I answer some very good questions received on my previous video on how to use Symbicort (
Hi everyone my name is stefan i’m a pulmonologist in this video i’d like to discuss a bit it’s a bit of a follow-up basically to my previous two behalor symbicort video in which i was demonstrating how to use it correctly and it’s really important to use it correctly but i think a lot of people based on the comments that i received i think they stress way too much
About taking this medication and i need to remind you that it is an inhaler medication that’s usually used as a controller so that means that it’s effective over a long period of time so the the most important thing with these inhalers is to take them as correctly as you can every time of course but to understand that their effect is seen over a long span of time
So basically it’s something that you need to stick with and take regularly over months years and that’s when you see the effect if on the off chance you take for example an incorrect dose once either you take maybe half a dose or you take two doses because you of the way you’ve armed the device that’s still okay it’s probably not going to make a huge difference
The amount of medication contained in inhalers is usually so small that it shouldn’t affect you very much even if you take for example double the dose at one stage so one question that i got here from tan chia li basically they’re saying that one click is one dose what if i never inhale the medicine will it be gone and then if you do a second click another
Dose would that be an overdose would that be two doses and would that be an overdose i don’t think it’s a it’s the issue of an overdose of it like i explained the worst you can probably do if you arm it incorrectly is to take two doses instead of one so how might that happen let’s have a look so for example if you look at this you need to to basically twist and
Do all these things right so with the inhaler basically what happens is that you twist in one direction and twist back and it clicks so that’s armed that’s the the right way of doing it but for example you’ve done that and you forgot you’ve done it and then you twist it again and it makes a strange sound and you’re like oh my god i’ve messed up the inhaler it’s
Not an issue so just twist it back make it click and then use it and it will probably just give you a little bit of an extra dose of medication but i wouldn’t be too worried that you’re taking way too much because like i said the the amount of medication in the inhaler is small just try to pay attention and do it right the next time another question that came
Uh regarding symbicort is the fact that the medication is tasteless and i think that’s an issue for many people you cannot really tell sometimes that you’ve taken the medication because the powder inside it is so fine and it doesn’t taste like anything so you’re basically just inhaling it and not not feeling like you’ve taken the dose but you just have to trust
That the medication is is going in the right place unfortunately there’s there’s no way around it another question that i received from from david craig basically he’s saying that high my semi-cortisone and zero number but when i shake it it seems like there is a considerable amount of product within the turbo healer so something like this you can still hear the
Shaking can i keep using it while it rattles so when i shake it i would advise against it because that’s basically the dose counter that’s showing you the guaranteed amount of doses that are left it may not be able to remove all that little powder from it and measure it accurately so i would say that if the inhaler has reached zero i would get the replacement i got
Another comment from soul sal productions so they are advising me to clean the mouthpiece before closing i think that’s actually a good piece of advice so basically once you’ve inhaled it you’ve put your lips to the inhaler i think it’s a good idea if you have maybe a little bit of an alcohol wipe or something to just give it a wipe to keep it clean and ready for
The next use i think that’s a really good idea actually it’s a very good point another comment that i received from derek jared they say that the mouthpiece twists what is the value in this it twists with these are you when removing the lid but the instructions say don’t twist it so basically let me show you what what i think derek meant by this so the mouthpiece
Is is this bit here so this bit at the top i’m not sure if you can see it clearly on the camera but basically this twists so i’m not sure if you can see but i can twist it around so they say not to twist it like obviously that’s not the right thing to do but i mean i would say just try to leave it alone if you can because i’m not sure if it will actually damage
The inhaler or not probably not but if it happens it’s just what it is i wouldn’t worry too much about it i think this is just the way the device has been designed but it’s not something that would worry me and i don’t think that if you’ve twisted it a bit you’ve broken the inhaler i think it’s still fine another question that i received from demeb upa so they
Say hi doctor thank you for your videos just a question how long a patient has to stay on simbicourt two weeks one month the rest of his life in general thank you for your requirement in general as i don’t have an access to a specialist here so thank you for your question very good uh very good question dammit and i have a feeling that you might have to see a
