Azmacort Substitute (Page 11)

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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Well I made it one week - Thursday nite at 11PM, I took the Pulmicort, due to asthma attack - then a while later Albuterol - it is stable again now.-but I am back on the pulmicort. I have to be on some kind of preventative, so I guess I will try to make a go of it. I just want the Azmacort back, because then I wasn't so worried about it all the time. Please bring it back with different propellant.

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I have a Dr appt soon to refill my RX...Have been on Azmacort for about 15 yrs..low dosage two puffs just at night, and one puff in the morning..I have an albuterol rescue inhaler that I was using before excercise(rarely use it now)..I just had 3 stents placed in coronary arteries in July, and since then have really been able to increase my excercise tolerance to 50 min a day on the treadmill(walking) Ive never had to be hospitalized for my asthma..Azmacort in a low dose has kept me stable with the occasional use of the albuterol...
I am now very worried about changing medications since the Azmacort has been discontinued. Has anyone been able to just stop with the corticosteroids and just use the albuterol when needed or on a more regular basis? And are there any suggestions as to which med would be best to try for Azmacort replacement? Since I dont have insurance Im sure it will be a battle at the docs office this week...sigh....any suggestions?
thanks in advance :)

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Hi Melody. If you have been on Azmacort all along, and now it has been taken away, your doctor will want to put you on another inhaled steroid preventative. There are a few. I tried Flovent and had bad side effects, then tried Pulmicort Flexhaler and that seems to work. There is a choice of about 3 others, I think - maybe someone can give her the short list can't seem to locate it right now. Good Luck Melody and let us know how you do.
Linda

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Melody:

If you don't have insurance you may be a candidate for free drugs through Bridges to Access - or some other program. Don't give up - look them up.

Jack

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Melody - Also AztraZeneca, maker of Pulmicort Flexhaler has a program where they give it to you FREE if you make less than $40grand a year - look it up online - Also if you are on Medicare you get the meds FREE. They are very helpful on the phone also.

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Thanks everyone...I decided to try the Asmanex..and my new doc was a sweetheart and gave me samples of that and my Proventil too...He agreed to let me try to wean off of the steroid, but if I ran into trouble then to start the Asmanex...I'll let you know how it goes :)

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Jack - has you wife had success with the Advair HFA? I have been following/monitoring this forum since finding out that Azmacort would be discontinued. I am now about to begin my 6th different drug since January. None have been as effective without any adverse reactions as Azmacort. I've tried: Advair Diskus, Asmanex Twisthaler, QVar, Flovent HFA, and lastly Symbicort. Today, I've been prescribed Dulera. I've had to take more Prednisone orally this year than ever before, just trying to breathe. -Susan Johnson

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Susan:

My wife had not used Advair HFA long enough for us to make a sure conclusion before she died.

I can tell you this, though, she was able to take it longer than most drugs. Usually she would have to stop a drug after about 3 days to a week. She did tell me when I asked her about it, that it was giving her some hope. She said she was having some problems but she thought her body might come around to it. It was not as good as Azmacort, but it seemed to be working in her favor.

In a word, she seemed upbeat about it. I felt a little bit of joy but alas - - -

One thing I can tell you; the Advair people are kind and understanding and seem a lot more willing to help. Have you talked to them? They may want you to go see a Pulmonologist before they actually send you anything for little or no money.

I do not know of the difference between Advair discus and Advair HFA except that the carrier (HFA) may have some affect on people - I'm just guessing one that.

As I wrote in a previous note, it is very expensive, but when you can't breathe - - - -. Your Pulmonologist, working with Advair, may be able to help work something out financially.

If you think you would like to try it anyway, I would ask your doctor (preferably a Pulmonologist) if they thought a prescription for it would be worth a try. If they do, you can get it from your pharmacy right away.

One further thought - our Pulmonologist had two other inhalers up her sleeve that we had not tried yet if the HFA did not work. She showed us what they were on a chart in her office but I did not make a mental note of them because of the way the HFA was going. That in itself was an emotional boost knowing that the HFA was not the end of the road for her.

I pray the Lord will show you the way and what to do.

Jack

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I also used Azmacort for many years-finding a substitute has been difficult!! First they took our CFC rescue inhalers and made them HFA and then they did the same thing with preventive measures; just want to note a few things I've learned-powder inhalers contain milk proteins, so if you are lactose intolerant you will probably react negatively to those. Now the sprays contain Ethanol(except Ventolin, but that has some newer fillers in it too) now Ethanol is corn based so if you are allergic to corn you'll react to that and ethanol is listed by the FDA as a toxin causing severe bronco spasm in some people, so how can the FDA take a safe effective drug off the market and replace it with an inferior drug??? I believe Azmacort was pushed out of the market, cost was much less than many of the others pushed by big pharma-sad to see so many of us suffering because Big Pharma and the Gov. refuse to listen. A suggestion-file a complaint with Medwatch for every drug you have reacted to negatively!!!

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Lynn - Medwatch? I will have to look into that. Thanks for the tip. I have had "some" success with the Dulera, although the propellant continues to cause mouth irritation. I still find it difficult to believe that CFCs were taken away from us, when they worked! I can guarantee that the miniscule amount of CFC propellant in the inhalers is not what has caused global warming.

