Looks like the FDA may use tougher language on the Serevent and Advair black box warnings.
At least, that’s what yesterday’s committee suggested to the FDA after considering salmeterol’s possible side effects in asthmatic children.
The current warning should address children specifically, says the independent committee, and it should warn that using the drug increases the risk [...]

Filed under: EPA & FDA Fun, Lung Drugs, News & Research | 8 people talking »

When I write about asthma, I often assume (wrongly) that you’ve been dealing with the disease for 8 long years, same as me. I also sometimes leave out information in the interests of space and time and the desire not to repeat what you already know. However, my blog stats reveal searches for info about [...]

Filed under: EPA & FDA Fun, Lung Drugs, News & Research | 5 people talking »

I hope you and your children all had a healthy Thanksgiving weekend. AG came through without a flare as I hoped, although she was coughing this morning on the way to school. I think her problems may have something to do with the torrential downpour and accompanying pressure change that started around midnight and hasn’t [...]

Filed under: Lung Drugs | 1 person talking »

Hello, it’s off-topic day here at the Blog of Inferior Breathing.
I don’t generally leave my house the day after Thanksgiving. Yes, I know there are deals to be had out there and my budget sorely requires them, but I dislike shopping on the good days and my sanity just can’t take the push-and-shove madness of [...]

Filed under: Holidays | Talk to me »

This is my older daughter, the one I call Asthma Girl on this blog.
She is eight years-old and has not needed oral steroids in two years.
She plays competitive basketball and rides horses.
She swims like crazy.
She rollerblades and heelys like a fiend.
She must use an inhaler at school, though not everyday.
She sleeps at night, usually without [...]

Filed under: Holidays, My Asthma Girl & Me | Talk to me »

But I am happy for health insurance, which I didn’t have through the first half of my pregnancy with Asthma Girl.
I’m also grateful for inhaled corticosteroids and the All Children’s pediatric pulmonologist and gastroenterologist who helped me get control of AG’s asthma and digestive issues. Asthma action plans have helped, too.
Finally, I’m thankful for peak [...]

Filed under: Holidays, Lung Drugs, My Asthma Girl & Me | Talk to me »

I like Thanksgiving even if I have no great love of turkey and am kind of grossed out by the gluttony factor. See, while I know the healthy approach to life involves daily gratitude and letting the little things go, my perspective is generally less peaceful and accepting. I am the kind of person who [...]

Filed under: Holidays | Talk to me »

In a much more important and better researched study of the link between stress and asthma than my post about how the holidays always set off a flare for Asthma Girl, researchers have uncovered a pretty strong link between post-traumatic stress disorder and asthma. You can read about the study in more detail at Science [...]

Filed under: Holidays | Talk to me »

Okay, I pretty much never send Christmas cards because I suck. I’d like to say I’ve made the conscious, eco-friendly decision to reduce waste by forgoing the holiday card tradition, but really that’s just a happy side effect of my forgetting and my inability to plan ahead.
But if I did send these hypothetical cards, I’d [...]

Filed under: Air Quality, Holidays | 2 people talking »

We rarely make it through major holidays without Asthma Girl flaring up at least once, and usually badly. Something about the excitement of leaving town, the thrill of the holiday itself, the different environment, the decreased sleep–I could go on with more reasons, but what doesn’t set asthma off? The list is short.
This year we’re [...]

Filed under: Holidays | 1 person talking »