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Prescribed With Atrovent Inhaler And Duoneb. Should I Take Both Medications?
Question: I was prescribed an atrovent inhaler to be taken every 6 hours; and also duoneb 4 times a day. since both have atrovent, should I be taking both meds? Thanks, XXXX
Brief Answer:
Hi and welcome to XXXXXXX
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for the query.
Yes,both have ipratropium,but atrovent usually consists 0.25mg of ipratropium and duoneb 0.5mg ipratropium + albuterol.
So the dosage depends on how severe COPD is. Combination of these is not unusual if there is severe COPD with frequent copd exacerbations. In such cases doctors want to increase dosage of ipratropium so they combine 0.25mg atrovent and duoneb.
If this is mild COPD (FEV1≥ 80%) and medications are used only for prevention of possible exacerbations then duoneb is enough and I dont see why atrovent should be used. If there is fear of non-efficiency then it would be smarter to increase duoneb to 6 a day(which is maxiumum) without using atrovent.
All in all, hyperdosage wont happen if you use these 2 as recommended so you dont have to be worried,but if you notice side effects you can reduce dosage or stop atrovent.
Wish you good health. Feel free to ask. Regards
Hi and welcome to XXXXXXX
Detailed Answer:
Thanks for the query.
Yes,both have ipratropium,but atrovent usually consists 0.25mg of ipratropium and duoneb 0.5mg ipratropium + albuterol.
So the dosage depends on how severe COPD is. Combination of these is not unusual if there is severe COPD with frequent copd exacerbations. In such cases doctors want to increase dosage of ipratropium so they combine 0.25mg atrovent and duoneb.
If this is mild COPD (FEV1≥ 80%) and medications are used only for prevention of possible exacerbations then duoneb is enough and I dont see why atrovent should be used. If there is fear of non-efficiency then it would be smarter to increase duoneb to 6 a day(which is maxiumum) without using atrovent.
All in all, hyperdosage wont happen if you use these 2 as recommended so you dont have to be worried,but if you notice side effects you can reduce dosage or stop atrovent.
Wish you good health. Feel free to ask. Regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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