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Question about inhalers...Any Docs with input...

Permanently deleted user
I have emphysema (earliest stages) and I recently started having some trouble with my inhaler medication (albuterol). I have tacycardia, bradycardia, and an erratic heart beat at times and it was causing my heart rate to go haywire. I called the VA and they switched me to a new med and I'm kind of afraid to take it b/c of my experience with the albuterol. The new medicine is called (Atrovent HFA) Ipratropium Bromide 17 MCG. Is this new medication likely to cause these problems as well???...and why is this med not as widely used as the albuterol???

Last but not least, I'd like an honest answer to this question...Does the continual use of these inhaler medications weaken your lungs over time...and thus worsen the problems down the road??? I ask this b/c I can probably do without using these meds on a regular basis...I do not need them all the time. I do not want to take something that is going to weaken my lungs or cause me problems down the road. I was told by one person (not a doctor) that taking these meds regularly would actually have the opposite affect and help my situation in the long term...but again, he was not a doctor.
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  • dcon12
    quote:Originally posted by ECC
    but again, he was not a doctor.


    Plenty of Doctors here. Don
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  • Permanently deleted user
    quote:Originally posted by dcon12
    quote:Originally posted by ECC
    but again, he was not a doctor.


    Plenty of Doctors here. Don



    Yep...and I hope to be able to get some advice. The stickers that they put all over this box make is sound like you cannot skip a dose or discontinue use suddenly...and the funny thing is I only have a one month supply with no refills...
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  • Nwcid
    Well they are both used to treat similar things but work in different ways. Both do have the side effect of increasing your heart rate.

    Albuterol is usually used more for asthma which is more of an acute problem where the med will reverse the problem.

    Atrovent is usually used for chronic problems like COPD (this includes emphysema). It usually has a longer lasting effect to keep the chronic problems at bay.

    In the field we are seeing people that are beyond the point of their normal inhalers. We give nebulized Duo Neb which has both meds in and run off O2.

    We use the Albuterol for asthma.


    I can not help on the long term issues.
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  • Permanently deleted user
    quote:Originally posted by Nwcid
    Well they are both used to treat similar things but work in different ways. Both do have the side effect of increasing your heart rate.

    Albuterol is usually used more for asthma which is more of an acute problem where the med will reverse the problem.

    Atrovent is usually used for chronic problems like COPD (this includes emphysema). It usually has a longer lasting effect to keep the chronic problems at bay.

    In the field we are seeing people that are beyond the point of their normal inhalers. We give nebulized Duo Neb which has both meds in and run off O2.

    We use the Albuterol for asthma.


    I can not help on the long term issues.







    Thank you for the input...Now if I can just get the long term question answered...[:)]
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  • daveald
    sounds like Nwcid may be a doctor, from a patients point of view albuterol is a fast acting emergency inhaler. I've been using to since it came out years, and years ago. it does not contribute to the progression of the desease. the rapid heartbeat allows your body to produce more blood to your lungs in order to free them from the flem you hack up after taking it.Believe me its not a bad thing, and you will get used to it.
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