Azmacort Substitute (Page 4) (Top voted first)

Azmacort has been taken off the market because of environmental concerns (they say). There really is NO substitute. All other steroids do not work. My wife could die because of it. No one seems to care. Do you?

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All,

Allergy season has kicked in and now im feeling the effects :(. I am really disappointed that Abbot Labs has discontinued Azmacort. I am not sure how you found out, but the way I found out was when I went to the pharmacy to refill the script and thats when I was told that it was discontinued.

I hate to say this, but, do we have some kind of legal recourse? We were never notified of the Abbot Labs plan to discontinue Azmacort and we all had to scramble in order to find something new. I know they had plenty of time to fix thier issue!!!! How many extra trips have you guys had to make to the doctor plus all the new medicine you had to try? I could care less about any kind of $$$ I just want them to bring my Azmacort back!!!! :(

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Dear Jack,

I just saw your comments...Thanks so much for the suggestions and referrals, and for your support.

I am so glad to hear that your wife is doing well so far on her new medication, and I'll pray for that to continue. I also deeply appreciate your thoughts & prayers!

Linda, I will pray for you as well. I hope your breathing improves soon!

I can totally relate to everyone's feelings about wanting Abbott to bring Azmacort back to the market in a CFC-free form. I called them several times this past Jan to urge them to consider this, but since I wasn't speaking to one of the executives, I have no idea whether my feedback ever made its way up the chain. As soon as I'm able, I plan to follow up with Abbott again, this time with a more targeted approach.

I don't know if Abbott manufactures any of the Azmacort inhaler alternatives currently on the market, but if not, hopefully the desire to regain lost market share will drive them to bring Azmacort back (at least that's my hope and prayer).

I love Jack's idea of the parade. I hope to soon be marching with each of you, as we breathe freely & fully! Best of health, everyone!!!

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All,

I stumbled across this website.. you might want to sign the petition -- there are more people out there..

www.savecfcinhalers.org

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To Jack & Mary & everyone.
After being scared & terrible breathing problems, the day my dr wanted me to start on Prednisone, I improved, so I did not have to go on Prednisone. I think the Flovent is working for me - so maybe Flovent is a good substitute for the Azmacort after all. Another thing I wanted to say is - my specialist, a Pulmonologist told me about a year ago that Azmacort was going away because the medicine itself was old-school - and that there were many improved & modern drugs to take its place- that it was outdated, and it was going away. Well it worked for me so well, I didn't want to accept that it was going away and tried to stockpile it so I could be on it as long as possible. But, it may be more than the environmental reasons with the propellent.- it may be the drug itself that is the reason. Well I am so happy & relieved and breathing comfortably - ! I hope everyone is OK with their breathing & finds another preventative - it is not good to go without inhaled steroid - look what happened to me when I was without it for one week. Good Luck everyone
Love,
Linda

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Mary & all
Thanks for your prayers & concern and I am feeling FABULOUS right now and the crisis is over !
Linda

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I took a look at the cfc inhaler website and tried to locate it on Guidestar, a directory of nonprofits. Additional research should probably be done if you decide to donate.

Hope all are doing well. I've switched to Qvar and that works fine for me. I too had heard that Azmacort was an old drug but like Linda, I opted to say with what worked -- until it was no more.

Stay healthy! Allison

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glad to find others like me. i was on azmacort for 18 years. i have felt like i lost a huge lifeline and a part of myself when i had to stop. started taking pulmicort with much difficulty. the dry powder gets stuck in my mouth and throat. if i breath real hard, it makes noise and my throat closes off so i dont get the medicine. so i have to breath less forceful and be creative when i take my puffs. one long and someone slow to get into the bases of my lungs and one faster to get into the upper part of my lungs. i have actually felt like i went through a steroid withdrawl after stopping the azmacort. i have been depressed, anxious, tearful, etc. my breathing had been very bad for the first 2 weeks. i could not take a deep breath. i could not pace my breathing, especially when talking. i have been basically house bound since i have had to make the change. things are starting to slowly get better. i can breath deeper most times. and the sore throat is getting better. i still wheeze in my upper throat from the medicine. This has been a very big life change for me. If I could sue the government and the company I would. Do they have no idea what they have put us through? I felt like my life was over and I would never get it back. I still have to be very careful. My lungs are soo sensitive. I cant get around anything right now. And my confidence to handle my asthma has been shattered. I cannot take the HFA products. I had a bronchospasm to altrovent back in the 90's. It had 3 propellants in it. Azmacort had one of them and the ORIGINAL provental had 2 of them in it. They used the last propellant to make the HFA compound. There is a very high probablity that I will react to it. So I dont even have a rescue inhaler that I can count on. That means having a portable med nebulizer. I cant see how our little inhalers could cause such a fuss. I believe someone's health is much more important. You have to weigh the needs and the affects. I am so sorry to hear about everyone elses problems but once again, glad to have found u. Changing inhalers is very difficult and for me, I cant even tell you how awful. A 46 year old woman in tears while struggling to breath. I have literally had to start all over again in controlling my asthma. I have prayed to God for healing and for strength to help me through this. I pray He is there for all of you as well. God Bless You all.

