Do you blame asthmatics for not wanting to take cortisteroids? Did you know that Advair is on the list for the least likely medication that physicians will use for themselves or their families? What about the side effects of Cortisteroids. Do you honestly believe that it doesn't cause damage? Of course it does, it is permanent and makes people worse. People have become puppets. Look at real scientific studies, not heresay or rhetoric from the Big Pharmaceutical (that profits from our asthma) or the M.D. I listen to my Naturopathic Doctor and I am getting better all of the time. I was given a plethoria of medications and 2 Doctors told me I was going to die anyway, so why take medications? I am fine now as I went to a Naturopathic Doc. who is also a Nutritionist (and Most MD's know nothing, if anything about nutrition and what can trigger asthma, as well supplements that can strengthen the immune response to stimulis that triggers asthma.
I don't believe we need our health care managed, I believe we need to start managing the pharmaceutical companies and Doctors who get perks from these same companies and profit greatly from our illnesses. I want a choice of treatment, and my choice is healthy diet, exercise, supplements and learning how to breathe properly. I take no medications but have one rescue inhaler with me in case of emergency, which I never use, but I also know that I have asthma. I doubt if this will be published.
No, but I have taken it. I take Quercetin/Bromelain 3 x day with 2000 mg Vit C (Esther C as reg. C can cause diarrhea), flax oil, vitamine, NAC (which helps us produce glutathione in our bodies. also use sterilized hypertonic sea water (by Sinomarin) in my nebulizer in place of the Xopenex and if I do need the Xopenex, I dilute it with the seawater as it makes me nervous. Rarely do I need the xopenex now and I seem to be improving all the time. I have adult onset asthma and I don't mean to say all Doctors are bad, but there are so many who are caught up in a pharmaceutical mentality, and it's frustrating! I use to work for Doctors for many years, saw it all the time, perks from these big coompanies, free trips. I find so many compromise their own values, what happened to the Soccrates Oath? Bless the good ones and there are many. Pharmaceuticals can be life-saving in emergency situations, but we need to learn how to get healthy and stay healthy, and drugs can't heal or maintain our health. We can't depend on pills for everything. Our bodies are amazing and if we take care of them, we can prevent dis-ease in them. Do you have asthma?
re: Advair use. I used Advair for over 5 years. It was a 'miracle' drug for me at the time as it pushed my disease in the background and I was able to live my life without asthma symtoms. Then I kept started getting wildly beating heart beats. Sometimes it felt like the bed was moving from the intensity of the beating. At emergency care they kept telling me it was my asthma not my heart. The last time I had to get emergency care my arm was tingling and I kept feeling like I was going to lose conscientiousness. Again, I was told that it was my asthma. There was no airway obstruction, no wheezing, in other words, no asthma symtoms as I had known them. The doctor said that my lungs were hardly pulling in any air. After doing some looking online I decided that Salmeterol was causing my lungs to fail. I went off of Advair and felt great for a while, but of course, it all started getting bad again. So I have decided that I will take a inhaled corticosteriod again, but then trying to find one that didn't bankrupt me is the challenge. I am going to try Qvar because it is the most economical. Then I am moving to a country with a socialist government (Portugal) that has a more humane medical care for its citizens. you can get many medicines over the counter using the advise of the pharmacist and everything medical seems to cost so much less in every other country. I agree with the person is indignant with the 'pill' approach to everything. But I wonder..isn't that the only tool Dr's have? (besides scapels, of course)
Sorry Tanfan, I didn't get this until now,actually only tried it for a while, didn't stick with it so perhaps it's worth giving a try.
Have you ever heard of Diamond V XPC, do a google and read a bit about it. There is also a human version now called Epicore which is what my whole family takes everyday. It helps build up the immune system and seems to be doing the job for all of us. My mom is 89 and takes no medications and is doing great and none of us gets sick anymore, probably one of the biggest fear of the asthmatic.
Also, processed foods really must go and sugar will all cause asthma exacerbations. Our health is so important, not a pill to make us think we're healthy!
I agree with you, lilylangtree, that it's best to stay away from processed foods and sugar.
Also, thanks for telling me about Diamond V XPC and EpiCor! I found a link here about EpiCor: http://www.naturodoc.com/library/cancer/epicor.htm
Where do you (personally) buy EpiCor, and how much do you take each day?
Also, have you ever taken Diamond V XPC, and how much?
Thanks!
I take 2 capsules per day (1000 mg) but I am not sure u need that much, I always take more of healthy things, but it's probably not necessary. It does seem that my system is more in balance all the way around since I started. It won't cure a cold once you have it, but it will prevent you from getting one in the first place! The person who told me about it is a Doctor, who hasn't been to a Doctor for about 40 years and he never gets sick and agrees to stay away unless theres no other recourse. Medical Doctor's are necessary and can save lives but I believe medications like steroids should be used only for life-saving measures, not ongoing treatment as it does not heal anything, if anything, it tears one's immune system apart, my friend who's a nurse takes it and she talks like a man and it causes diabetes, obesity and osteoporosis, there has to be something better than that. Yikes! I want my immune system to be strong, not worn down and shattered, because I might need it someday!
What now you want the government to tell you what you have to do with your body . Not me . They already tell me to much already . Oh yes and i was born with asthma and my mother had me on a regimine and i was sick all the time , It was only when i grew up and could decide for myself ,that i decided to only use a rescue inhaler and forget the rest . Guess what i hardly ever have to use an inhaler at all and i don't get sick all the time . So who should tell us what we should or should not do with our bodies . I'm an adult of legal age to make my own decisions . And I choose not to be addicted to meds in order to breath and yes i exerciseand run and everything . I'm talking when i was a kid i had three shots a week to breath or so they said . I had pneumonia every year of my life . Then i turned eighteen and made the decision to get off all that crap . I smoked for many years also . I quit smoking five years ago . and like i said i quit using anything except the rescue inhaler on emergency basis only an i breath better than i ever have.
