Friday, October 19, 2012

Symbicort Question for YOU!

You probably don't know this, but I moved to Canada recently. That's a long story for another day. But the relevant part is, since I'm the only one in the family who isn't Canadian, I have no health coverage here. And, of course, asthma season is upon us.

The past few days, every I time I inhale after 6:00pm, I feel like I'm going to cough. For me, this means one of my lovely bronchitis-like flares is coming on. Since, un-medicated, these typically last for 3 months, I though I'd be proactive. But the only medication I have on hand is Symbicort.
The nice kind of thrush

So Symbicort works well to keep my asthma controlled, but OMG - the side effects!! I get thrush like no one gets thrush! So gross! I will have laryngitis within days (and I sing, did you know that?) and worse, worst of all, I will get thrush in, you know, that other place thrush can occur. And it's so awful and painful that I can't even think about it.

But, hey - my cough will be controlled!

I'm going to try like hell to have my parents send some Qvar up here, but until then...I'm begging you all... how can I take Symbicort and NOT get thrush? I gargle for days and rinse 1000 times, but nothing seems to work. Is there some trick I'm missing? Drinking raw cranberry juice? Eating Greek yogurt while standing on my head?

Please...your advice!