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Can you take Symbicort and prednisone together?

Medically reviewed by Leigh Ann Anderson, PharmD. Last updated on May 22, 2025.

Official Answer by Drugs.com

Key Points

What can trigger my symptoms?

An asthma attack or COPD worsening often starts due to a trigger - an allergen, food, substance, environmental pollutant or medical condition that initiates your symptoms. You should learn to recognize your triggers and try to avoid them. Asthma triggers may include:

In COPD, triggers most often include:

What are severe asthma or COPD symptoms?

A flare-up of your asthma or COPD symptoms can lead to severe trouble catching your breath, coughing, wheezing, chest pain, chest tightness, increased mucus or other symptoms of a lung infection.

Severe symptoms might also include chest pain, agitation, confusion and drowsiness.

If you use a peak flow meter for your asthma, your readings may be low.

If your symptoms don't improve or get worse after you use your rescue medications, seek immediate medical care or call 911.

Ask your doctor to outline a treatment plan for when your symptoms worsen and how to recognize symptoms that may need emergency care.

With both asthma or COPD, it’s also important that you get an annual flu shot and other needed vaccines, practice good hygiene like hand washing, and avoid people who are sick whenever possible.

What are prednisone side effects?

Short-term use of prednisone for asthma or COPD is associated with fewer side effects than high-dose or longer-term therapy. Common side effects associated with short-term use may include:

If you have diabetes, you may need to monitor your blood sugar more frequently while taking prednisone.

More serious side effects with long-term prednisone use can include:

Your doctor should slowly discontinue your dose of prednisone after you have been on longer-term or high dose therapy, but high doses are rarely needed for asthma or COPD flare-ups. Slowly stopping will help to prevent serious side effects from corticosteroid insufficiency, such as severe fatigue, weakness, body aches, dizziness, thirst, and nausea or vomiting.

Prednisone should not be used if you have a serious fungal infection or if you have an allergy to prednisone.

You should not receive live or live, attenuated vaccines if you are on high doses of prednisone.

Related questions

Common side effects with Symbicort

Symbicort is usually well-tolerated. The most common side effects you might see while using Symbicort for asthma or COPD include:

Before you start treatment with Symbicort, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions, including if you have heart problems or high blood pressure. Some patients taking Symbicort may experience increased blood pressure, heart rate, or a change in heart rhythm.

Bottom Line

This is not all the information you need to know about Symbicort for safe and effective use. Review the full product information here, and speak to your health care provider if you have questions or concerns.

References

Read next

How long can you take prednisone safely?

There is no set limit on how long you can safely take prednisone. It depends on the dose of prednisone and the condition being treated. It may be prescribed short term or long term. The dosage will be adjusted or stopped based on your response or lack of response to the medication. Continue reading

Prednisone: What are 12 Things You Should Know?

Prednisone first came onto the market over sixty years ago and is still going strong. But did you know that this common drug used for a variety of different conditions also has some pretty serious side effects as well? Continue reading

How long does it take for prednisone to work?

Prednisone usually works very quickly, within a few hours to days of taking the first dose depending on the condition you are treating. If the prescribed dose of prednisone is effective at reducing your inflammation, then you may notice an effect within hours. Continue reading

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