Lisa...If you check lluth's previous posts I think you will see that she/he was told to use Symbicort as a rescue inhaler by a Mayo Clinic pulmonologist. Sue the volunteer mentor confirmed this. Then lluth pointed us to the scientific article that uncovers the latest findings on use of Symbicort. It appears to me that the treatment of asthma and COPD is very complex, and that we have to keep up with new findings as they come along.

As for me, I do talk to pharmacists often. But I have to confess that my original post, which started all this, stated that Symbicort was causing me side effects in the sinus area. Actually, that was not true and I apologize if I have misled anyone. The next day I realized that what I thought were side effects were in fact the beginnings of a common cold. Mea culpa.

So I was not experiencing side effects from Symbicort. And since I had been on it once before for 10 months, I have no reason to think the Symbicort was causing me to sneeze, cough, etc.

Anyway, this has been useful to me to learn that Symbicort is now okay to use as a rescue inhaler. A little knowledge is a good thing.