Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Put people first [Environmentalists outlawed the best asthma inhalers!]
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | December 29, 2007 | SHAWN PIRRUNG

Posted on 12/29/2007 10:02:50 AM PST by grundle

This is the problem with the politicians, and especially those who are so worried about the environment: They forget what and who is important -- people. The reason I say this is because of what has happened with prescription inhalers used for asthma treatment.

I recently needed to refill my inhaler and was told by the local pharmacist that the inhaler was now different because it contained ingredients that harmed the ozone layer. However, these ingredients were the most effective for helping calm down an asthma attack.

I was also informed by the pharmacy that since the medication was altered, it was not covered by my prescription coverage because it is now considered a new medication.

To make a long story short, I had a minor asthma attack and this new, altered inhaler did almost nothing to help. I then went to the emergency room and needed to receive a couple of breathing treatments to settle down my breathing. I then informed the ER doctor what inhaler I used and he actually began to laugh, saying, "It's crazy that the medication would be altered like this. Don't they know how many millions of people rely on inhalers for asthma relief?"

I was diagnosed as asthmatic when I was about 7 or 8 years old and have needed to use inhalers every day since. I ask you this: What happens to the elderly who rely on inhalers also and who are on fixed incomes? Will they receive the same rude awakening when they are advised that these asthmatic medications are now not covered by insurance because they supposedly harm the ozone layer?

(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: asthma; enviros; envirowhackos; health; medicine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-113 next last
To: bboop
Isn’t it too bad that this article includes NO specifics? It’s so vague, for those of us whose families use inhalers, that there is actually no reason to read it and truly no real information to glean from it.

Why should it? It's an ill-informed rant, not an "article" in the information-passing sense of the term.

41 posted on 12/29/2007 10:53:12 AM PST by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: McLynnan
Wow, shows how naive I am. Wonder if all the hydrocodone seeking addicts know about this.

LOL. You can't order hydrocodone. It's a controlled substance. But you can order an asthma inhaler, an antibiotic, blood pressure medication, prescription eye drops etc... and you may be shocked at how large some of the price differences are.

42 posted on 12/29/2007 11:01:12 AM PST by freespirited (Still a proud member of the Stupid Party. It beats the Evil Party any day of the week.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: grundle

*growls*

This doesn’t surprise me one bit. I’ve personally had enviro-whackos tell me that they would support everything from violating the Constitution to outright genocide if it ‘ensured their future’.

And of course, for being against these fascist tactics, I’m accused of hating the environment (I do care about the earth...I’m just not going to shut my brain down and throw caution to the wind protecting it), I don’t care about my childrens’ future (assuming I have children with freaks like them running around), etc etc etc.

It’s times like these I wish time travel was possible. I’d like to go back in time and give that woman (what’s her name) who wrote that story or paper about the effects of DDT a piece of my mind. She was the beginning of the “save the environment at all costs” movement.


43 posted on 12/29/2007 11:01:49 AM PST by RWB Patriot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Morgan in Denver

This whole ozone layer thing is BullSquat. They didn’t even know of its existence until technology became sophisticated enough to detect and measure it. Then socialist environmentalists arbitrarily started to make up theories about it. As for CFCs, the aledged culprit that they espouse, if you look at an analysis of the CFCs spewed out in a typical volcano such as Mount St. Helens, the quantities makes man-made CFCs a dwarf contribution by comparison. This is like man-made global warming. Anyone believing than man could even begin to create this stuff in the quantities that nature does is a complete idiot.
It’s all just more Junk-Science.


44 posted on 12/29/2007 11:01:53 AM PST by BuffaloJack (Before the government can give you a dollar it must first take it from another American)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BuffaloJack

Agreed. I have to remember it because I have to buy Freon occasionally, IF I can find it.


45 posted on 12/29/2007 11:04:22 AM PST by Morgan in Denver (If you hate Bush you deserve Hillary.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Morgan in Denver
Environmentalist extremists don’t care. Consider how many people have died because of the DDT ban.

Exactly. To the eco-nuts, the only illegitimate species on this planet is Homo sapiens.

46 posted on 12/29/2007 11:05:06 AM PST by hunter112 (Hillary Clinton - America’s Ex-Wife®)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: r9etb
The fellow claims his medication changed. It did not.

Read it again closer. His insurance company is who made the claim. They did it so the drug list formulary would be changed making it a new medication thus saving them a bundle. If you read it closely it makes sense. The propellant ingredients as well as the medication is what actually made it effective thus it is altered. Changing the ingredients including the propellant changed the medication. The propellant is as much a part of the treatment as the chemicals it delivers. That is how they work. If you don't get a good delivery it's useless.

