Azmacort Substitute (Page 8)

Azmacort has been taken off the market because of environmental concerns (they say). There really is NO substitute. All other steroids do not work. My wife could die because of it. No one seems to care. Do you?

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REPORT

Thanks! Are you saying Pulmicort is only available for a nebulizer and not an inhaler? I sure would like an inhaler 'cause it's so much more convenient.
There is a very cool pharmacy here in Austin, Texas called Peoples Pharmacy. They integrate natural remedies with allopathic...and they have a lab where they can make up stuff like Azmacort for a nebulizer. Very nice people.

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pulmicort comes in a powder inhaler like asmanex. i could not tolerate the powders. they tore up my trachea. I was constantly in a bronchospams. so now i am on the pulmicort respules which is a med neb.

if u can tolerate the powder in the asmanex, you may be able to with the pulmicort. their powder is much heavier and the medicine itself seems to have irritating properties. i can tell because it is irritating my trachea a bit in the med neb but then again, i have been on it for over 3 months and everything is irritated. good luck.

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All:

My wife used Pulmicort for a while. Her body could not take it. She tried to force her body to accept it. That put her in the hospital.

Don't do that to yourself with whatever drug you try.

As a suggestion to Lakshmi, there have been earlier postings on this site concerning the Jewish Hospital in Denver. It is the best hospital in the United States for respiratory problems. You will find it here

http:/­/­www.nationaljewish.org/­

Scout around. You may find help.

Just to let you know, my wife found the best substitute for Azmacort for her was Advair HFA 115/21. It is not a powder. Nor is it a disc. It is an inhaler just like Azmacort was. It is expensive but they have a program for those who have a problem paying for it. You will find it on Bridges to Access here:

http:/­/­www.patientassistance.com/­profile/­glaxosmithkline-168/­

The Hospice nurse called me to her bedside an hour ago. It turned out not to be the end. So, I read Ephesians chapter 1, Romans 8, parts of Titus, 2 Timothy, 1 Corinthians 15 to her. She is breathing peacefully.

As a macabre aside, she has not had to use her inhaler since she went into a coma (I wish I could spell that with two m's). I do not suggest it.

Jack

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Jack,

I am so sorry to hear about June's condition. I havent been on here for a while, but I have been keeping up reading with everyone's posts. I dont have words to express how we have been together over the past 5 months trying to find something to get us through this.

I have been lucky that I have found a combination that has been working -- a salt pipe and flovent. Its still a work in progress, I never know what to expect each day.

Please continue to keep us updated and you are in my prayers.
Debbie

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All:

I made a post quite recently. Apparently, it did not make it past the administrator. I don't know what I said that was not approved. Probably either something about the Bible or something about environmentalists. I am an environmentalist and you know I am a pastor.

It also included some information to Lakshmi suggesting contacting the Jewish Hospital in Denver. They are the top hospital for lung ailments in the country and may have some help.

- - - Editor's Note: We received notification about the post in question from our spam filters and shortly thereafter approved it. It is now active, appearing two posts prior to this one. - - -

I don't remember what else.

June gave us a scare today - the Hospice lady thought the vital signs she read were the ending ones. But she is resting comfortably now - depending on what you call comfort.

I thank you all for your sympathy. We who are left behind need it.

Jack

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Jack
Thank you for your update-we are all thinking about you- and praying too. National Jewish Hosptial in Denver is the best in the country for lung problems - when I first got asthma at age 40 - I called the nurse-line and they were so helpful and supportive to me. I think I am doing OK from the breathing standpoint anyway. Thank you for writing Jack- keep us posted and let us know if there is anything at all we can do.
Sincerely,
Linda

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Jack ,God Bless you and June. I'm glad to hear you are able to be with her during her final days.

Also, wanted to let everyone know after trying lots of inhalers my doctor put me on a medication called theophylline. Its been two weeks and I've only had a few problems at the beginning with headaches and then and now have a little trouble falling asleep but not much. My breathing is doing well. It's something for everyone to talk with their doctors about. It's also inexpensive.

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theo is a wonderful drug. took it from the 8th grade on up until my 30's. just watch so you dont get too much in your system. its called theophyllne toxicity. happened to me 3 times. nice to know it is still avaialbe should the pulmicort respules not work. i am going down on the pred and i can tell the differenence in being able to not take a deep breath. pulmicort med neb leaves me with a sore throat and my chest stays tight for several hours. i may have to finally face the fear of trying the HFA inhaler and facing a possible bronchospasm. i'm getting depressed. i can feel it. maybe it is just all the steroids.

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Hi Folks,
Thanks for all the info! I also want to let you know I am trying Helminthic Therapy...look it up. Very fascinating. I have spoken to Jasper, the guy doing it several times and just put in my order yesterday. I will let you know how it works. I am determined to be drug free and breathe normally. Buteyko breathing helps me some, so do umpteen other natural remedies. I desire something to totally get me off drugs and help me breathe normally!

