As I mentioned a while back, at the recommendation of Dr Wenzel at the University of Pittsburgh, I decided to do a 3 month trial of Qvar brand ( beclomethasone) . I’m hoping that adding Qvar to my treatment regimen will have a positive effect on my breathing by reducing the number of flare-ups I experience, and ultimately allow me to reduce my prednisone intake.
There are tons of inhaled steroid preparations on the market, so why an older product like Qvar? Well, the manufacturer claims that it’s steroid formulation has a smaller particle size than the others. This means better deposition into the lungs where my airway inflammation is thought to be occurring. In other words, the drug gets down deeper where it needs to be.
Why the claim of smaller particle size doesn’t seem to hold true for the generic forms is still quite debatable, but perhaps it has something to do with the way the drug is manufactured. Regardless, I think it’s worth the time and the few extra dollars if it will help me breath even a little bit better.
I started the trial 7 days ago with a dose of 2 puffs ( 80mg strength) twice a day, along with my regular dose of Advair 550/50 , 1 puff twice a day and my 15 mg daily maintenance dose prednisone.
Anything to reduce my dependency on the evil candy would certainly be welcome. Inhaled steroids carry some side effects as well, but nothing like prednisone. I’ll try to do monthly updates on how it’s going.
I hope you have good results with this one, Steve!
hey stephen,
hope your keeping well. I used to take qvar because of the effects it is meant to ahve on the small airways. As you said the manufactiuer says it has smaller particles which get deeper into the lungs. I was a fan of it when I was first started on it but then as things got worse and my upper airways were more eefected it was decided to stop it as I am already taking seretide (advair i think) so the drs decided the qvar was probably not nessessary on top. But there is a plan in the pipeline to go back on it once i get of the steriod nebilusers.
I hope it works for you.
All the best
Olive
Interesting, my Dutch doctor, who I saw for the first time for asthma recently (having had a couple good years since I've been under the Dutch healthcare system, the last time I saw a doc for it was in the UK) looked at me like I came out of the middle ages when he saw that I was on beclomethasone
Will keep my fingers crossed that it works out for you.
Really? QVAR's old? It just got introduced in Israel this year. I even went to a convention on it and got free food and free stuff. Gotta love free food and free stuff
Yea, it's been around in the US for at least 15 years.
This makes me wonder why the manufacturers of other inhaled steroids aren't trying to make their particles smaller–although maybe they are? Or maybe it's impossible with the other formulations.
I'm interested to see if Qvar will have any affect on your lung health–I sure hope it does, of course.
Hi Amy, Thanks! I wonder about that too. Here's a medpedia link to a debate on that very topic.
http://www.medpedia.com/questions/263
I fixed that medpedia link,it should work now.
Hey Stephen,
I hope that this does wonders for you! I currently take Mometasone as an inhaled steriod, four puffs twice a day, and that seems to do something for me. Good Luck and keep us updated on your progress!
So you'll be taking both Qvar and Advair? I suppose it makes sense based on what you describe here. I haven't heard of this and am interested in reading about it. Hope your hardluck asthma gets better soon.
Hi Rick, Yeah, Im taking both. You can check out the debate we had on this subject over at Medpedia
http://www.medpedia.com/questions/263