Good advice?

A month or so ago my pulmonologist suggested that I try Spiriva (tiotropium bromide). Spiriva has been on the market for about ten years. Boehringer Engelheim had partnered with Pfizer on the development and marketing of this product, and it was one of the drugs to which I was assigned for a while. Even at the time I was already struggling with pulmonary disease, although I was not using oxygen full time and kept my condition mostly to myself. I can still remember hearing discussions about levels of FEV₁ in the 25% range and having some of the physicians regard this as practically being at death’s door. By then my FEV₁ was below that, but there I was travelling to Germany for meetings!

Over the years I have tried many different inhaled medications for COPD, and none have been particularly helpful; if anything, using them would bring on terrible fits of coughing. I was never prescribed Spiriva until about a month ago, when my pulmonologist suggested it might be worth a try, although those commercials with the elephant sitting on the woman’s chest really do not work for me. To be honest, I did not remember anything about side effects and did not read the package insert before beginning therapy. But within a few days I started experiencing dry mouth. Barry and I went on line and read that rinsing the mouth after use might help. We also read suggestions to use Biotene. So I did those things, but it is still a troublesome side effect. So today I sat down to read a bit more, and I found a most curious item in the list of suggestions for handling dry mouth:

Avoid tobacco and alcohol, as these substances can also dry out the mouth.

Tobacco? You mean to tell me that Spiriva is a reason for a patient with pulmonary disease to avoid tobacco?

That one surely left me scratching my head!

Love,

Rebecca