The Asthma Gap: Another take on the Inhaler Changeover

I definitely feel that the new inhalers (HFA) are not as helpful as the old ones.

I agree that the new inhalers don't give me the immediate relief I got from the old one and I doubt if it is because I haven't rinsed it. I've noticed it right from the first burst. I will however, begin to rinse the inhaler now without any expectation that it will improve the "help" I get. Perhaps it was the propellent that gave the relief. Has there been any checking on that? I also wish to comment on MY perception of the writer of this article.I found the tone to be condecending and wonder if this author has asthma or any lung disease. I often encounter disbelief or discounting of my breathing difficulties from people who have no idea that I'm not making it up.

I have my regular M.D. from Duke. I also have a pulmonologist from Duke from the Pulmonology Specialized Clinic. I am prescribed two CFC Albuterol Inhalers for each month because I use my inhaler mulitiple times each day. I have asthma and COPD. When my airway closes up, 99% of the time, I have now wheezing, coughing, chest tightness or anything like that. It's one thing only for me; my airway closes up out of nowhere. The rescue inhaler opens it up immediately. For the first time ever, I have now experienced a near-death experience from my airway not opening up after a pharmacist gave what I now know was an HFA inhaler. I had to be revived and hospitalized. I didn't think much of the "new box" when I had it filled, thinking it was the same stuff as what I was taking. When I got home from the hospital, shortly thereafter I needed my inhaler again and took the HFA. Nothing happened so I ran for the left-overs from a canister of my old inhaler which was called Warrick and got immediate relief. Unfortunatly, I am alergic to singulair and am unable to take any of the powdered control inhalers. Now I know that I can't take HFA either. Most recently I was put on something called levelbuterol (an inhaler) and that gave me no relief, although I kept trying it for a two-month period. (I always kept though my Warrick inhaler with me while they had me testing this). When I am having an asthma attack, I know them well. They are the attacks with the wheezing. The other ones are different. My airway just decides it's going to close up. Both to this day, are terrifying to me since my hospitalization, more than ever. Thanks to my doctors, I feel like I've become an expert on how to use HFA inhalers, the washing, it feeling different going in, etc. The taste I could care less about or even about how it feels and washing it. No big deal to me because like most, I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that my inhaler is going to work for me because my life depends on it. It still boils down to the fact that those inhalers don't work and my doctors saying that there is nothing out of the ordinary for me to have to use my two Warricks every month because my disease requires it. I asked about steroids because I had heard so many say that it helped. I found out that I had already been on them (and didn't know it) in the past and that they did not improve my lung function tests. Thanks for listening. I also found a lot of good information on how to keep my CFC inhaler possibly at the following linnk: http://tinyurl.com/yphmp4