Flovent inhaler questions

[khalloc]

My son has cold-induced asthma. He has maybe 6 days a year now when he needs to get a few hits with the nebulizer/albuteral. I do not give Flovent daily, instead I might give it when he starts getting sick with a cold and continue it for a week after he is better. So needless to say, an inhaler will last him a LONG time. They usually expire before we can use all of the "puffs".

Is there any other cheaper inhaler than Flovent? I hate paying $60 for an inhaler that he might use 20% of before its expired. Doc said last time (a year + ago that they use a different accelerant(?) not and thats what is preventing generic medication inhalers). is that true? Are there any cheaper alternatives to Flovent?

he is 6 years old and I think his dose is 44mcgs? I could have that suffix wrong but I am pretty sure the Flovent dosage is 44 something. Thanks!

[barkley1]

Honestly I think that's cheap. Ds uses xopenex and Qvar, both are which $136-ish per month :(

[PZMommy]

My son is on Flovent daily. You can do pulmicort via a nebulizer which is very similar. Not sure if that is any cheaper for you though.

Also for Flovent to be truly effective it needs to be in the system for 2 weeks. Typically once a cold hits, it is too late for it to be very effective.

[Kindra178]

My son is on Flovent daily. You can do pulmicort via a nebulizer which is very similar. Not sure if that is any cheaper for you though.

Also for Flovent to be truly effective it needs to be in the system for 2 weeks. Typically once a cold hits, it is too late for it to be very effective.

My pulm and allergist have both me (advair) and ds (flovent) on for colds only. I think that's pretty common.

[megs4413]

My pulm and allergist have both me (advair) and ds (flovent) on for colds only. I think that's pretty common.

It may be common, but I don't know how effective it is. Why not just use a cheap albuterol rescue inhaler? Have you asked? I've been on advair and flovent personally as well as had DD1 on flovent (she has exercise induced asthma, I have chronic asthma) and I know that I saw no difference until I'd been on it for a few weeks. maybe I'm missing something in terms of cold-induced asthma since I don't have that, but I honestly can't picture the flovent being that helpful for just 6 days a year.

[PZMommy]

The other thought is if it is just for a cold for a few days, why not a short 5 day course of prednisone? It is cheap. It works right away. We have to do that on top of all his daily meds when he gets sick to provide him enough relief in hope of staying out of the hospital.

[Kindra178]

It may be common, but I don't know how effective it is. Why not just use a cheap albuterol rescue inhaler? Have you asked? I've been on advair and flovent personally as well as had DD1 on flovent (she has exercise induced asthma, I have chronic asthma) and I know that I saw no difference until I'd been on it for a few weeks. maybe I'm missing something in terms of cold-induced asthma since I don't have that, but I honestly can't picture the flovent being that helpful for just 6 days a year.

We will use both. Advair works wonders if you can hit it right as a cold is starting. This topic has been well researched. I would not rec pred for colds unless needed. The side effects suck.

[daisysmom]

I would not rec pred for colds unless needed. The side effects suck.

It took my DD almost a year to get rid of all of the side effects from a 10 day prednisone course last year. I would never rush to prednisone for a cold.

[PZMommy]

My DS has been on daily steroids since he was 3 weeks old, so the 5 day prednisone doesn't even phase him. It really isn't until he is on it for 10+ days we see any side effects and then they go away quickly once he finishes the meds. My DS has severe asthma and lung issues though, so we need the big guns for a lot of things. There is no such thing as a simple cold for him.

[khalloc]

Well I brought him to the doctor because he was complaining of ear pain and he had wheezing, coughing. Doc prescribed Predisone for 5 days. Then I got a new Flovent inhaler and more albuteral for the nebulizer.

She likes me to give Flovent at the first sign of a cold and continue it for 2 weeks after.

She said that they stopped allowing CFGs? In inhalers and that's why there are no cheap inhalers. But I saw DDs friend had a generic albuteral inhaler. she always prescribes my DS Ventolin and I stopped buying those because it was expensive and I found the nebulizer worked better and was cheaper.

[ArizonaGirl]

I work in pharmacy...

There aren't any other options really for inhalers that are cheaper, the Pulmicort (Budesonide) for the nebulizer is generic and quite cheap. Flovent, Qvar, Pulmicort (inhaler), Advair, Symbicort, etc. inhalers are all very expensive.

As for the albuterol inhalers there is more than 1 brand (Ventolin, Proventil, Proair) and they are all pretty expensive and it is because they were re branded after they stopped allowing the (CFC's = Chloro Fluoro Carbons).

As for my DS he uses the Pulmicort (Budesonide) through the nebulizers 1 x per day unless he is sick or having asthma symptoms and then we bump it up to 2 x per day.

He has a rescue inhaler at school and in my purse with a spacer and if we are at home we use the nebulizer bullets of Albuterol instead.

HTH

[MSWR0319]

We were using Flovent at the first sign of a cold and continuing a week after the cold started. There was improvement in his cold symptoms compared to not using Flovent. Our allergist switched him to Flovent daily, as he thought his allergies may be contributing to more asthma than we were aware of. I can honestly say that I cannot believe the difference in how quickly he gets over colds now compared to when he started Flovent at the first sign of a cold.

As far as cheapness goes, for us the Flovent disk is cheaper than the inhaler but it also expires and I think is even sooner.

[Green_Tea]

$60 is actually a bargain if it lasts you an entire season. We used to pay hundreds of dollars a month for my DD's asthma meds before our insurance improved.

I do question using Flovent as a solo med when sick, though. Most docs would recommend using a short acting bronchiodialtor (like albuterol) before the Flovent. Without it, it's hard to guarantee that the Flovent will get where it needs to go.

[khalloc]

$60 is actually a bargain if it lasts you an entire season. We used to pay hundreds of dollars a month for my DD's asthma meds before our insurance improved.

I do question using Flovent as a solo med when sick, though. Most docs would recommend using a short acting bronchiodialtor (like albuterol) before the Flovent. Without it, it's hard to guarantee that the Flovent will get where it needs to go.

Ohhhhh, he does use albuteral too. In the nebulizer. But my question was about Flovent since the albuteral is already low cost. Was hoping they might have a cheaper inhaler than Flovent. The inhaler ended up only being $44 at Rite Aid, so that was great. I was expecting it to be double that with how our prescription insurance has changed.

[PZMommy]

If he is already using the neb for the albuterol, I'd switch to pulmicort. It is much cheaper, and should easily last you a year. Just make sure you get a "newer" box and not one set to expire in a few months.

[Kindra178]

One more thing. Expired inhalers still work fine. The army stockpiles meds for ten years.