Friday Links: Singulair Effectiveness, Suicide and Asthma, Medical Texting
Singulair Helps Girls, Kids Exposed to Secondhand Smoke More
Okay, I know Singulair is a touchy subject right now. My own kid doesn’t take it because of several side effects, but this is good news for asthma patients who can tolerate it. National Jewish researchers have noted how well girls and children exposed to nicotine smoke respond to Singuliar, but they also think they figured out some biomarkers that more accurately identify which patients will respond to Singulair.
There’s a great quote about asthma towards the end, too:
Increasingly we have come to understand that asthma is not just one disease; it is more likely several diseases that present with similar symptoms. Thus different medications are likely to work for different patients.
And more or less related to that:
Possible Link Between Adult Asthma and Suicide Attempts
Singulair’s a touchy subject because of all the recent news about side effects like depression and a possible link to suicide? Well, now there’s possible evidence of a link between asthma and suicide.
In this study, adults with asthma were 50% more likely to have suicidal thoughts and attempts than those without. As always, this one piece of research isn’t definitive proof but instead points to a need for more study. However, note that researchers did control for other, more obvious suicide risk factors like depression and alcoholism.
Texting Medicine Reminders to Teens
First, I’m simultaneously horrified and unsurprised that only 30% (estimated) of teens take their preventative asthma meds the way they should. And while I hope AG falls into that conscientious third, I’m not holding my breath. The child forgets her glasses at school, her library book on the bus, her lunchbox here at home, her various articles of clothing at friends’ houses. . . .
The list goes on and on and on.
But Cincinnati doctors are experimenting with daily text reminders for daily meds, since teens are on their cell phones all the time anyway. Add to that the way teens tend to treat their symptoms as they occur rather than try to prevent them, and you can see the logic here. The study has implications for all kinds of chronic illness like diabetes or pediatric cancer survivors who must take follow-up medicines to stay in remission.
After Natural Disasters, Rebuilding Brad Pitt-Style
From my newest Celsias.com article:
Because I live in Florida, it’s possible that I pay more attention to high-intensity storms than most. It’s also possible I follow the cycle of natural disasters and rebuilding in particular because I live on the Gulf Coast of Florida, which is battered by hurricanes practically every summer. While I’ve been lucky enough not to experience anything on the level of Katrina or the recent Burma cyclone, I’ve seen plenty of destroyed homes, downed trees, and eroded coastline. Lately, I’m fascinated by the trend of viewing storm-damaged cities as blank slates and turning them into models of ecological sustainability.
Read the whole article.
Filed under: Asthma Girl, Asthma Meds, Asthma News & Research, Asthma Parents, Children's Asthma, Children's Health, Environment, Friday Links, Healthcare, Self-Pimpage
There you go… self pimping again!
I like the idea of texting teens. And I’m alarmed that the compliance rate is only 30% in that age group… jeeze louise.
I almost made taco sald last night but at the last minute, changed it to chicken soft tacos! So close! But you were the inspiration! (and I didn’t have any lettuce)
I always rely on you for my up to date asthma info. I neve heard that about asthmatics and suicide, but ti would make sense wouldn’t it. I know that I was not compliant with my prophylactic medicine when I was a teen, despite how bad my asthma got at times. I was stupid.
Haha I was one of that 70% crowd that didn’t take their meds.
To be honest, I don’t think it was me being forgetful. I think it’s more the fact that puffers are *totally* uncool at that age, conjuring up images of nerds sniffling and whining “wait up.. I have asthma!” At least, that’s kind of how my friends and myself perceived it. I never wanted to take puffers in front of people, or even excuse myself to do so. Thus, my asthma was pretty out of control.
This may sound horrible, but even today, I’m not a fan of when people I know whip out their steroids and put on a big show about how bad their asthma is, because it seems like they are waiting for the right time to take them to get attention.
While texting may well be a good idea for teens who forget, I think we really need to be re-educating them about what asthma really is, and why it is so important to take their meds on a regular basis. This would especially help kids who have grown up with asthma, and don’t really know anything else. Because I’ve had asthma since I was 6 months old, I sort of took the attitude that ‘it hasn’t killed me yet’, so it can’t be as bad as people say it is. The fact that I was just used to not breathing well didn’t help either.
It took one scary encounter in the emergency room with a doctor telling me that “asthma still kills people you know” to begin to even think about asthma having an effect on me and my life.
Asthmagirl, Happy to be your go-to girl for hot weather advice, lol.
Freadom, I do wonder what the new suicide research is going to do re: the FDA’s examination of Singulair. Either way, it’s good to see more attention on the emotional impact of asthma.
Heather, You’re giving me nightmares about when my daughter becomes a teen 4 years from now!
I joke, but really–I love the perspective in your comment. I’m trying to bring my daughter up to respect the seriousness of asthma while trying not to freak her out about it at the same time. For just the reason you mention, too–her first flare was at 10 months, so asthma is a fact of life for her.
I love your idea of re-education during the teen years–ESPECIALLY stressing how it still kills people, despite medical advances. Thanks again, and I hope you stick around on the site!
Haha…I just may stick around. I think I still have a few things to learn!
Don’t even get me started on the singulair thing. A doctor was pushing that on me in September and I am *so* glad I did my own research (thank goodness for being a student and having good access to journals) and decided not to go for it. Medication is a very personal thing though, and far be it from me to judge who takes it…but I do wonder how safe it might be for children when there are serious side effects associated in adult populations. Are there many studies of singulair in small children out there?
I remember my mom saying that they once had me on a ‘new’ (circa 1987-88) asthma drug and I was constantly scared because of the bugs crawling all over the wall.
Good.
I’ve not seen many studies that focus on children specifically and Singulair–doesn’t mean they’re not out there, just that I don’t know of them. I do know that 5 years ago, when my daughter first tried Singulair and it hadn’t been approved for very long, I struggled to find information about side effects in kids once she started having problems. In fact, I ended up living on message boards (sure wish there had been blogs then) and trying to find other parents whose kids might be having similar problems.
Anyway, the bug thing is JUST like one of my kid’s reactions to Singulair’s. Terrible nightmares, and she’d wake up screaming b/c she thought there were spiders crawling all over her. That–plus a few other symptoms–made me take her right off the stuff.