I may be addicted to a prescription inhaler.

[voxmystic]

The brand name is Combivent, and the drugs are ipratropium bromide, and albuteral sulfate. I started using it last spring to treat allergy-related athsma. The allergens are long gone, but I still need the inhaler. I'm wondering if it’s addictive, like those nasal sprays that, after using them for a week, you find that your nose stays plugged up without it. If so, HOW do i get off of it? Toughing out a day or two of blocked sinuses is uncomfortable, but I don't think I can endure constricted bronchial tubes for that long.

Mods, please move this if it's in the wrong place.

 

[casualuser]

I have never heard of an inhaler becoming physically addictive but it's possible to become psychologically addicted to pretty much anything. Something like since you started using it you become acclimated to how easier it is to breath when you use it making you notice the difficulty you have breathing much more when you don't use it. But it shouldn't be making it any harder for you to breath than before, you're just thinking about it more, does that make sense?

 

[voxmystic]

I'm not inclined to think so, because I've had off-and-on athsma for 30 years, using meds as needed. I know what triggers my athsma, and it's not present, but I still need the inhaler. This is the first time I ever used the Combivent, though. Before, I always used Ventolin, which is just albuterol, and I never had a problem. Symptoms cleared up, and I quit using it. This time, the symptoms aren't going away.

 

[Mysterie]

what happens if you stop using the inhaler (do you withdraw)?, i dont rlly understand ur situation

or can you switch over to ventolin

 

[voxmystic]

I don't know. I haven't tried switching, because i don't have that scrip, and I'm an uninsured American....$200 to get a new scrip ( ....but maybe i could ise ventolin to get off the combivent.

And, no, it's not withdrwal, like opiate withdrawal. The constriction in my bronchial tubes just comes back every few hours, even though there are no allergens. It reminds me of the dependence I develop on nasal spray. I can't feel NORMAL without it.

 

[Ego Death]

I was scared about becoming addicted to my albuteral inhaler, so i researched it online and it seems it is not addictive and has no 'bounce back' like nasal sprays can. I was using it quite a bit when I had a nasty chest cold and quitting marijuana at the same time. One day I was having such a hard time breathing I was having to use it every hour/couple of hours instead of the recommended four hours. As the chest cold cleared up and I got done hacking up all the resin and shit in my lungs I was needing it less and less. Now I only need it once a day or every two days and I am hoping to stop it soon. This was after having to use it daily multiple times a day for 4 months. Maybe it is the ipratropium bromide that is giving you problems and just going back on a albuteral only inhaler would do the trick.

 

[Lolie]

Are you taking any long acting medications for your asthma or any steroid-based preventatives? Rescue medications won't do anything to relieve the underlying issues and once an inflammatory response has been generated it doesn't necessarily just go away when the thing which stimulated it is removed. You might need a short course of steroids to get the inflammation under control or you might need a period on a preventative medication.

Your doctor needs to know that your bronchial tubes still feel constricted and assess the current state of your asthma. How often are you needing to use your rescue medication?

As a reference point. My daughter was a severe asthmatic whose asthma declined in severity when we moved away from a sub-tropical climate. She went several years without an asthma attack until we had bushfires one summer. Even though the bushfires lasted only a couple of weeks, it took almost a year to get her asthma back under control again. Don't judge whether you feel you "should" have asthma by the presence or absence of known allergens. You need a proper asthma plan which is based on more objective measures like peak flow, how often you need to use your rescue medication, etc.

 

[RobotRipping]

i can relate to the dependence on nasal spray, it's not an addiction as such though. I have a deviated septum and just can't fucking breathe without sometimes, and it massively triggers my anxiety, just like asthma can. So sometimes i end up just taking it as a precautionary measure. Just use it as needed, it's not getting you high or anything so it's not a big deal. TO use the nasal spray as an analogy, i'll use it as needed, 3-4 times a week and eventually get surgery to correct the problem, in your case maybe you can find another medication.

 

[gr33n3y3z]

Im a asthmatic, right now i'm on advair diskus and a rescue inhaler called Ventolin I will most likely be on these 2 drugs for the rest of my life. I dont think that you have been using the inhailer long enough for your body to be used to it for example ive been on medication to treat my astmah for about twenty years so im 24 now. I can tell you from using inhailers for a long ass time its not addicitive.

Long story short when I was younger about 15 I used to be prescribed Albutral and I figured out if you hit that shit like 10-15 times and hold your breath you get some kind of head/body high but its a very short high, but a high I will never forget I could just lay on my bed and feel like I was sinking into my bed, idk weird high. shit id pass it around the playground. Eh my doc switched my inhaler around took me off the shit, I thought Albutral was taken off the shelves?? Well I don't suggest you try what I did I was young and dumb and I was taken a different inhaler.

 

[voxmystic]

"Dependence" la probably a more accurate term than "addiction". I don't abuse the stuff to get high. I've been reading more about it, and it seems that this inhaler can actually cause bronchitis and bronchospasm, so I could be running in a circle...or Lolie could be right, and it's not going to just go away this time. Either way, it looks like another expensive trip to the doc for me. Dammit.

Thanks for the input, guys/girls.

 

[prophetsam]

As for the expense, because Asthma is a life-threatening condition, you probably could be treated w/o insurance at your local hospital. You don't have to go into the ER, most of the time, because the majority of hospitals have an Urgent Care facility/ward for cases that aren't endangering life & limb (aka serious enough to need the ER.) Basically you get the same situation as in an ER, where they can't turn you away if you have no insurance/can't afford to pay, without quite as long of a wait to be seen.