Best Asthma Treatment for Singers

Posted by karenheller @karenheller, Jul 28 4:03am

I’m a 71yo choral singer who just got a recurrence of childhood asthma. I was prescribed Symbicort (160/4.5) and Singulair. The inhaler gave me laryngitis, so I’m researching voice-preserving treatments, including spacers. Are there any other singers out there who have figured this out already?

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Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Jul 28 10:07am

@karenheller - how frustrating to be trying to sing and get laryngitis. I like to sing, and have been in many choirs, but I'm not in one at the moment.

I'm not a doctor, but this is what I've done personally:

- Mometasone furoate and formoterol fumarate dihydrate (Dulera) and ipratropium bromide (Atrovent) inhalers twice daily
- Cetirizine hydrochloride (Zyrtec) 24-hr twice daily (I evidently metabolize it too fast, and it doesn't last 24 hours for me)
- Fluticasone propionate (Flonase) and ipratropium bromide spray
- Mepolizumab (Nucala)

You can tell from what I've written that my asthma is largely triggered by allergies. My main asthma symptom is coughing - basically my lungs get irritated.

If I'm going to be in a large group situation where I want to take preventative action, I may use my Albuterol inhaler or benzonate (Tessalon perles) before attending.

Have you discovered anything so far that helps you preserve your voice?

bikingbabe123 | @bikingbabe123 | Aug 6 5:37am

Did you try gargling with salt water after taking your inhaler? In fact, it might help to gargle with salt water 3x a day.

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