Symbicort is one of the inhalers which in the case of asthma can be used as both a controller and a reliever. This is because one of the medications contained in Symbicort, called formoterol, has a quick onset of action, usually 5-10 minutes. Formoterol acts as a bronchodilator – a medication which opens up the small airways to help you breath better.
Hi everyone welcome to another video i received another question about symbicort which is basically this inhaler seems to be a popular uh topic that i get a lot of questions about this but i’ll try to answer as many as i can so is there any short-term or long-term effects of using symbicort so i’m i will try to understand what the question refers to and i’ll try
To explain it based on my understanding of the question so basically i will start by saying that symbicort is one of these inhalers that you can use both as a reliever and the controller so for example in the treatment of asthma this is where this applies mostly to so if you’re using an inhaler such as symbicort as a controller it means that you’re taking it
Regularly for a very long period of time so you’re taking it maybe every day twice a day for months years even even and that’s absolutely fine it’s used to control your disease that’s why we call it the controller and we use it because it contains two medications inside one is a bronchodilator something called formoterol which basically opens up the airways and
Helps you breathe better and lasts for quite a bit of time so about 12 hours you may feel an effect from from the inhaler and it also contains a corticosteroid which is a medication which acts as an anti-inflammatory agent which controls the inflammation in the airways and helps prevent further asthma attacks however because you use it as a controller it doesn’t
Mean that in the case of simicar you cannot use it as a reliever as well and because i mentioned that medication for motorol that’s a bronchodilator it’s a medication that opens up the airways but the good thing about it is that it acts quite quickly so you should feel an effect within five to ten minutes of taking the inhaler you should feel your breathing easing a
Little bit so if you’re having an asthma attack this can be used in that situation however it’s also a good idea to probably have around a blue inhaler such as ventilating or something similar in order to use it more basically because it depends on the severity of your asthma attack for something mild probably you can use this as a reliever and that’s a short-term
Effect but the long-term effect you really see after months of use and generally with asthma you will have a step wise treatment so basically your doctor might increase the dose then for example monitor you for about three months time you go and you go for another checkup and then they may decrease the medication to less puffs or lower dose inhaler then continue
For another three months then step it up again or step it down depending on your symptoms so basically that’s how the treatment is given in asthma it’s a stepwise approach but symbicort is one of these inhalers that you can use also as a controller as a long-term treatment but also as a reliever so that’s that’s a good thing it’s not the only inhaler that can
Do that so there are some others as well so it’s important to talk to your doctor what kind of inhaler you are on what does it do what can you expect it to do in your case for your condition so this isn’t necessarily the best inhaler out there or the worst inhaler out there for each person really there is a specific inhaler that they manage best on so this is
Something that you need to discuss with your doctor there’s a wide range of inhalers out there and many of them do similar things some are better than others depending on how well you can use the device as well because that’s also a main thing thank you for watching this video if you have further questions do leave them in the comment section below and i’ll be
Happy to answer them in future videos all the best and good health
Transcribed from video
How soon do you feel the effect of Symbicort? By Dr. Stefan Cristian Stanel