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To Revolving the sun:
I felt just like you- scared & desperate- you need a good Pulmonologist so you don't have to suffer. I bought Pulmicort flexhaler and had to pay $75.00 - it is in the bottom of the trash right now, it only made me worse. Then I tried Flovent (paid $35.00) and I am getting same result that I got with Azmacort. It comes in 3 strengths- I am on the strongest one the 220 one. Also - for the rescue inhaler Albuterol - the best one is Proventil HFA -its orange. The Pro-Air one does not have a good proplellant in it. So I am a happy camper now with my Flovent 220, and Proventil. I haven't needed the rescue inhaler in one week , !
Thanks, Linda

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Hello everyone, Ive just stumbled on this site while trying to research alternatives to Azmacort. Like all of you I have used Azmacort sucessfully for several years, and now am at a loss as to what to replace it with. I have severe asthma as well as several other health issues and have a history of bad reactions to many medicines so trying something new is always tramatic for me.. I have used Advair in the past. it was wonderful, absolutely the best product I have ever used, I actually had months with minimal asthma symptoms, then after almost 5 years of using it, I developed a strange tightening sensation in my chest, I couldnt lay down, I couldnt sit up, the symptoms were horrible, felt like my heart was flip flopping in my chest, after a couple days of this, I noticed my legs were week, I felt like I was going to fall over, I also felt cold and shaky.. I began to suspect that I was having a reaction to one of my medicines. I went to the ER and found I had a cardiac arrythmia.. My blood pressure kept bottoming out, I was hooked up to one of those cardiac monitors that show the heartbeat and Blood Pressure, the alarms kept soundoing and I was absolutely terrified.. at one point I watched, horrified as my blood pressure plummeted to 46/16, I lay there feeling dizzy and nauseous, while medical professionals scurried all around trying to determine what was causing it, sure that I was going to die, I answered question after question as baffled Dr could find no explanation for what was happening to me.. My electrolites were normal, I was not dehydrated, I had no other symptoms of shock, I had not consumed anything out of the ordinary, no changes in mecicines,.. after a plethora of tests, and many months of trying to endure this terrifying illness,It was determined that my arrythmia was not likely to kill me, and was more symptomatic than dangerous,but I could not live with the symptoms,so I was placed on a medicine that was supposed to help, verapamil, a calcium chanel blocker, it didnt do much, the arrythmia wasnt constant but would come at me at any given time, I was a virtual prisoner in my home and I was terrified of being alone, even for a few minutes, I saw several specialists, even looked into electro therapy where theyreproduce the symptoms in a controled setting and then intentionally destroy selected parts of the heart that are triggering the misfirings.. I kept asking is this due to any of my meds and every Dr said the same thing - NO. after researching my self I saw that in some cases Advair had caused an arrythmia , however it was a different type than what I had. Angry, frustrated and terrified of what my options were, I immediately insisted that my medicine routine be changed, gradually the arrythmia symptoms have stopped.. its been 3years now and occasionally they do return but very very minimally, however I do still take a very high dose of verapamil daily. I truly do believe that my arrythmia was cause from Advair. Although it truly helped me at first, I would urge anyone who is using it to be aware of any unusual symptoms you may develop. Chances are you wont ever have the problem I did, but we should all be aware that it can and does happen. Since most medical professional are loathe to simply place blame on any product,( even when I pointed out that there was documentation available that Advair can cause arrythmias, not one of my DR would say that it was what caused mine, because they cant possibly know for sure) we need to educate ourselves and be aware of all possible side effects, Had I know that this could happen to me, that the medicine I was using could cause me to develop a debilitating illness that would affect every aspect of my life, I would probably have asked for a different medicine to try first.. But that isnt the case, But it is why I am being so very careful this time around. Since that time, I have been on Azmacort and Atrovent, with Xopenex as my rescue med. I cannot tolerate albuterol as the cardiac side effects are too strong, I even experience some side effects now using Xopenex which is the medicine they prescribe for people who cannot tolerate Albuterol, I thing I have become super sensitized.. anyway given that history I am terrified of changing my medicine. My pulmonologist has given me two samples to try and see which one will work best for me. I have Alvesco and Qvar. Has anyone had or heard of any cardiac side effects with either of these meds? I see Mary reported shakiness and a higher heart rate with Alvesco.. I need to make a decision soon as Im nearly out of my last canister of Azmacort.
Good luck to all of us trying to find a replacement therapy for Azmacort..Hope you all are doing well.
God Bless

