Are you being stupid in dosing yourself?

Uh, kind of. Since you can't self-prescribe a way to monitor your theophylline levels, and going on and off other drugs can vastly affect the levels in your body, leading to a sharp upslope in side effects, which include things like seizures, and death.

Which is why a lot of people hate prescribing theophylline; because it has to be monitored closely, and the therapeutic dosage is just this side of the lethal dosage.

If it works for you, great, but PLEASE for the love of all that is holy get your doctor to prescribe it so you can have your levels monitored!

The reason why theophylline is not so popular now is probably that there are many other safer and more effective choices.
New medications are coming on the market.
Particularly serevent, Long-acting Beta Agonist, has taken tha place of theophylline, because
it works in a similar way with theophylline; it works by relaxing the muscles around the airways in the lungs.
Also asthma medications are becoming more and more control-oriented, targetting chemical substances causing airway inflammation.
Singulair is an example of this. This is a leukotriene blocker.
Have you ever tried them?
If you continue to take theophylline, your blood level should be checked constantly.
Hope this would help. :bouncing:

You should not be taking theophylline and not be seeing a doc. Theophylline levels need to be check MONTHLY. I was on theo for years, (it was the only drug that helped me, the newer ones did nothing for me.) If your levels get too low or high it can effect your body in real bad way. In general, as an asthmatic you have to be careful with everything you take even OTC stuff.