I am totally with you! This government, no Doctor, no pharmaceutical company and no law will ever dictate to me what drug I must take for my asthma.
I also only use a rescue inhaler and I am doing great, don't get sick now as I eat healthy, avoid processed and poisoned foods that is being fed to us, exercise and breathe! Also take supplements and eat no dairy products.
I stumble across these blogs (?) or discussion pages and have to laugh. You have one person (male/female) expressing some "educated" opinion about what asthmatics do or don't do. They rely on some vague research they've stumbled across say, like this one. They give some reference to some vague study that is supported by the pharmaceutical company in question and think it's the bible of asthmatics and asthma treatment. Here's something I can point out to you and whoever reads this; maybe one or two. Let me just start by stating.... In your right mind and common sense, would you suck dried powder into your lungs when there are many other saline inhalers out there? Have you ever used your common sense and thought about the fact that doctors get kickbacks from pharmaceutical representatives who push their particular drugs? Did you know that a certain pharmaceutical company has won several awards for their marketing stratigies? Do you honestly think they care about your lungs? Did you know that a pharmaceutical company was under investigation by the FDA for lying on their application? Why lie? Why mislead the FDA researchers about a product? Do you think you would be any better or worse if a particular asthma drug was never developed? Do you know that there has never been a study that researches a sampling of, let's say, 100 asthmatics and has had some of their lung tissue removed to see if there has been some type of, let's say for the layman, clogging and therefore diminishing the capability of the lungs to process oxygen. Who's going to allow lung tissue to be removed? Better yet.... has there ever been studies on cadaver lung tissue to study the affects on the lungs by certain dry powder inhalers? No... and there never will be. Has there ever been a study on asthmatics who have been asthmatic for over 20 years using a particular inhaler? No.... the research throughout the years has only done sampling on all races (well not all????), ages and how long you've been an asthmatic; SAMPLINGS. The dry powder you're sucking into your lungs has an ingredient that was patented in the early 1900s. It was used in topical creams. Who in the world and in their right mind would think to develope it so that humans could suck it into their lungs? Remember drugs react differently to all of us all the time. Do you or we know if you're actually killing yourself by sucking in dry powder inhalents? Just because a drug is the best "selling" doesn't mean it's the best for you. No other drug in it's class has had such serious accusations attached to it. No other drug has had such an "outcry" concerning it. Yet the person responsible for this posting promotes and promotes. Marketing and marketing. You and I will never know this person's true intentions... NEVER. Use your common sense. Pretend the drug doesn't exist and pursue another.. there are many to choose from. My common sense tells my heart to stay away from dry powder inhalents. Don't take my word..... there are thousands who have had issues with this dry powder inhalents. Stop and think about what dry inhalents might be doing to your lung's ability to properly process oxygen. Please.
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Hi, Rick. I'm really new to this, but I must say I am afraid not to take my Advair every day. I am in the middle of my second week of this medication. I take if faithfully twice a day. It stays in my purse, in case I forget to use it before I go to work. The asthma attack I had a few weeks ago scared me into compliance.
I should have added another link to this post. I think (know) a lot of asthmatics who are afraid to take their asthma medicines (particularly Advair) because of all the warnings on the box. However, I write in this post that Advair warnings are not warranted, and Advair is safe to use as prescribed. So don't be afraid to use it.
I like to remind my readers once in a while that I too used to be a noncompliant asthmatic. I only took my inhaled corticosteroid when I remembered or when I was sick, and then I couldn't figure out why I was always having asthma trouble. Since I started taking Advair everyday I rarely have asthma trouble.
So in writing shareposts like this I'm writing from experience in a dont-be-like-I-used-to-be kind of fashion -- Don't be a Joe Goofus. Do be a Gallant Asthmatic.
Rick,
It pains me to see you state unequivocally that Advair is safe. It also pains me to see you dismiss the FDA's "black box" warning, because warnings such as these, on this and other drugs, I'm sure have saved many lives. Most likely, Advair is safe for the vast majority of people when taken as prescribed, and undoubtedly, it is true that it has helped many people; yet if Advair were unequivocally safe for everyone, why would the FDA be intent on designing studies to test whether Advair -- which is a combination of a long-acting beta-agonist (LABA) and an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) -- "increases the risk of asthma-related exacerbations," compared with an ICS alone? See http://www.inverseon.com/LABAs_Cvr_032210.pdf. [Note: for anyone reading this article, I did not add the yellow highlighting present in a small portion of it.]
In my comments on another thread (http://www.healthcentral.com/asthma/c/962/113137/comments), I have even outlined why Drs. Andrew Mosholder and David Graham of the FDA believe it would be unethical to conduct such studies, particularly on children, because there is already evidence that a LABA + ICS combination (e.g., Advair) is unsafe, compared with an inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) alone. (I.e., it is the LABA component of Advair that adds risk.)
In the end, if Advair "agreed" with me, I'm sure I would "pulling" for it, too, not to be removed from the market, but to unequivocally state (or imply) that it is safe for everyone, I think is an overstatement.
In your article above, though, you have essentially conflated taking Advair with taking one's prescribed inhaled corticosteroid (ICS). Of course, I am all in favor of the latter; it's just that I think the safer alternative would be to take an inhaled corticosteroid without taking a LABA. To paraphrase what Dr. James Thompson has said in his comment #4 to your earlier article (http://www.healthcentral.com/asthma/c/52325/106429/comments), there are alternatives for the small minority of people who are intolerant of Advair or Symbicort -- although I should hasten to add that Dr. Thompson agrees with you that people should not be afraid to take Advair or Symbicort.