I was diagnosed with asthma about 4 years ago. Surely I amnot the only  Grexer
with asthma. What drugs, if any, do you use to control it, and what other
methods have you found helpful?

28 responses total.

I take Atrovent and Azmacort presently. I am low on Azmacort and need to get
a prescription called in ASAP! I have  found that Azmacort helps a lot and
does not taste bad.  Atrovent, however, is like inhaling fumes from a 1973
school bus. I was told to inhale the Atrovent only when I feel an attack
coming on, but i have read that it does not prevent or slow down an attack.
Excercise has helped somewhat since I think it hads made my lungs stronger.

Unlike most asthmatics, I was not asthmatic as a child. I did however have
terrible allergies, to the point where I took shots once a week. I was always
tested for asthma and it always came up negative. Allergies involved me
staying up all night coughing, and I'd have allergic reations from the drugs
used to treat me. I wasn't diagnoed with asthma until I was 20, after feeling
a tightening saensation in my chest on occasion... the best way to describe
it is that I could fel my lungs expand, but  but it was like my rib cage had
shrunk. My doctor told me that the alveoli in my lungs were clamping shut
instead of gradually opening and closing as they do in normal breathing.

So how do you deal with it? Any new drugs out there?

I was diagnosed with "juvenile episodic asthma" at age 18, after the first
ever episode. Been through a lot of crap with it: theophylline <sp> makes me
vomit like a volcano, lots of the other common stuff gives me a rash.
Finally found a D.O. and a program that I like. I do Azmacort and Seravent
(long-acting dialator) am and pm, and albuterol prn. (I can now go for days
without even looking at the albuterol, which is a Very Good Thing.

I have had asthma since childhood.  In fact, the summer of 1961 (when I was
10 years old) was my worst, as I was in bad quite a bit.  In 1962 I needed
to take shots every week for six months.  Although my asthma is now under
control, I do have to take precautions when dealing with possible allergens
such as grass and molds.  Also, this is the main reason why I don't have any
pets.

I have had asthma since the fifth grade and started on Proventil.  As I grew
and my allergies got worse, they upgraded me to Ventalin...I think.  Now I'm
on MaxAir as needed, which contains adrenalin along with the lung-opening
drug.  I shake for twenty minutes, and my heart races, but at least I can
breathe.  I also do a dosage every night with this long tube that attaches
to my inhaler.  This "forces" the medicine into my lungs, making it more
effective.  Do you know that by spraying it into your mouth normally, you can
lose up to 75 percent of the medicine?  ={  I exercise as much as possible
now, and that has made my *exercise-induced* asthma retreat bit by bit.  I
still, however, have a fit when someone smokes around me, pollen is flying,
or there's excessive dust in a room.

Just FYI, Proventil and Ventolin are brand names for albuterol.

Oh yeah -- that's what that fine print in parantheses underneath PROVENTIL
said.  =)  I never read it...
<birdy skips off to read her MaxAir bottle for key medical-type words>

Feel an attack coming on? Try sitting down with a steaming mug of coffee,
inhaling the steam and sipping the caffeine-rich brew. It works for many. 8^}

Coffee?  Yuck.  I *LOVE* the smell, though.  =)  I've heard that caffeine does
wonders for asthma.  When my friend feels an attack coming on at work, she
buys a Mountain Dew.

I'm like beeswing.  I didn't have asthma as a child, but very active
allergies.  Currently, I'm using Aerobid in the morning and Ventolin during
emergencies.  (If I go for a walk the Ventolin goes in my pocket.)  I liked
Seravent better than Aerobid, which tastes nasty.

Sarah, most people don't use their inhalers correctly, which is why they lose
so much of the medication.  My doctor says I should conduct training sessions
on how to properly use an inhaler.  That's because I watched my mother
struggle with asthma for years.

 Proper usage means exhaling as much air from one's lungs possible, then
inserting the inhaler into the mouth, and *closing one's lips around it*.
Wait to inhale until you really *have* to, then inhale as deeply as
possible and *hold your breath* for as long as you can before exhaling.
Wait.  You might have to do some coughing.  After a minute, repeat the
process.

From the time I was 11 until I was 17 my mother spent approximately six
weeks every summer in an oxygen tent in the hospital.  And at least once a
year we would get a phone call in the middle of the night telling us to
come to the hospital to say goodbye as they were losing her.  Then they'd
shoot her full of epinephrine (which is like adrenaline) and she'd rally.
She was lucky.  My next door neighbor lost her grown son two weeks ago to
asthma.  Although he was on medication, the attack came on so swiftly and
so strongly he died.  Asthma is something that is taken far too lightly.

That is how I take my asthma drugs... get all the air out, inhale the stuff,
and hold it. Doctor told me this is how it gets fully circulated in lungs.
By just breathing it out you lose a lot.

Asthma is taken too lightly indeed. I realize I could die from it and that
is scary, even though I have never had a bad attack. People think when you
have an attack to just calm down and think good thoughts. It's like no one
thinks it is a big deal until you pass out.

Trailing back a bit here I'm wondering if you are really using
that inhaler properly.  You shouldn't have your lips firmly
around the opening, making a tight seal.  You'll hardly get
medicine past your upper bronchus if you do (a lot of dead space
where the medication won't work as efficiently).  Instead, leave
your lips loose enough so you don't feel like you're pulling 
air through a straw.  Take a deep, slow breath *while* spraying,
then hold it for as long as comfortable, exhaling slowly.  