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By the way...I joined that Calimeds website so I could order Azmacort. One place they had on their site didn't have any. I clicked on another and it asked for my Dr.'s info, etc. It said it would give me phone numbers for the pharmacy and never did. It said I agreed to abide by the agreements for membership once I signed up but there were no agreements anywhere. They have no phone number. I can't reach them to find out anything and they haven't returned my emails. Anyone know anything about this frickin' company?

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Attn: Revolving the Sun:
Did you know that Theophylline is a chemical in coffee? When I have bad asthma attack, I drink a large hot cup of coffee and it stops the bronchospasm. I hope everyone is doing good. My asthma is good right now- my main problem right now is shoulder& neck pain-severe - had tests today and dr said pinched nerve on C5 in my neck- start PT & traction tomorrow. I would do just about anything to get 5 minutes of pain relief. I may need to go in hospital for a shot in my neck - not sure what kind of a shot - maybe cortizone or something? Well if its not one thing is another! Getting old is not for sissies I guess. God Bless!
Linda

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Revolvingthesun

What happens when you have theophylline toxicity. I have my blood work done tomorrow.

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Linda,
What about a chiropractor? I get instant relief with those guys. They put the bone back where it should be.

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My biggest thing was my heart rate. It was 130-150 sustained. Heart palpiations. Jittery. And even though my level was high, I could not breathe. It was miserable. But back then drugs were limited. I grew up with severe asthma in the late 60's and 70's. Back when asthma was not recognized. I spent a lot of time in hospital oxygen tents. When I wasnt in those I was at home in mist tents. My fond memories are of my mom rocking me in the middle of the night because I could not breathe. Now without the asthmacort it is like I stepped back into that black world.

I dont know if they still make it or not but there is another pill called proventil tablets. At my worst I was on 300 theophylline every 6 hours and 4mg proventil tablets every 6 hours plus inhalers. i am on beta blockers now and i dont know if i can take the theophylle at the same time. i am going to have to hit the med books again.

each person responded to theophylnne different . you will have a level that works for you. it may be higher or lower than the norm. so just because your level comes back okay, if you cant breathe, tell them.

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Revolvingthesun

Thanks for the information. I'm only taking 300 ER theophylline once a day, so hopefully my levels with stay normal since my breathing is doing well. I'l have to check with my doctor on how often to have my levels checked

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attention Lakshmi
yes chiro is good, but I am going to Physical Therapy because insurance pays for it. I can't wait to go because the PT that I am seeing solved the problem in December. I asked doctor for referral and had to wait a week to get in so tomorrow at 1pm I will be there. I hope everyone is doing good. I didn't know they still prescribed Theophylline - I thought that was replaced by more modern drugs. Dr. today wanted to give me a Medrol pack (Prednisone) for the pain & inflammation, but decided to wait. I don't like going on that drug, although it does work well. Hope you are all doing well and that Jack & June are doing ok too. God Bless
Linda

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Hi-I wrote a long post last night but it got stopped by editor- probably I talked about money too much & too detailed. I was trying to say how happy I am that maker of Pulmicort will give it to me free after I meet out-of -pocket. Thats all - nothing bad. My asthma is good (knock on wood) and now just dealing with degenerative something in C5 in my neck causing pinched nerve. PT was yesterday and it was great, can't wait to go back today at 2:30. I hope everyone is doing good and that Jack&June are OK
God Bless
Linda

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How do we know if something we are saying is a no-no by the editor? Also speaking of the editor, has anything been sent by them to the make of Azmacort regarding all of our complaints, feelings, etc.?

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Well once Jack's post was held up, and my post from last night must have been a no-no. Yes- we should figure out how to do something like you just said Carol.

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Hi Linda, Carol & all -

To answer your questions which came up about posts being approved, etc... We have certain filters in place which will trigger a post to become "Pending" - when this happens you will see a message along the lines of "Your post has been saved but needs additional review before appearing on the site." We are then notified to go and review the post in question. Linda, for some reason we did not receive a notification of a pending reply from you, nor did we find one being held up in our system. Did you see the standard confirmation when trying to save the message? It appears to have been lost in limbo and we apologize for any inconvenience.

As to us working towards increasing awareness of this CFC inhaler predicament, please know that we have not forgotten about you. It is not always an easy task to penetrate an organization as large as Abbott, especially since our community is not a large publicly traded company.

They have an 800 # posted on the (former) Azmacort web site. It is 1-800-633-9110. We encourage everyone to call them and voice their frustrations. More calls can only help. In the mean time, it is also our intention to complete a press release draft to at least start getting the message out there. We read every post that comes through on this thread and feel like we have a very good idea of how we can approach this. Please know that this is something which we are taking our time with, because the press release can only be as effective as the message conveyed. Anybody is always welcome to Contact Us if you have additional thoughts to share of what information would be most relevant for such a press release.

Hopefully public awareness will be raised as a result of this thread and any subsequent messages sent and we can be one step closer to a truly suitable replacement.

Best wishes to all.

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