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dear Linda, thanks so much for your feedback. I have been on the pulmicort now for almost a month and after a short time of thinking I was going to get through this and have a new inhaler, I now find myself getting worse. I am on 2 puffs twice a day. my chest was getting tight right after the inhalations and it lasted almost 2 hours. Now it has gotten to 3 hours. I sit here now and it is 4 hours and it is still tight. I have been thinking about which others to try. I was thinking about asmanex but also flovent. do you like the packaging on the flovent? is it difficult to use? I dont want to do advair. it has a long term bronchodialator in it and i never had to be on one before so why now just because i was forced to change inhalers. thanks for the feed back on the proventil hfa but i have a very strong chance of being allergic to the propellant (hfa). i had a bronchospasm to an older drug called alupent. it had 3 propellants in it. i have been exposed to 2 of the 3 without problem. the 3rd is the one they modified for the new hfa. so trying it places me at high risk for a bronchospams. that is also why i have not tried qvar. my lung doctor knows little about changing inhalers even though he is very nice. plus he is costly. it cost me $92 for a visit. I am on cobra right now with a 1500 deductible and cannot afford his high cost visist so i will go to my family doctor who is much cheaper and very flexible. once again, thanks so much. all feedback from everyone is appreciated.

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Linda,
do u use the flovent hfa or the flovent diskus?
thanks!

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I tried the Qvar after using Azmacort for 20+ years. I had side effects that ranged from a sore mouth, a cough and nothing helping my asthma symptoms. I was better off not using anything, but now have developed phlegm in the morning and at night which the doctor is saying is related to allergies. I use Albuterol at times when my chest feels tight and I get jittery, but this better than nothing. I have samples of Alvesco and Pulmicort Exhaler, but I don't like the thought of us a powder with the Pulmicort and I'm afraid to use the Alvesco because of the side effects Mary said she had. I don't want anything that makes be jittery. The Albuterol already does that. I have been advised to start taking Zyrtec for my allergies, but I'm also on Flonase for those. I hate taking pills. What next folks?

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It seems the only way to get to these large pharmaceutical companies is to go public. I am beginning a write-in campaign to the investigative news programs such as 20/20, Dateline, Today Show, Good Morning America and my local TV stations. I would encourage anyone interested, to do the same. All have links on their websites for story suggestions or news submittal. If enough people voice their outrage, perhaps someone will pick up the story and bring it public and perhaps - just perhaps - there might be a company out there listening that could do something about offering the product again in a non-CFC dispenser.

If they can dispense other asthma meds in a non-aersol dispenser, like proventil, albuterol, etc., I see no reason why they can't do the same with Azmacort. I've been using the product since mid 1980's with excellent results and no side effects. Their Patents probably have probably expired and they would rather push the newer products. But, they could sell the manufacturing rights to a smaller company interested in serving all of us customers that have been left out in the cold forced to try new products with many new adverse side affects.

I encourage everyone to write in.

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Katherine

I just wrote to Bill O'Reillly to suggest our problem would make a good story - something like, Abbott Labs pulls Azmacort off the market because of the Montral Accord. He has a louder voice than any of us.

He may not think it is important enough, though, because who would want to rally around a small group - even if the threat could lead to death? My wife is still not out of the woods.

Jack

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I would be happy to speak to anyone about this problem. I just went back to my doctor. she wants me to do repeat pft's which I cannot afford. otherwise, stay on the pulmicort a little longer to see if I overcome some of the side effects and get better lung function. she was not offering to try the qvar since there is a good likely hood that i would have a bronchospams with the hfa. i have no rescue inhaler to use thanks to this new law. i am looking at buying a small portable med nebulizer. mine is too big to carry around with me every where. i have basically been house bound since i have had to change inhalers. still depressed and crying alot over all of this. did they really think everyone could use the hfa propellent? does anyone know of any other company working on a safe propellent??

