DD put in for a repeat prescription and they have replaced one medication with something new

[KatyMac]

Not a different brand, a different medication (as far as I am aware)

Serevent for Fostair

They are different aren't they? It isn't a mistake they wrote on the otherside of the form that they wanted her to try the new inhaler

I am a bit hmm.....but DH also has Fostair (& for some reason that reassures me(

OK - I guess I was just surprised that they just changed it without ever seeing her since she joined in the summer

If its a straight brand swap, we will often do this without face to face discussion - there should always be an explanation with the prescription token.

However, inhalers can sometimes be a bit tricky as even if the ingredients are the same, the inhalers mechanism itself might be different.

If you are worried, contact the surgery and ask the GP or respiratory nurse to have a chat about it. If the inhaler looks different, you might want to book in with the respiratory nurse for a coaching session.

Ive just been for my review and the nurse said that there is a push to get people off combination inhalers, I'm on seretide and they tried to put me on beclamethasone (which doesn't help me) but they are going to recommend yet another combination one.

beclamethasone is fairly useless for loads of people isn't it?

They have never seen her for asthma, so I thought it was a bit odd

Plus she is fairly non-compliant with meds anyway so she won't be voluntarily phoning to ask why

These are different medicines. Fostair contains a steroid and a long acting bronchodilator to open up the airways. Serevent is just a (different) long acting bronchodilator so idea step down of her treatment by stopping the steroid inhaler. This may or may not be appropriate depending on how well controlled the symptoms but I'm surprised they did this without any information or consultation so worth checking with the surgery that the change is intentional....

Sorry they have put her on fostair and stopped the serevent - with a note saying they are changing it "Your prescription for Serevent has been changed to Fostair, please contact us with any questions"

Actually I guess knowing her it's not a bad thing.....i'm just surprised at the lack of consultation

She won't make an asthma review until she gets the note which says no more ventolin until you see us (don't know if this surgery do this)

She has no symptoms at all, unless she gets a cold then she goes down hill very, very quickly

She occasionally does her ventolin if she is having an over enthusiastc dance class usually 2/3 times a week, but the old surgery discounted that (as regular ventolin use) because of the level & amount of dance

Perhaps the new surgery have decided that that amount if ventolin does count and so have changed her to a "better" inhaler, the Fostair?

Really odd not to have phoned her or asked her in to discuss though!

Shouldn't be on serevent without also being on a steroid preventer also,

Really she has been on it for as long as I can remember with montelucast (from very young - over 1 yrs def)

I thought is was odd I may nag her to see them

Softkitty is right - are you sure she wasn’t on seretide?

Tbh between DD,DH and my dad I get confused brightish green (slightly to the blue side of emerald)

I remember the colours not the names sorry

That’s serevent - she shouldn’t have been on it without a steroid, so now is getting the correct treatment.

It may be that she doesn’t need the fostair all year round, just the ventolin as and when with monitoring and fostair over winter, but that is one to speak about during a review. How many Ventolins does she order in a year?

Well she keeps many (college/our house/her house/ dance bag) but I'd guess 2-4 a year

Unless she gets a cold chest infection when even with pred & ab she can go though an inhaler in less than a week

My brand of inhaler changed. I had the red one, symbacort (?) and am now on diso blah blah. Sorry, not helpful. But, I go to the asthma nurse for an assessment I think every year (or when I can fit her in)

Not a safe regime to use, fostair a much better idea and yes I would pester her to make an asthma review appointment

My local CCG changed everyone from seretide (a purple inhaler) to Fostair (a red inhaler) because it’s cheaper.
It was done automatically without telling patients, just a note on the repeat slip.

I'm on fostair. You shouldn't really be put on it without discussion and amending your action plan. Certainly you need to see your asthma nurse twice a year or more regularly if your symptoms aren't well controlled (or your dds in this case)
Even minor adjustments to how you take your inhaler can make a big difference to its effectiveness so it's really worthwhile making an appt for your dd

She needs a full review doing. Her ventolin use seems ok - the addition of the steroid may make her control even better.

Being on serevent alone for years is shocking to be honest and should have been picked up on a long time ago.

OK I'll nag

the old gp had a handle on her and knew when to slam in pred & ab - she would phone report symptoms and peak flow and they would start her on her emergency pack and get in to see them when they had time

I don't even think this lot know she has an emergency pack! We will work it out!

Without a virus she has virtually no asthma just a bit of exercise induced breathlessness (30+ hrs of Dance a week will do that)

Virus = quite ill quite quickly

They treat infections very aggressively as DH has very damaged lungs - bronchiectasis - and they don't know why so want to protect hers

DH has just informed me I'm talking through my hat - it's purple and neither have been on green for at least a decade - sorry guys I am useless (certainly no better than dd)

She was on kiddy montelucast for ages until he pointed out she wasn't going to grow any more at about 17

Good job he is in charge of asthma - I just worry(& worry other people)

Sorry

That’s good to hear - it’s just a cost saving excersise by the CCG then and she should be fine. Still needs to make sure she has regular reviews though.

I'll nag (I do it so well however she does ignoring even better until she gets cold)

I would describe my inhaler as pink although I suppose the cap could be described as red (ish)