A healthy individual who carries a diagnosis of asthma does not ordinarily require nutritional supplements on account of his or her asthma. Asthma is a respiratory condition and does not affect your body’s ability to...
Is That Possible? Thirty to forty percent of women with asthma who menstruate experience exacerbation of their asthma symptoms in relation to their menstrual cycle. They consistently note increased asthma symptoms either just before or...
Will alternative or complementary medicine treatments be good for my asthma? Scientific evidence available to date is insufficient to answer your question precisely. The term complementary medicine refers to treatments, practices, and products that supplement...
Asthma is of great interest to physicians, scientist researchers, epidemiologists, and public health experts. The National Asthma Education and Prevention Pro-gram’s 440-page updated and expanded EPR-3 published in October 2007 describes in detail the contemporary...
Before answering the question, let’s define what exactly side effects are. Side effects are secondary, nontherapeutic effects unrelated to the primary treatment intent of a medicine. Unlike treatment effects that occur in every-one, a side...
My doctor wants me to take inhaled corticosteroid medication to improve my asthma control, but I am reluctant to take steroids because I heard from a friend that they are dangerous drugs. Are steroids dangerous?...
Steroids such as corticosteroids are naturally occurring chemical substances (hormones) produced by the healthy human body. The individual compounds that make up the steroid family have important roles in regulating many of the critical processes...
The surprising answer is, “No, not necessarily and not usually.” Several studies have demonstrated that inhaled asthma medication delivered from an inhaler (MDI or DPI) is just as effective as that administered via a nebulizer,provided...
A nebulizer is device powered by electrical current or batteries that creates a fine mist of medicine particles that can be inhaled into the lungs’ breathing passages. Nebulizers are fitted with either a mouthpiece or...
A valved holding chamber (VHC) is a commercially manufactured device that is designed to be used in con-junction with MDIs. VHCs make it easier to inhale asthma medicines from MDIs, increase the amount of medicine...
It is easy to know when a DPI is empty because DPIs have incorporated dose counters that help you keep track of how many doses remain in the inhaler and remind you when to refill...
Your doctor has instructed you to rinse your mouth after using your inhaler in order to gently wash away any medicine particles that were not inhaled into the lungs and may have remained behind in...
MDIs are convenient, portable, and highly reliable devices designed to deliver active medicine directly into the lungs by inhalation. MDIs are conceptually similar to DPIs. Both MDIs and DPIs allow for the delivery of accurate,...
DPIs deliver asthma medicine as very fine particles of powder. There are many types of DPIs available on the market in the United States. Additional DPIs are sold abroad. Each type of DPI is manufactured...
Yes, the Diskus is one type of DPI device used in asthma treatment. Other DPI devices that allow for inhalation of asthma medicines include the Aerolizer, the Flex-haler (previously called the Turbuhaler), and the Twisthaler....
What makes HFA inhaler medicine different from the inhaler medicine I was prescribed a few years ago? All MDIs contain active asthma medicine along with an inert material called a propellant. The actual medicine in...
The Montreal Protocol is a landmark, international treaty designed to enhance air quality and to protect the upper-most (or stratospheric) ozone layer. In 1987, 24 countries, as well as the European Economic Community, negotiated and...
The inhaled route of medication delivery represents an ideal method of treating asthma. Asthma is a disease that involves the lungs and bronchial passageways. It therefore makes perfect sense to deliver the medicine directly where...
If you are awakened from sleep in the early morning hours, at 2 or 3 AM for example, with uncomfortable breathing or respiratory symptoms, you are experiencing what asthma specialists refer to as “nocturnal awakenings,”...
All medicines will have at least four different names as they make it from the laboratory to your medicine cabinet. When a drug is first developed, it is given a chemical name that describes its...
Asthma is characterized by periods of increased activity and of symptom remission, as explained in contemporary view of asthma. When your asthma is active (persistent, as per the NAEPP classification), you will need to use...
Different classes of medicines are useful in the treatment of asthma. The NAEPP’s asthma classification helps define the severity of a person’s asthma and assists in guiding therapy. Notice that for each asthma classification, the...
Endotracheal intubation is performed in the setting of respiratory failure due to any cause, including respiratory failure from asthma. It is a potentially life-saving medical intervention. Patients who require endotracheal intubation are critically ill, because...
Respiratory failure develops when the lungs and respiratory system become unable to provide the body with sufficient oxygen (O2) and fail to excrete or “blow off ” accumulated carbon dioxide (CO2). When the major disturbance...
Fatal and near-fatal asthma have been the subject of much interest and study. By obtaining as much information as possible on persons who die or almost die of asthma, we can learn how to prevent...