Doctor in this case because generally this medication is a long-term treatment so it’s something that doctors generally don’t prescribe as a one-off treatment so one device will probably last you for a month or two depending on how many doses they’re in there are in it and how often you need to take it off depending on your condition but generally you would get
A replacement every month and you would take that medication for maybe a few months at least until your condition stabilizes so um for example if you’re suffering with asthma you may be taking simbicorta to set those for say three months and then your doctor does another check they see you they they evaluate the situation and they maybe increase the dose take
You off this mb court put you in something else but it’s generally a medication given for the long term conditions another great question that i received from ree’s vlog so basically they say after a few puffs the counter still stuck at 120 is this normal so the counter is this bit here basically i’m not sure if you can see it i’m gonna try and zoom on it but i
Don’t think it zooms where it’s supposed to but anyway so there’s a dose counter there now if you’ve seen it here so basically it says 40 there’s a line and then 60. so what this means is basically this dose counter is not as precise as one would hope so if it starts with 120 it will go to 100 80 60 40 20 etc so it’s not as precise so it slowly goes down so this
Is not something that should worry you if you’re taking it correctly it should go down over time so don’t worry about that one there’s another question here about the twisting of the top so this is from atefe june i think i’m pronouncing this correctly so hi while cleaning to be healer mouthpiece i think i turned it a bit and i used it and i didn’t have the usual
Feeling how do i know it’s working now is if the mouthpiece turns a bit it gets blocked thanks so yeah like i said if you twist this i don’t think it’s such a big issue i i think it just twists a bit but you you just continue using it if you’re having any doubts if your inhaler is working properly what i would recommend and what i reply to that comment as well
Is to to maybe walk into a pharmacy and just talk to the pharmacist and kindly ask them do you think my turbo inhaler is still working properly i’ve done this and they’ll probably reassure you that it’s working just fine another comment also related to the way we arm the device so this is kevin avrillian thank you for your video i was wondering though what if i
Opened the next dose but decided not to take it could i take the dose later so theoretically you could i mean i would probably just arm it again if when you’re ready to take it because you’re not likely to overdose on the medication but like i said if you’ve twisted it and twisted it back and it goes click i would say if you’re going to take it later maybe just
Leave the inhaler in its vertical position if you’re gonna do that but try to remember what you’ve done and that you’ve armed it and leave it maybe on a table right somewhere sitting in this position and then open it and take it but i would say if you’re going to postpone it for a few hours i would probably recommend just twisting turning it activating it again
And taking the dose in that fashion again another question from wodan thank you very much question is is there a way to falsely arm it and what would happen if you accidentally did the arming thing twice so basically what i said it would probably mean that you’re taking a little bit more of the medication that you were supposed to at that time but likely in the
Long run it will probably not influence your treatment so final question before i finish this video so this is very important actually so prashanth p is asking can you stop taking it once your asthma is under control and you are feeling better like three to five days i have a feeling that this is a very very important thing to mention because i would say it’s
Probably not a good idea to stop any medication without your doctor’s advice even though you’re feeling well it just means that the medication is working it’s keeping your asthma under control so i would say that if you stop it you run the risk of your asthma flaring up again and i think that’s really what you’re trying to prevent by taking the medication so if
You’re feeling well on the medication i would say just continue taking it and if you want to make adjustments your doctor might actually suggest that so what normally happens in the treatment as vasma is basically you’re taking the the same dose of of inhaler you’re taking it regularly every every day let’s say twice a day and your your asthma gets really well
Controlled and at that point basically you talk to your doctor again and they might recommend going to a lower strength inhaler or maybe taking it less frequently in order to see if your asthma stays controlled at that level as well and then basically we play around with the medication let’s say every three to four months or or maybe less often depending on how
Often you see your doctor but basically we just try to engage what the dose is appropriate for a good asthma control at that level and that’s really how we treat asthma we try to keep the minimum amount of medication that controls your symptoms well because that’s really the goal to feel absolutely fine hopefully this video was helpful if you have any other questions
Do leave them in the comment section below and if you like this sort of content do subscribe to the channel i’m really at the beginning of this channel so i would really appreciate your support in making it grow so thank you very much and all the best to you
Transcribed from video
Questions and answers about Symbicort Turbuhaler By Dr. Stefan Cristian Stanel