Jack - thank you for your continued interest in helping all of us suffering from asthma and its complications. I can only imagine your frustration with the "industry" after watching your wife's trials. I am extremely sorry for your loss.

-Susan Johnson

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Jack I am sorry that this happened to your wife-bringing awareness to others may help someone else, so thank you.

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Lynn and Susan Johnson:

Thank you for your kind words of sympathy.

I have been on medication myself for depression, which can be quite hard for the victim to recognize. My doctor discovered it and put me on Cytalopram. Because of it I was able to breeze through the Christmas holidays. Amazing!

As we mentioned in some of the earliest posts (which you can easily get to by going to the "sort by" just over the latest entry and changing it to "sort by conversation") we thought the driving force was money. Not because of costs, but because of the Montreal Agreement wherein the environmentalists got the power to sue anyone violating their self-prescribed rules. I believe they are working on how to make this power more universally binding before enforcement.

I am an environmentalist, but not one grasping for political clout and the money that comes with it.

I wish they would not do it because of the consequences they will receive when they pass through death's door themselves.

What good is the whole world if it costs you your soul? Everyone tries not to think about death or push it ahead of them, but we all face it. Add Eternity to it and you come to realize this life and personal achievement is a vapor. You take none of it with you - not even your body. Everything that is physical stays here.

Yes, in those earlier posts you will discover that I am a pastor - not by my choice but by God's mercy and grace. Truly, my heart goes out to those that think this is all there is.

Jack

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I called Abbott also and was toild the same thing. But , I also did some more checking and found out that Abbott had hired a company to make Azmacort HFA ready and the company went bankrupt and chapter 11, so you know that will take a long time. Sooo I have been calling my congressman and senators and the FDA to see if they can relax the law for the HFA until Abbott can get it fix because taking it of the market is the same a MURDER if you ask me. Azmacort is the only drug I can use, so I will just get sicker and sicker until I finally die. So if you would please do the same if enough make noise maybe they will listen.Abbott 1-800 633-9110 or FDA 1-800-332-1088 my life depends on it. Blessings

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Margie:

Did they reveal the name of the company that went bankrupt?

Jack

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Hi, They didn't tell me I found it on the internet. The name of it is Inyx, Inc. I also had this site listed next to it. I'm not sure what it is but I'll send it also, it may not have ANYTHING to do with this post at all.

But since I was sending the reply I thought I would go ahead and send instead of going off and checking and then coming back. If it doesn't apply just delete. I have been to so many places and called so many people and written to all I can think of.

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I have taken all the asthma drugs out there and I react to them all. The last one was QVAR 80 and it made me sick it made my chest hurt ,my fingernails come loose from the bed of my finger and were sore and , and caused me to be unable to swallow my pills( vitamins and musinex.)
Pulmacort was the worse for me besides the QVAR, and then flovent and all the rest just made me sick.

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Margie:

I assume you have a Pulmonologist. If not, go to one right away. If you have not already done so, ask him/her about Advair HFA 115/21. It is not the disc. It is an aerosol dispenser like Azmacort was.

I suggest this because, if my wife had lived, she may have made it through. But, alas, we discovered it too late. Before she died she told me that it was working longer than any other she tried and she thought maybe her body could be trained to tolerate it.

Here is a snippet about Lynx. It seems incredible that any business would not pick up 10 million when another company drops it. Or, that the FDA would let it drop.

"Inyx Receives Exclusive Contract From Kos Pharmaceuticals to Produce Azmacort(R) Inhaler; 10-Year Deal Brings $10 Million Annual Revenues to Inyx."

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This has the same medication in it that flovent has I think and I can't use flovent. Like I said I have taken them all and Azmacort was the only one I can use.
I did notice that the FDA is announcing a new Asthma drug on March 2011. Makes me think they didn't want any competition. I talked to an EPA person and I told him this was all political and he got all upset and told me it wasn't and I told him it was. So that didn't end very well.

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I thought I would mention that I have been on AZMACORT since the 1980 and have tried all the other inhalers and they don't work they make me sick. I only have 13% of my lung that works and I think the doctors think that is not enough to save me for. I have to use albuterol and Ipratropium in my nebulizer every 4 hours just so I can breathe , that is one reason the Azmacort worked so well for me because I could use it after a neb treatment and still be covered. I used 3 puffs of Azmacort 4 times a day. I was using it all day long to keep the inflammation down.
Something else I might mention ,that might help someone. I have been using a mask every since I have been without my Azmacort and it seems to help some. I get a dust mask from Walmart and put a small hole in it so I can stick a straw in the hole you put the straw in your mouth and out the hole you breathe in through your nose and blow out through your straw in your mouth. It is called the Peterson straw mask. It also helps when you can't breathe. Hope this helps someone.

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Margie:

You seem like my wife all over again. It was all she could use as well

I don't know if it is possible - and it may be too weak if it is - but we thought of getting Triamcinolone acetonide. - a skin cream - and boiling it or using one of those breathing kits to make our own inhaler. You know, towel over the head, etc.

Also, our Pulmonologist had one more trick up her sleeve but we did not have much hope for it. I think it was another Advair - stronger.

I wonder - - I have heard of people going to certain salt mines and it helped them to breath the air in them.

I just wish the Lord would help me come up with something for you.

Jack

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