscuss all these drugs and your reactions with a pulmonologist after your testing (remember to get and keep a copy of your test results and take no drugs the day of your test, as it will bias the results).
As you have probably figured out, COPD is not a disease that lends itself to any easy or simple fixes.There are others here more qualified to discuss the various aspects of inhaled steroids and other oral COPD medications, but I can tell you that many of the drugs cause weight gain, so dietary and exercise offsets are needed to compensate.
Take care,
Dennis
It is a crazy disease and I guess all the years I spent playing music in smoky bars and smoking myself finally caught up to me. Anyway, onward and upward, we live till we die.
Glad I found this forum.
And bouncing back and forth between meds never gives your body a chance to adjust, and for you to see if that med is going to work.
Meds and people react diferently, but I have never had eyes burning with spariva, but with advair I did, and it was because I was developing caaracts!!
So see an eye doctor also. My eyes would burn and itch so bad I could hardly have them open long enough to read a letter.
Get with your doctor and tell him all this as well as the way you have been taking the inhalers, and let him work out a dosage therapy for you, then follow his instructions, do not take more or start or stop, unless he knows it or unless it is an emergency reaction like chest pain or difficulty breathing.
Some inhalers may take up to 15 minutes or one hour to open you. I suggest you go over each inhaler, the side effects, and dosages with your doctor. I hope you get it worked out and get to feeling better.
I now take Spariva and Symbicort, and it is great combination. Find what works for you....
Brenda
i can't add much more than the others, except spiriva & ventolin are what my dr gave me also.
the ventolin is a 'rescue" inhaler & he had me do that 2 puffs 4 times a day when i was in an exacerbation & i had one lung moving no air.
then i went to the pulmonologist & he put me on the spiriva 1 time a day.
since i started the spiriva i haven't needed the ventolin (altho there have been a couple of times when i have been coughing due to outside in the cold that i probably should have taken it, but i forgot i had it LOL.
the only problem i've had with spiriva is it makes me feel like i'm choking trying to cough up something that won't come up. i talked to my dr about that and he said that if i can put up with that, the spiriva is worth me taking daily so i have continued it.
last month my eyes were really dry and itchy feeling & i thought it might be the spiriva. it lasted about a month and now its gone so i don't know if spiriva was the culprit or not. (i started spiriva in november). it could have been allergies as we are having a big meltdown of snow finally.
Find a dr you like and trust and work with them. You might have to try a few meds before you find what works best for you. i like the spiriva because i'm allergic to steroids so it's about the only "long lasting/daily" inhaler i can do. (so i don't have to worry about weight gain like with steriods at least LOL)
I was really scared going in to see him today because for the past several months I've developed migraines, had lots of other headaches, blurry vision, pain through my eyeballs--I was honestly afraid that I was going blind.
Come to find out the oil glands on the rims of my eyes are clogged and are creating dry eye for me. All I have to do is to use warm compress on my eyes at least once a day and use artificial tears several times a day.
What a relief! How would I live without being able to READ??? I've
told my regular doctor that he has to keep me alive for at least ten years because I have at least this much reading I still want to do.
Hmmm...I didn't even know I HAD oil glands, let alone that they were clogged up. shrug.....whatever
vicki