Theophylline

[RamblingSeminarian]

Are any of you taking theophylline for your asthma?  If so, have you had a lot of side effects from it?  My doc is considering trying this, just looking for people's experience.

[ill13632]

I'm trying 400mg/day but it doesn't seem to do much; I heard it has many side effects but don't know what they are?

is spiriva a better asthma med since it isn't a steroid?

[ill13632]

it seems to cause slight headache for me, but can it help oxygen flow to your heart and angina?
I heard that it isn't prescribed because the effective and toxic doses are so close

[RamblingSeminarian]

I did the serevent and flovent first....but didn't get a good response with that.  Did the singulair for a while, but was taken off of that....I have CSS which is what causes the asthma.  I use xopenex as my rescue med...and right now do Qvar and Foradil for my maintenance meds right now...but obviously am not under control.

[Sunny602]

I took it years ago and it seemed to help. One thing I remember is that it did cause me to be a bit jittery, but I am sensitive to alot of meds. Doctors also monitored me for theophylline toxicity on a regular basis.  I was on it for over a year and then they switched my meds around to what they are currently because I was still having alot of problems with my symptoms...Flovent, serevent (essentially advair), singulair, zithromax and xopenex ( I am on several others but these are specifically for my asthmatic problems). Some people do very well on Theo...I hope that it works out for you. Sunny