Question:
Does anybody have any information on what medication works best to suppress
cough variant asthma? Any experiences? I tried inhaled albuterol, but it
just made me cough even more (I have not tried oral albuterol yet), and I
tried singulair 5mg but it didn't help me out. Right now I am trying
singulair 10mg, I figure that if this doesn't work I will get into trying
more steroids like azmacort or prednisone.
Answer:
In my case, I've had good experiences with QVar and Advair. Both are
steroidal inhalers. My understanding is that oral albuterol is not the
preferred way to administer this med in adults.
I get it from some colds and try to cough up my belly
button. Gets pretty bad. Between episodes I'm symptom free. I have no
appreciable changes in airflow (Peak flows) and Albuterol doesn't do anything.
I've never tried Singulair, I know it doesn't work for everyone. I get good
results from any (used several) inhaled steroid, usually at minimal dose. I
recommend using a spacer with MDI and a thorough mouth rinse after.
Cough-variant asthma is your basic asthma with a different symptom.
One of the annoying things is that there is a frequent cough
immediately after inhaling the albuterol. I just wait a few minutes
and try again. I control mine with Pulmicort, Singulair and Allegra.
Something you might want to try is using a spacer with your initial
dose of albuterol.
When you go to the doctor ask him about a steroid 'burst and taper.'
Then a combination of Serevent, Pulmicort/Flovent, and Singulair to
get the asthma control locked down - then after you are controlled for
a couple of months start cutting back on the medications until you
find the minimum medications you need for goo, long term control.
One of the tricks I have is that my doctor lets me adjust my Pulmicort
dose based on my peak flow readings. If my peak flows are
consistently high I can reduce my Pulmicort as far down as 2 puffs,
once a day. If my peak flows are dropping I can increase the dose to
as much as 4 puffs, twice a day.
