Hi sheep-ali,
While breathlessness / weakness is normal if COPD is relatively severe, serious pain is not, so I would suggest you re visit your Doc to discuss this. Symptoms of COPD and heart disease are similar, and so if you or your Doc are unsure of the COPD diagnosis, this too should be checked for.
With COPD, depending on the stage the disease is at, you may have an x ray or scan to check your heart health anyway, as the two can go hand in hand. If at the moderate / severe stage your GP should, anyway, be making an appointment for you to see a respiratory or thoracic consultant to check all this out as a matter of course.
You should have (and if not, then politely but firmly ask for) the results of your spirometry test. You need to know your FEV1 which should be given to you as a percentage eg. fev1 52% or fev1 40% etc. The lower the figure, the more severe the disease. Also, you can then see if you are classified as mild / moderate / severe / very severe. Most of us tend to be moderate/severe at diagnosis .Don't go into a panic at this point, there are things you can do to improve both your health and your long term outlook.
Let us know when / if you have your fev1 number, we were all in the same position a year or so ago, and most had never even heard of it before. We will all be here for you.
As regards the reaction to your inhaler, this can be down to one of a number of reasons, the main 3 being, in order of likelihood;
1. if the inhaled contents of the inhaler hits the back of the throat instead
of being inhaled into the lungs, it causes palpitations, hot flush, tremors etc as it goes direct into the bloodstream. This is unpleasant but harmless and will within five or ten minutes or so, and means you will not get any benefit from the med as it needs to go directly to your lungs. This is a common mishap when first getting the knack of using it properly.
2. Occasionally, someone may have a kind of 'allergic' type reaction, which is unfortunate, but simply means trying other alternatives, as with any medication.
3. IF -and I repeat - IF- you have a heart condition, you usually have to forgo the inhalers - they have the opposite effect to heart medication and effectively cancel it out- However, Spiriva is safe even for those with heart probs so do keep up with that.
i suggest you leave off the second inhaler until you have satisfied yourself about your COPD /heart etc with the GP/ consultant.
Likewise, once you have reconciled the pain issue etc you can look at doing more exercise or pulmonary rehab to see if that can help.
Do keep in touch - remember to 'bookmark' us too - we can be hard to find again otherwise! :roll: and make that appointment with the GP - think of all the queries you have as well as the pain etc and write them down to ask. Also make sure you have pen & pad to jot down your fev1 and any other info you might otherwise later forget.
Will be thinking of you and waiting to hear back soon, love Vanessa x