An Introduction to Symbicort Side Effects
As with any medicine, side effects are possible with
Symbicort® (
budesonide and formoterol); however, not everyone who takes the medication will have problems. In fact, most people tolerate it quite well. If side effects do occur, in most cases, they are minor and either require no treatment or can be easily treated by you or your healthcare provider.
(This article covers many, but not all, of the possible side effects with Symbicort. Your healthcare provider can discuss a more complete list of Symbicort side effects with you.)
Common Side Effects of Symbicort
Symbicort has been studied thoroughly in clinical trials, in which a group of people taking the drug have side effects documented and compared to another group not taking the medicine. This way, it is possible to see what side effects occur, how often they appear, and how they compare to the group not taking the medicine.
In these studies, the most common side effects of Symbicort included:
- Headaches -- up to 11.3 percent of people
- Sore throat and irritated or runny nose -- up to 10.5 percent
- Upper respiratory tract infection, such as the common cold -- up to 10.5 percent
- Throat pain -- up to 8.9 percent
- Upset stomach -- up to 6.5 percent
- Thrush (a yeast infection of the mouth) -- up to 6 percent
- Sinus infection -- up to 5.8 percent
- Bronchitis -- up to 5.4 percent.
Other common side effects, occurring in 1 to 5 percent of people, included:
