13 year old with worsened asthma went to GP today (new GP) and he has prescribed a new inhaler for occasional use - Serevent - have read up on www and naturally the leaflet - wondered whether any of you had come across this before or had use of it?
Many thanks
Julesxx
Hi Jules
Serevent (the brand name for the bronchodilator Salmeterol) is one of many drugs that acts by dilating the tubes as air enters the lungs. It's commonly prescribed by GPs for asthma sufferers to be used as and when it's needed. It's effect is usually more or less immediate.
You will've read the possible side effects in the leaflet but then all asthma inhalers have some side effects and are serious drugs. Because they're addressing the symptoms as opposed to the root cause, another option would be some complementary treatment which usually results in a reduction if not cessation of inhaler use. HTH Hom
Thank you for your reply, I have investigated therapies for him, but at 13 he is the one that has to keep the therapy up and believe in it, having trouble with this, but will persevere.
Julesx
hi colourful,I have asthma and have suffered all my life .My asthma is controlled well but more prone to infections.My son has mild asthma thankgod he wasnt like me as a child because i was chronic.He had an extremely bad episode two years ago the doctor prescibed serevant a bronchal dilater basically its a long acting reliever,where as ventolin only lasts 4hrs this lasts longer.But he coughed constantly on it,so i went back to ventolin and his steroid inhaler flixotide which is excellent,im happy to say its under controll but sometimes at this time of year you have to increase the dosage through youre doctor.good luck
Hi I have occassional allergy asthma (had full blown asthma as a child so consider myself lucky) and have a severent inhaller which I only use if I feel I need to regain control. I use it once in the morning folowed later by my preventative one then again at night. it keeps the airwaves open for 12 hours and is really the only thing that helps me get control back if I lose it by forgetting the preventative when things start to get bad - like overload for me. I only use the severent for short periods. this last time has been about a week as I have had a cough which I couldn't shift - a real sign for me. Hope your son gets on Ok.