Betamethasone nasal rinse

[BookNut]

Thought I would let you know that I this new to me medicine is working quite well for me. It comes in a capsule, which I dissolve in my water/salt/baking soda mixture. It is much cheaper than the budesonide I was using, and seems to be more effective at clearing my sinuses.

[pberggren1]

Do you have stubborn crusties that are hard to get out? Where would I find either one of these?

[BookNut]

I DO suffer with the crusties. Maybe you and I could collaborate on a cartoon. Somehow, I have a picture in my mind of obnoxious little cartoon characters that show up in the dead of night and play nasty tricks.

Anyway....both betamethasone and budesonide are steroids designed for some form of inhalation....NOT as a pill. Not nearly as high a load of steroids as prednisone pills. The brand name for budesonide is Pulmicort. I take it twice a day via electric nebulizer for my lungs. Awhile back Mike G talked about putting it (or something similar) into his saline solution in his nasal nebulizer. I do not have a nasal neb, so I mixed it into my regular NeilMed sinus rinse bottle instead. It helped quite a bit. The big problem for me is that it is very expensive. $105 a month even with my insurance. My ENT looked around for a more affordable option for my nasal rinse. He found an online pharmacy in Louisiana that sells the betamethasone for around $30. Big savings, and it actually works better than the budesonide as a nasal rinse. I still take the budesonide in the nebulizer for my lungs. TRYING HARD to get off the oral prednisone. I've had to do a pred taper five or six times since November.

Hope you are doing better. I have been out of the loop with this last downturn, but I know you were in the hospital a short time ago. Are you out now? Hope so!!

[pberggren1]

Thanks Jacquie. I was only in the hospital for a lung infection back in December.

[me2]

I have found the budesonide helpful as well - in my Neil med rinse. Like my ENT said , if we can help the sinus directly then we can use less of the oral steroids. Its a good theory that seems to be working for me. My budesonide costs I think $35 / month with insurance. I think the pharmacy is ESL. I order it by phone and get it in the mail.

[BookNut]

I have found the budesonide helpful as well - in my Neil med rinse. Like my ENT said , if we can help the sinus directly then we can use less of the oral steroids. Its a good theory that seems to be working for me. My budesonide costs I think $35 / month with insurance. I think the pharmacy is ESL. I order it by phone and get it in the mail.

Thank you so much!! Although I am finding the betamethasone much more effective in the sinus rinse, I do want to continue the budesonide in my nebulizer. I will look into ESL. If you have the phone number that would be great! I will then contact my insurance company and see what they will cover. My problem seems to be that for some random reason, the insurance company classifies it as a medical expense, not a prescription. Medical expenses are covered only by medicare, not by my prescription rider. So, I get to spend 20% of the total cost which works out to $105. If it were covered under my prescription coverage, I would only have to pay $20. My husband takes it also, but not as regularly as I do. We might launch a challenge to this practice. Probably will do us no good....As I said to the insurance rep I talked to on the phone..."I guess the family that wheezes together, gets squeezed together.". Oh well.

[me2]

I'm so glad you asked- because I had the name wrong. I dug my latest box out of the garbage and here is the info : ASL Pharmacy 866 552-7579

I see that I have ten refills left. All I have to do is call them and they mail it. But wait , there's more... on the last order they asked if I wanted the saline rinse packets with it. Well.... I himed and hawed

She said "They don't cost any extra- they are free"

Well how can I say no to free? I BUY the Neil Med saline packets

[BookNut]

I'm so glad you asked- because I had the name wrong. I dug my latest box out of the garbage and here is the info : ASL Pharmacy 866 552-7579

I see that I have ten refills left. All I have to do is call them and they mail it. But wait , there's more... on the last order they asked if I wanted the saline rinse packets with it. Well.... I himed and hawed

She said "They don't cost any extra- they are free"

Well how can I say no to free? I BUY the Neil Med saline packets

Thanks so much. I will start looking into it.

[LisaT]

Thank you so much!! Although I am finding the betamethasone much more effective in the sinus rinse, I do want to continue the budesonide in my nebulizer. I will look into ESL. If you have the phone number that would be great! I will then contact my insurance company and see what they will cover. My problem seems to be that for some random reason, the insurance company classifies it as a medical expense, not a prescription. Medical expenses are covered only by medicare, not by my prescription rider. So, I get to spend 20% of the total cost which works out to $105. If it were covered under my prescription coverage, I would only have to pay $20. My husband takes it also, but not as regularly as I do. We might launch a challenge to this practice. Probably will do us no good....As I said to the insurance rep I talked to on the phone..."I guess the family that wheezes together, gets squeezed together.". Oh well.

That's strange that it's not considered a prescription. I'm pretty sure that when I had pulmicort it was covered as a prescription. I might try this for my schnozz too. Thanks for the tip!

[1mzorro]

I had quite a bit of problems with major crusting and bleeding. My ENT put me on Betamethasone and Mupriocin ointment (22grams) all diluted in the neilmed twice daily for the last 9 months. It has been great. Hardly any crusting and nose bleeds are gone.