BUDESONIDE or IPRATROPIUM

By Mr. William

“A person without good breathing, is a person with a life of constant caution, so let’s do what we can, to learn what we can, to improve what we can.” (Will Dursens)

Recently due to some health issues involving my throat, breathing and heart I have, or so it seems, been living at a doctor’s office at least once or twice a week for something like the first seven weeks of the new year.

One of the original visits to see my physician had nothing to do with my blood pressure, but due to something he thought he heard or found in my breathing (and I do have Stage III COPD plus severe Asthma) they made the plan to change my med for the nebulizer I use at least once a day, every day, 365 days a year.

For many years I have been using IPRATROPIUM with my nebulizer and they made the decision to change my med to BUDESONIDE.

Let me explain here that when I arise each morning and after I have taken a moment to be thankful to my great creator in charge for giving me another day to see the beauty of the world around me, I always – and I do mean always – start the day with a 10-minute run on the nebulizer to help jump start my lungs from being on my CPap machine overnight.

Every day I spend that 10 minutes and then follow it up with a heavy inhalation of my dose of Breo Ellipta, after which I normally feel better and ready to hit the pavement for the day.

Getting to the moments of today, within two weeks of using the BUIDESONIDE in the nebulizer, I began to (as I would tell my wife) feel a bit out of sorts.

Now I once was diagnosed with high blood pressure and have been on Lisinopril for several years, but I just knew something was out of sync so I decided to check my blood pressure, something which I would normally only do maybe once a week. Was I in for a shock as it was reading in the 180s/90s and on the third day I checked it my one arm read 199/102!!

Did I mention also that my heartbeat was now having issues staying below 85-95 even when I was not really doing much of anything physically!

Needless to say, after three days of extremely high blood pressure I called the wife and she took time from her job to take me to the ER. Unfortunately, they had little to say in reassurance that I was having issues but instead noted that one’s blood pressure is always in an ebb and flow cycle.

I was not satisfied so when I got home, I began to read up on this BUDESONIDE and found some interesting tidbits such as:

  • It was a steroid that reduces inflammation in the body and is used to control and/or prevent symptoms such as wheezing and shortness of breath that comes from asthma. No problem, I understood all that.
  • It is not used to work immediately and relieve sudden asthma attacks – duh, that is a no brainer in my opinion.
  • I found that BUDESONIDE should be used with caution with anyone having cardiovascular disorders, especially coronary insufficiency, cardia arrhythmia and hypertension. BINGO – I have issues with all the above.

Due to a major heart attack in 2012 I have a section of my heart that only operates at maybe 45% capacity, plus I have a heart valve issue which will some day require a fixer upper. And hypertension, that was one of the reasons for my original diagnosis of high blood pressure.

So, I began to figure that after beginning this med in my nebulizer on top of just recently dealing with three runs of prednisone in just four weeks – that maybe, just maybe this might be my problem with the blood pressure and racing heart rate.

When my blood pressure continued to be extremely high for another 24 hours while my heart was racing along at that 85-95 pace, I called the ER and asked to speak to a doctor on duty. When they called me back, I expressed my concerns and he suggested maybe I not take the BUDESONIDE for a few days and see if the blood pressure issues stabilize.

So, I did, I stopped using it and called to speak with my regular physician’s nurse and explained to them that I was just so they knew.

Guess what? Within a little over two days my blood pressure was back down to a livable level of between 120/75 to 140/80 and at the same time I was able to get the heartbeat down to the low 70’s when trying to relax. Amazing how that happened.

Now I am not one to question my medical professionals very often, but I do recall that in the past when they have tried to put me on either Advair or Symbicort, that both caused issues with me and we stopped taking them. Since BUDESONIDE is a main ingredient of Symbicort I can’t help but wonder why my physician went ahead and put me on the stuff to begin with.

After so many years of success with the IPRATROPIUM, I am happy to be using it alone again and once again my morning routine feels complete without any worries of blood pressure or a racing heart and not having that worry alone is keeping my breathing and blood pressure on target so I can enjoy the days the best I can while fighting a nasty chronic illness.

As with all our writes, we like to finish off with a question.

QUESTION TIME – As we like to do at times, we leave you with a question to think about and maybe respond to. The question(s) I may ask today are:

  • Are you using a nebulizer daily and if so, what med or meds are you using with it?
  • Have you ever used BUDESONIDE and if so, have you had success with it or issues with it?
  • Have you ever used IPRATROPIUM and if so, have you had success with it or issues with it?

We appreciate your answers as they may lead to a discussion in an upcoming “‘Lenny’ & Me 4 Today”, so thanking you in advance.

So, until I can talk again (not literally), that is where Lenny and I are at for today.

A REMINDER – Do you have any comments or questions about my postings, then feel free to leave a comment on either at this blog, at the email address of wheezingaway@gmail.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/copdtravels/.

ALWAYS REMEMBER (because I have COPD and severe Asthma) – If you or anyone you know have any symptoms involving lung and breathing functionality, and they linger over and over while disrupting a lifestyle – then please ask questions and get it checked out.

With that, I bid to all – smiles, prayers, blessings and steady breathing – Mr. William.

(Copyright@2020, CrossDove Writers through wheezingaway.com – no part of this write may be used or copied without written permission.)

NOTES: Sometimes we share what may seem like medical information, but we are only giving descriptions and highlights of various aspects of having COPD and/or Asthma and no way do we ever want our information to be considered medical treatment type of information, always consult your physician for more, clearer medical founded information.