Foradil for Asthma Sufferers

[Quillan]

I have a problem with this drug in that the capsules fall apart once pierced. This month I have kept all the failures which amount to about 20% and of course the result is you don't get a full and proper dose.

I obviously can't mention the name of the manufacturer but those of you that take this drug might like to look at their box and see if the manufacturers name stars with a N and ends in a S, if so it’s the same brand as mine.

I would be very interested (and grateful) to hear if anyone else has the same problem. I would also like to know the name of an alternative (generic) manufacturer so I can try it out.

 

[5-element]

According to my British National Formulary, Foradil is Formoterol Fumarate, which is available in capsules - the one you mention, and also as dry powder inhaler = 6 micrograms/inhalation (i.e. same thing?) it's called Ostris and made by A...a. I hope this is the information you were looking for?

I don't have asthma and so I don't use it, so cannot compare notes.

 

[Gastines]

Not heard or had this treatment   BUT  having had asthma pretty bad for 60 years and surviving on hundreds of Ventolin[ I might add only 5days off work since I left school and doing all the wrong jobs,carpet laying old and new,upholstery and then in the interior re-furbs ] after a chest infection about 4 years ago the doctor said he'd try me on Seritide inhaler. The difference is amazing,one puff in the morning and in 4 years I've used Ventolin 3times and I work all day, most days in house or garden. The reason the Doc gave for not prescribing it earlier was COST. £39. each. I did point out that one inhaler lasts 2 months,no ventolin etc.  Perhaps it may be worth a mention to your Doctor? I do realise that there are many types of asthma and what medication suits one may not suit another.

Bonne Chance and Good Health for 2007.

Regards. 5 mins St.Malo.

[peebee]

I also haven't heard of Foradil but have suffered asthma for 50 odd years and been prescribed hundreds of Ventolins and Becotides over the years. I was sent to see an Allergiste by my French doctor.  He did numerous tests and prescribed a Singulair tablet at night and a Seretide inhaler.  The difference is absolutely amazing and I haven't had to use the Ventolin or Becotide since starting the treatment, although he said that I must keep a Ventolin 'just in case'. He said that this treatment is primarily used for allergic asthma although no  doctor in the U.K ever concluded that I had 'allergic' asthma, just keep prescribing the inhalers even though I had an asthma review every year. This usually consisted of a nurse checking that I was using the Ventolin correctly!  Many times I asked if there had been any advances in the treatment of asthma and was always told 'Keep taking the Ventolin and Bectide because it seems to work for you'.

Good luck with your treatment

Pat

[Bob T]

I have asthma and have used ventolin for 35 years. I would never leave the house without one. When I arrived here the French doctor put me on Foradil and I have never looked back! One dose in the morning and that is good for 24 hours. I have had a couple of capsule failures but not many. I would say that this drug has changed my life. My asthma was so bad that I have a 20% war disability pension for it.

[Quillan]

I have been a user of Becotide and Ventolin for many years having had asthma from birth which went away and came back later in life. In the UK I never had a re-evaluation just prescribed the same drugs year in year out by three different doctors in three different locations so I can only lay that at the door of the system as opposed to the individual doctors.

In France it has been different, I have to see a consultant every year for my asthma and the drugs I now take were changed because I also have angina. I can’t take beta blockers for that because I have asthma and with the asthma drugs there is a conflict.. At least I see both consultants together here and they talk to each other and I have to see them every year which is very comforting.

Last year my asthma consultant changed to these new drugs, Foradil (blue) and Miflonil (brown). They work very well as a drug and where as I needed 6 puffs of Becotide morning and night and got through three Ventolin inhalers a month I just take these two morning and night and nothing else.

Both the drugs are made by the same company, the Miflonil I have no problem but the other (Foradil) I have problems with on an irregular basis. Some months no problem and others they break up or just come apart. I just do not understand it as I use them both the same way so logically there should not be a problem.

So seeing as I have an appointment with my doctor tomorrow afternoon to discuss the matter I was rather hoping that this was a common problem and I could tell him that there are others out there experiencing the same.

So lets hope some others have the same problem (in the nicest possible way of course) and we might get something done about it.

I will mention the tablets and the Seretide/Siritide but it may be because I have no allergies perhaps, I don’t know, but its worth a mention I guess.

I forgot, the reason for using the powder version of Foradil may be because I have a 12 microgram dose but really I don't know.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Bob T"]I have asthma and have used ventolin for 35 years. I would never leave the house without one. When I arrived here the French doctor put me on Foradil and I have never looked back! One dose in the morning and that is good for 24 hours. I have had a couple of capsule failures but not many. I would say that this drug has changed my life. My asthma was so bad that I have a 20% war disability pension for it.
[/quote]

When you look at the failures has the capsule come apart? By that I mean they are made in two halves and one bit fits over the other and appear to rely on it being a tight fit. Sometimes mine stop 'rattling' around and when I open the inhaler the capsule has slid apart a bit and become longer and has got stuck. Other times they come apart completely or disintegrate.

PS - Do you get a parking permit? I used to have one in the UK but they won't give me one here. It's not that important really for me to have one as I can walk OK (even been known to run a bit when somebody says free drinks [:D] ).

[Bob T]

I think that when the capsules fail, it may be the way that I am pressing them out of the blister pack. I now check that they are not dented before putting them into the inhalor and they seem pretty reliable. When they have broken, it has been because they come apart, but I think that this may be because they are dented.

No I have no disabled permit and consider myself fit. My war disability pension gives me no advantages at all, and I would not want any, except that the British Consulate in Bordeaux pay for any perscriptions, for that I have to jump through hoops and supply every bit of paper and perscription and the name of the doctors grandmother. My E106 will rum out on the first of Jan and the UK will not even give me another despite the war pension. But thats life, out of country out of mind as far as the UK government is concerned.

[Gastines]

Re Quillan's  evaluation. I was referred to a consultant in the Uk and after many visits for tests etc, after having having a heart attack, the consultant eventually wrote to my doctor with his new regime of pills. When I was called into the Doc's surgery,2 Doc's were present," Oh dear, this doesn't look promising", they then informed me that if they followed the Consultant's advice,I would probably be dead in 3 months!!!. The 2 courses of pills suggested were a definate ,one against the other. The one for the heart, not for asthmatics,the one for asthma not for anyone with heart muscle damage. I wrote to the Consultant concerned and said I was somewhat surprised that he was unaware of the consequences of his prescription.  His reply." I suggest you find yourself another Consultant". on hospital notepaper. Mind you I was on NHS at the time and not Private, perhaps that was the problem! Anyway, all's well that ends well,I'm still here and not having any problems,with one or the other.

Regards. 5 mins St.Malo.   www.ourinns.org

[Innocents Abroad]

As many of the other replies I used Ventolin and Becotide (or equivalents) for many years when living in the UK.  When we arrived in France last year I needed new supplies so went to see the doctor.  She told me that my medication was "old fashioned" and gave me a prescription for Foradil (and yes, the manufacturer begins with N and ends with S).  I should also say that as a 'by product' of my asthma I also suffered quite badly from Rhinitis (runny nose syndrome) and regularly took antihisthamines (bought more cheaply at Tesco than by prescription!).  Since using Foradil I too have seen major improvements.  I now only have one Foradil 'puff' each day and the Rhinitis is practically a thing of the past.  I must say that I have had no problems at all with the capsules apart from an occasional hicup where it doesn't puncture properly so all I do is take it out, reposition it and 'click' again.  I have never had to resort to a second capsule.  Perhaps my success is because I never push the capsule out of the sealed foil, I always pierce the foil with my thumb nail and then peal the foil back ??

Lynda M