Advair beats Spiriva in treatment of COPD

[Annie]

My 48 year old husband has COPD. Constant on off Steriod use gave him AVN. This led to partial shoulder replacement, which led to a spiral fracture and he took Forteo for 2 years every other day (due to cramping problems) His breathing seem to stableise on Forteo as now he has finished his 2 years...his breathing is deteriorating. he uses spiriva & advair & a neb...and he has very bad nite leg cramps. Anyone else notice Forteo had a positive effect on lung function ?

[COPD]

Read the Prescriber's Information for Advair and for Spiriva. Spiriva is safer and far more effective for the treatment of COPD (chronic bronchitis and emphisema. Spiriva is just once daily and Advair is twice daily.

[Dave D]

COPD wrote:

Read the Prescriber's Information for Advair and for Spiriva. Spiriva is safer and far more effective for the treatment of COPD (chronic bronchitis and emphisema. Spiriva is just once daily and Advair is twice daily.

Glad it works for you, I'm still going strong on Advair. I had tried Spiriva once but had bad reaction to it.

[Charlene F]

I had been diagnosed with COPD a few years ago. I've been on Advair for several years. I quit smoking 2 years ago and have NO chronic bronchitis and no asthma, but do have some shortness of breath at times.
My doctor went on to a better position and the new doctor put me on Spiriva as
well. I don't really see that it helps
me any more than when I was taking the Advair 250/50 alone and I have also had
eye pain.
I'll be going on a medicare supplemental health insurance. The Spiriva is very expensive and although I only take the two prescriptions, I will be thrown into the "gap" only 5 months into the year.
I want to get off the Spiriva entirely.

[Jack50]

Charlene F wrote:

I had been diagnosed with COPD a few years ago. I've been on Advair for several years. I quit smoking 2 years ago and have NO chronic bronchitis and no asthma, but do have some shortness of breath at times.My doctor went on to a better position and the new doctor put me on Spiriva as well. I don't really see that it helps me any more than when I was taking the Advair 250/50 alone and I have also had eye pain. I'll be going on a medicare supplemental health insurance. The Spiriva is very expensive and although I only take the two prescriptions, I will be thrown into the "gap" only 5 months into the year.
I want to get off the Spiriva entirely.

I got Spiriva to work by getting off Advair to a single dry steroid inhaler called Asmanex. There is roughly a $60 drop in price using Asmanex over Advair, and I get to feel better too boot.

[Laney]

I cannot live without my advair. However my dr has also prescribed Spiriva recently. Spiriva and Advair together works great to help my COPD but if I had to give up one it would be the Spiriva. I cannot function without Advair but I can do without the Spiriva.

[Melba]

Yes, but bone/muscle pain, dry mouth are NOTHING compared to all the side effects I had when using Advair. Had every side effect possible; repeated bronchitis, thinning skin/hair, weight gain, nose bleeds, personality/mood changes, rapid heartbeat, ruptured appendix AND BONE/MUSCLE PAIN, etc. So, I'll take Spiriva over Advair anytime !!!

Fran K wrote:

Has anyone had a problem with their bones and muscles hurting while taking spiriva?

[Melba]

I weaned myself off Advair because of estreme side effects & started using Spiriva AND THEN gradually started weaning myself off of Spiriva. I'm down to one per 5 days & only occasionally get a feeling of breathlessness. Going to try to stop it completely soon.

Jack50 wrote:

<quoted text>
I got Spiriva to work by getting off Advair to a single dry steroid inhaler called Asmanex. There is roughly a $60 drop in price using Asmanex over Advair, and I get to feel better too boot.

[Melba]

Yes, I agree AND I believe we are all OVERMEDICATED for COPD. I was so ignorant about the medication options & their side effects. My family dr gave me Advair because he THOUGHT I had asthma & kept on prescribing it. I DID NOT HAVE ASTHMA but taking the Advair, CAUSED some breathing problems which I'm having to gradually reverse. Whatever you are prescribed, RESEARCH IT & get 2nd opinions.

COPD wrote:

Read the Prescriber's Information for Advair and for Spiriva. Spiriva is safer and far more effective for the treatment of COPD (chronic bronchitis and emphisema. Spiriva is just once daily and Advair is twice daily.

[jim]

I find Advair, to cause voice prolbems, and joint problems. I would surly like to get off this since I've been on it for 6 years, and my voice is always going out on me, and i'm a Sales rep, and need to speak clearly. I recently started to take Spiriva, with advair 250. Is it all right to wean off the advair. I hate it. Please let me know

[Jack50]

jim wrote:

I find Advair, to cause voice prolbems, and joint problems. I would surly like to get off this since I've been on it for 6 years, and my voice is always going out on me, and i'm a Sales rep, and need to speak clearly. I recently started to take Spiriva, with advair 250. Is it all right to wean off the advair. I hate it. Please let me know

It is unwise to change things without discussing it with your MD. When I tried dropping Advair my MD refused to go along with the plan till I found a suitable replacement respiratory steroid. I did my own research while my MD had me on Flovent HFA,(another useless HFA product) till I came across Asmanex.