Sounds like what Mary is try to get across is that *some* air intake is needed
so that you aren't trying to pull the medication in against a vacuum.

Yep, the medication needs to be entrained, carried deep into the
lungs on air breathed from around the inhaler.  I've heard a lot
of folks teach wrong technique on this one.

Mary's method is the one I was always taught. And if you can't master it, a
spacer is a good thing to have.

I guess I've never been able to make a tight enough seal to make a vacuum.
I said what I did because my son's SO left her mouth wide open when she used
her inhaler, and got very little benefit because of it.    I've seen other
people do that, too.  And they don't hold it in their lungs, either.
Personally, when I'm having an attack I want as much benefit as quickly as
possible as I can get.  This summer I've had the worst attacks I've ever
experienced, and they refused to go away, even with the Ventolin.  I've 
talked to my dr. who is changing my allergy medication from Claritin, for
which I seem to have built up a tolerance.  The recent rains have helped
get the pollen out of the air, too, so it's better now.

My brief personal history of asthma is that several years ago I had some
fairly trivial (for asthma) episodes, always triggered by a combination of
other respiratory infection & some chemical exposure (paint fumes, e.g.)
The primary symptom was coughing -- & I *never* successfully used an inhaler,
the full-exhalation brought on even worse coughing, so my doctor prescribed
albuterol in pill form.

I didn't have my first asthma attack until I was an adult [though I do recalll
developing some wheezing during exercise in HS while on the track team but
it never went into a full blown attack].  After my first full blown nasty
attack [at an m-net party!!; I really thought I was going to die...], I called
the Doctor... After going in to the office to be checked out and given my
ventolin  prescription [and subsequent refills over the years...], NO ONE has
ever taken the time to explaiin how to use it [though I did figure it out.
Yep, Mary's version of how it works is a very good description!]

I know this is a late entry but better late than never?!

Eartha, my wife, has asthma. She has been successfully treating it with herbs.
She has greatly improved.. I ask her what she has done and post it. I know
that she has cut the dairy out of her diet because it causes mucus to build
up in the lungs. Also, caffine and white sugar can bring on a spell for her,
so she has minimized those things in her diet.

I'd better be able to describe how to use an inhaler, Denise.
My dog and pony show is airway management and pain control. ;-)

I thought that the stuff about dairy products and mucus production had been
disproved. (In general, that is. One can find anecdotal evidence for almost
anything.)

It may be allergy-related.  Our older child's medical history suggests that
*for him* the consumption of milk products tends to thicken respiratory
secretions.

There is a very interesting article in the most recent issue of SCIENCE
that provides some evidence for an unexpected cause for some asthma - hygiene.
THe study was done in Japan, and it found that asthma and prior infection
with tuberculosis (identified with the tuberculin test) is strongly
*inversely* related. Earlier evidence for something like this was that
asthma is much less common in east European industrial cities, with lots
of air pollution and much childhood illness, than in clean, hygienic
west European countries. 

The tentative explanation involves some subtle aspects of the immune system.
Apparently "cellular" immune responses to many diseases produce a type
of antibody that does not lead to asthma with asthma-type antigens, while
the antibodies otherwise induced by such antigens (dust mites is the most
common cause in moist climates), called humeral, do lead to asthmatic
responses. Early childhood disease tilts the balance of the body essentially
permanently toward cellular antibodies, much reducing asthmatic response.

The article did not suggest a clinical application of this, although if I
understood it correctly, an immunization that promoted cellular immune
response might reduce the incidence of asthma.

Very interesting! Thanks. I've long suspected that the use of antibiotics has
some negitive side effects that we haven't even thought of yet.

Yep, asthma is getting a lot of research attention lately.  And
what I've seen is a tendency to look at asthma as not one
disease but rather as a symptom of different disease processes.
Some asthma (a type of restrictive lung disease) is indeed
linked to environment, either as an immediate response or as
a cumulative response involving altered immune response.
But then there is asthma that is related to emotional or physical
stressors, allergic responses, and other non-specific and specific
stimuli.

There is even a camp working on research which may
show the etiology as viral.  Just like Type 1 Diabetes.

Is anyone else in this geographic area having particular trouble this season?
I had a couple of ER visits in late March and haven't been truly clear since.
My mom reports much the same, as do a couple of friends. What *is* it lately?
My doc has threatened me with theophylline if I'm not wheeze-free by mid-May.
BLECH!

I have too, Kae.  I feel like I can't take a normal breath sometimes, and my
lungs feel weighted with something *inside* (not the average pressure
described as someone sitting *on* your chest).  It's like having weights *in*
my lungs.  This only occurs about twice a week, aand it's gone within a few
hours.

See the dietING item for what my problem turned out to be. Blech!

Welcome to 2001!
Someone at Glaxo-Wellcome deserves a huge raise and a big hug! Powdered 
inhalers are miraculous!!
I had been on powdered Serevent (referred to as the discus) for a year or 
so, and loved it, but always lamented the fact that Flovent was not 
available the same way. 
Then a g*e*n*i*u*s at G-W not only came up with powdered Flovent, but was 
inspired to put it together with Serevent in the same discus!
One puff, twice daily, and I haven't reached for a rescue inhaler in 
nearly six months.

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