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Hi everyone-I recently wrote saying that Flovent was working- well it worked for about 2 weeks - calmed down all Asthma symptoms - Then strange headaches, rash on my cheeks, and pain when taking a breathe in and coughing fits all day - that is not Asthma. So I stopped Flovent yesterday and tomorrow going to Pulmonologist - I am going to try Qvar or try again Pulmicort. Now I am discouraged ! I just want my darn Azmacort back. Today doctors office told me that it was too expensive for the drug company to change the propella in Azmacort, so they took it off the market. This is all so upsetting to me- I don't need this aggravation - now I am having flare-up of diverticulitis which can be serious. Anyway, it never occurred to me that Flovent would be such a problem, since it did calm down the asthma symptoms completely - but I put the pieces together yesterday. Thanks foir reading.
Linda, 55 y.o. in beautiful flooded Massachusetts !

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Did everyone see the message that this blog wants to forward our messages to some higher ups to let them hear what we have to say? I say, let them do it as long as our names are fictitious. We need to get the word out about our frustrations and maybe someone will listen.

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Carol:

I did receive the message and told them to go ahead and use whatever I have written that they want to use. I am willing to help in any way I can.

My wife has not recovered yet and she still could die. Her next Pulmonologist appointment is for the 15th but I will ask them to make it sooner.

It is an emotional roller coaster to watch her. I find I cannot help looking to see if she is still breathing when she falls asleep in her chair while watching TV.

My name is not fictitious and in another place here - entry number 37 to be specific - I have written where I live. As a pastor, I live a life that that is open for anyone to read. I have nothing to hide.

Most of us are in trouble here. It may help to continue to be honest -as I think we all are. If we are asked for more specifics on our medical distresses, I would suggest that we be open and above board.

Jack

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All,

I hope everyone is doing ok. I am OK with using our comments and stories as a news feed. I am just as frustrated as everyone else and I dont see any other way to get heard.

I wish everyone the best, and hopefully we will make it through this tough time. I cannot help but blame Abbot Lab for not taking better measures to transition Azmacort to whatever it needed to be to fall within the regulations.

I wake up everyday and think to myself, is this going to be the day?
its very stressful and I feel like I am limiting myself because I am scared. :(

Does anyone have the email address to the president of Abbot Labs? I would like to email him everyday to let him know my fears and concerns.....

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Dc
All

Well, the Chairman and CEO of Abbott Labs is Miles D White, but I do not think you can get him directly by email.

I don't mean to be an alarmist because what I am about to write may not mean what it seems to imply. I also want you to understand what I am about to write is NOT written in anger but merely what I found out. This information is available to everyone - it is public.

Mr. White sold 172,704 shares of ABT stock on 12/22/2009; he sold 29,300 shares of ABT stock on 02/18/2010 and he sold 70,700 shares of ABT on 03/10/2010 - all of it at or very near to $55 a share. His total compensation from Abbott alone for the year 2009 is over 26 million.

Other directors and officers - Carlos Alban, Edward L. Michael, Mary T. Szela, Oliver Bohuon, and David Patton - sold a total of 81,523 shares in late February or early March of this year.

Abbott Labs bought a Belgian company, Solvay, for 6.6 Billion but the purchase was not to get a new drug that might help with solving the riddle of Parkinson’s disease but was more for financial engineering.

I believe they are all untouchable either legally or emotionally - especially emotionally.

I do not blame them for wanting to make as much as they can on the stock and, perhaps, the sales mean nothing. Recent disclosures of AIG and the like, however, do not build confidence in our corporate executives.

My son thinks there is more to the story than just dropping the drug because of - well, - - being kind to the ozone layer on the one hand and an anticipation of a plethora of future law suits on the other hand if they didn’t cave in. There is an interesting article written by Matthew Herper which states that this year pharmaceuticals could see the worst sales growth of the past quarter century - well below their past predictions.

All of that said, I believe the only way you can get to the soul of these people is through the pocketbook or through congressional investigation. Neither of those options seem viable for people like us. What do you think it would take to get the attention of your representative? Have you tried lately? Have you gotten anything back besides a form letter?

That is why I am not only surprised but pleased as well that someone on this site is willing to do something to help us. Let’s help him help us.

Jack

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