The local medical community was clueless to existence of Asmanex till they did their own research. They goofed at first with 2 of the 30 dose vs 1 of the 60 dose, of which for some odd reason, is the same price PER inhaler. Children are intended the 30 dose at one inhalation per day as Adult take 2 inhalations per day.

The bottom line is GSK makes horrible respiratory meds beyond the old CFC counterparts. I feel the Diskus is another horrible flop as the medication gets sucked out of a blister cap less than 1/4 of an inch from a patients mouth.

My experience with Xopenex is they did their homework in developing their inhaler to sufficient "blast" to work while Asmanex did their homework in delivering the dry powder that travels some distance to break up.

(BTW-Many doctors demand respiratory steroids to be used so that the rescue inhaler isn't overused/abused.)

[Mark S]

Jack50 wrote:

Shame on GSK! These 2 COPD meds are not even on the same page to compare with.
I take Spiriva along with Asmanex (a steroid) of which controls my COPD much better.
I was on Advair for a full year and felt it wasn't doing a good enough job.

Understand how each one works in the body and which systems they affect. They are on the same page for combating COPD. Take both Advair and Spiriva together rather than Asmanex and there will be a huge difference.

[jim]

Right as of now I'm only taking Spiriva, and the Thrush has gone away. I would rinse, and rinse, with Advair, and I would lose my voice. As of right now I seem okay on Spiriva

[Jack50]

Mark S wrote:

Understand how each one works in the body and which systems they affect. They are on the same page for combating COPD. Take both Advair and Spiriva together rather than Asmanex and there will be a huge difference.

No- Advair is a mixture of a corticosteroid and a long acting beta-adrenoceptor agonist (the latter was the suspected cause of my Cardiomegaly, aka Hypertrophy or enlargement of the heart as per second opinion of a cardiologist)

While Spiriva, tiotropium bromide, takes a completely different approach to that like its sister drug ipratropium bromide. These two here help in maintaining smooth muscle relaxation of the airways by targeting specific muscarinic receptors in the lung.

Basically if one uses a rescue inhaler- along with a time release formulation of the similar drug, one is bound do develop heart issues. Like speed on top of time released speed.

[honora]

June wrote:

I am 72 and take seretide and spiriva for severe COPD and had agonising cramps for years, after a spell in hospital I was given an exercise regime which I gradually increased to 40 minutes and my cramps have virtually stopped.

Made me curious about your exercise routine. I am on oxygen at night, on Spriva, Advair, xopenex, singulair and still doing battle with shortness of breath. Tell me about your exercises. Thanks.

[jim]

I have been taking Spiriva now for 5 months, and have had no prolbems. when I took Advair, I got Trush, after 8 or 9 years, and I rinse over & over all the time. I completely lost my voice. I think Advair is Good if they can get rid of the Thrush problem

[marcie]

Annie wrote:

My 48 year old husband has COPD. Constant on off Steriod use gave him AVN. This led to partial shoulder replacement, which led to a spiral fracture and he took Forteo for 2 years every other day (due to cramping problems) His breathing seem to stableise on Forteo as now he has finished his 2 years...his breathing is deteriorating. he uses spiriva & advair & a neb...and he has very bad nite leg cramps. Anyone else notice Forteo had a positive effect on lung function ?

the leg cramping comes from the advair. The salmeterol (in advair) drains your system of its potassium level. I quit taking after 1 month. The leg cramps are painful and far more dangerous than fighting for a breathe. thats just my opinion though. now that I am off the advair no more leg cramps!!!!

[marcie]

the leg cramping comes from the advair. The salmeterol (in advair) drains your system of its potassium level. I quit taking after 1 month. The leg cramps are painful and far more dangerous than fighting for a breathe. thats just my opinion though. now that I am off the advair no more leg cramps!!!!

[maggie]

Charlene F wrote:

I had been diagnosed with COPD a few years ago. I've been on Advair for several years. I quit smoking 2 years ago and have NO chronic bronchitis and no asthma, but do have some shortness of breath at times.
My doctor went on to a better position and the new doctor put me on Spiriva as
well. I don't really see that it helps
me any more than when I was taking the Advair 250/50 alone and I have also had
eye pain.
I'll be going on a medicare supplemental health insurance. The Spiriva is very expensive and although I only take the two prescriptions, I will be thrown into the "gap" only 5 months into the year.
I want to get off the Spiriva entirely.

I have COPD, Asthma and lung cancer. I have been taking Advair for four years. My doctor put me on Spiriva several months ago and to tell you the truth, I can't tell either one works as well as ProAir. That's the plain truth. I know I feel soo much better since I quit smoking. I could breath deep down and it felt good........

[Jack50]

maggie wrote:

My doctor put me on Spiriva several months ago and to tell you the truth, I can't tell either one works as well as ProAir.

Lucky you... Pro Air literally sucks for me, but Xopenex does that job.

And, BTW- Pro Air is a rescue medication. Everyone having COPD should really be on or have available some form of a rescue medication before any maintainance medications.