Posted on 12/02/2008 6:28:14 AM PST by engrpat
WASHINGTON Last warning: Asthma inhalers go "green" on Dec. 31, forcing patients still using the old-fashioned kind to make a pricey and even confusing switch.
The medicine inside these rescue inhalers the albuterol that quickly opens airways during an asthma attack isnt changing. But the chemicals used to puff that drug into your lungs are.
No more chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, which damage Earths protective ozone layer. By years end, all albuterol inhalers must be powered by the more eco-friendly chemical HFA, or hydrofluoroalkane.
The down side: The new inhalers cost more, $30 to $60 compared with as little as $5 for the disappearing generic CFC inhalers.
And patients face a learning curve. HFA inhalers must be used differently than the old-fashioned kind. The medicine feels and tastes different, sometimes alarming new users despite doctors assurances that it works just as well.
"Theres still significant confusion," says Dr. Harvey Leo of the University of Michigans C.S. Mott Childrens Hospital. "Patients will tell you, 'I dont feel the puff anymore. "
Calls from parents unsure how to use the new inhalers, or even what they are, have increased in the past two months as more drugstores run out of CFC-powered inhalers and automatically switch people whod been expecting a mere refill, he adds.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
What in the???
I thought the ozone hole had been fixed? Don't tell me I've been driving around in my 1980 Chrysler Cordoba pulling a 30 foot tandem axle for nothing.
This is the kind of news that makes me go to the SuperFresh, buy 8 sleeves of styrofoam cups and run them over in the parking lot.
Owl_Eagle
When the stock market crashed,
Franklin Roosevelt got on the television
and didnt just talk about
the princes of greed, he said,
Look, heres what happened."
-Slow Joe Biden
Yep, and yet, across the river from the area where we live the smoke stacks at the paper mill pump out white smoke 24/7 but surely those asthma inhalers are much more sinister than that place. Now we know what the haze around L.A. is, all those asthma inhalers are the culprits.
The force of delivery is less so the delivery of medicine into an obstructed breathing passage is not the same. There are peanut and corn-based components as well. These are asthma triggers for some. Drug companies could care less because they get a new patent and can charge premium price. A portable nebulizer may be the only recourse for some. This is lunacy.
Oh, and just so's everyone knows, the new inhalers cause lung cancer. I base this finding on similar research.
Owl_Eagle
When the stock market crashed,
Franklin Roosevelt got on the television
and didnt just talk about
the princes of greed, he said,
Look, heres what happened."
-Slow Joe Biden
Great. More deaths coming due to Greenism.
Bingo!
Maybe they’re worried about 2nd hand cfc /sarc
the democrats are always helping po’ folks .
/s
I hate these damn things. They really don’t help me as well as the old ones do, and I end up having to drag out the nebulizer machine and/or inject myself with epinephrine. There are going to be some lawsuits after a few asthma patients die.
I cannot believe that a few million asthma patients occasionally using an inhaler can seriously impact the environment.
Got to be careful....they have dosages for a reason.
Glad you are ok now.
Maybe I should get enough to last me for a couple years. My asthma is extremely, extremely minor and only really flares up with illness.
huh?
My Albuterol inhalers went from the $10 co-pay list on my prescription plan with my insurance to the $50 co-pay list.
After talking with my doctor and pharmacist, I switched to Levalbuterol (brand name Xopenex), which is on my $10 co-pay list.
Since I usually refill this scrip 4 or 5 times a year, this is saving me several hundred dollars.
Just an FYI for those facing a similar circumstance.
This is going to cost $$$$ in increased ER usage, and also LIVES. Disgusting. These people will be sacrificed to the worship of Gaia....
Thanks, I will check into it. I only know that because of this change my cost for meds have gone through the roof.
And of course we the sheep bitch, moan, complain and do....nothing.
My son has been dealing with asthma for 17 year now and the new “green inhaler” sprays are almost completely ineffective. They do not propel the medicine with enough force to reach deep enough into the lungs to stem an accute asthma attack.
He has the first generation Omron Ultrasonic (portable battery powered) nebulizer that he now has to carry with him at all times rather than a small inhaler.
ANYONE having an asthmatic child should STRONGLY consider going this route as failure to do so could be fatal.
I have a long history of dealing with asthma issues and have dealt with the best available and Obama’s statements about taking kids to the ER over asthma reveal a real lack of understanding about the matter. There are times when only an ER visit can solve the problem and sometimes it can become touch and go as I have been there too.
Flovent has been “HFA” for several years now, but Albuterol is just being switched over. And yes, the new formulation gives the companies a chance to make more money on this switch...
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