47 posted on 12/29/2007 11:07:32 AM PST by cva66snipe (Proud Partisan Constitution Supporting Conservative to which I make no apologies for nor back down)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: BuffaloJack

The problem with the ban on CFCs is that socialist environmentalists were able to railroad the bans through before the era of blog chat rooms like Free Republic. They took advantage of the fact that there wasn’t an organized resistance to the dogma of alarmism that was being spread by the environmental movement. If the ozone layer had been discovered one year ago and they tried this propaganda campaign, it wouldn’t work. Its harder to badger the real scientists now than it was 10 or 15 years ago.


48 posted on 12/29/2007 11:08:14 AM PST by BuffaloJack (Before the government can give you a dollar it must first take it from another American)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: McLynnan

Is the problem that the product is no longer an aerosol, or is the problem that it is an aerosol but lacks CFC?


49 posted on 12/29/2007 11:08:52 AM PST by freespirited (Still a proud member of the Stupid Party. It beats the Evil Party any day of the week.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: freespirited

I’m relieved about the hydrocodone, lol. Thanks for the link — I’ve bookmarked it. Besides checking out FR, the reason I sat down at the computer this afternoon was to order pet meds. I’ll try your link first next time. I use Retin A and the price difference looks significant even with my copay. I also use Restasis (eyedrops) so will check that out too.


50 posted on 12/29/2007 11:09:12 AM PST by McLynnan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Morgan in Denver

“Environmentalist extremists don’t care. Consider how many people have died because of the DDT ban.”

Good response.


51 posted on 12/29/2007 11:18:41 AM PST by freekitty ((May the eagles long fly our beautiful and free American sky.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: grundle
"This is the problem with the politicians, and especially those who are so worried about the environment: They forget what and who is important -- people."

The environmentalists and the politicians they OWN do NOT believe that people are important. The planet and its animal inhabitants all come before worthless humans. Soon the politicians will figure out a way to have the animals registered and their "advocates" able to vote for them if the illegals don't pan out.

52 posted on 12/29/2007 11:21:02 AM PST by penowa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: grundle

This is so true. I complained to my doctor and pharmacist about the new inhalers, saying they didn’t work nearly so well as the previous ones. They agreed with me and said that in default of satisfactory bronchodilators, providers were turning more and more to using nebulizers and inhaled or oral steroids than had been the case in the past twenty-five or so years. We have taken several steps back in the care of asthma patients, and some patients are going to pay with their lives.

Yet what, really, is the benefit to the environment if a few asthma patients allow a few sprays of this dispensing medium into the atmosphere? The idea that the tiny amount in one actualization of a lung spray could actually harm the environment or contribute to global warming is absurd.


53 posted on 12/29/2007 11:34:10 AM PST by ottbmare
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mygirlsmom

I didn’t know there had been a chance. Is it the medical formulation that is junk, or only the inhaler?
My 2 year old has asthma.


54 posted on 12/29/2007 11:38:13 AM PST by tbw2 (Science fiction with real science - "Humanity's Edge" - on amazon.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: grundle

It used to be that public health and safety came first. This is no longer the case. Consider the millions of acres of unmanaged forest and dangerous fuel build up near communities. Even when local government declares it a hazard and a public nuisance and orders abatement, the environmentalist simply appeal, vetoing any effort to reduce the hazard.

It really is the smae thing as asthma inhalers. Regulations used to be limited to the prevention of substantial injury to public health and safety. Now, they not only run to further public policy to promote actions favoring animals and plants and to reduce an imagined miniscule contribution to global warming, they subordinate the original intent and justification of regulations with individual freedom falling to the side.


55 posted on 12/29/2007 11:45:37 AM PST by marsh2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pandoraou812

“Ping!”


56 posted on 12/29/2007 11:45:42 AM PST by yorkie ( For God so loved the world........................ that He didn't send a committee.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: McLynnan

For pet meds I sometimes use a place in Australia. Never had a problem with them, they are reputable.

http://www.petshed.com

Best price I could find on the Frontline Plus.


57 posted on 12/29/2007 11:48:41 AM PST by freespirited (Still a proud member of the Stupid Party. It beats the Evil Party any day of the week.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Mygirlsmom; r9etb

This may sound strange......but have you tried caffeine?

A medical doctor told my friend that caffeine has a molecule that is almost identical to that of medications found in asthama inhalers.

Doctor says caffeine is a lung inflater (serves the same purpose as inhalers).

My friend who used an inhaler 1-2 a day now takes sips of caffinated coffee at the onset of an attack, and no longer needs an inhaler.

The caffeine must be brewed coffee-—instant does not work.

Might be a good idea to check with your doctor before proceeding-—although there are no known cures for asthama. If you find a treatment that works-—great.

Another way to help the condition is to amp up your Omega 3’s. Usually found in salmon, but many asthmatics cannot eat seafood. You can buy flaxseed oil or flaxseed meal that is easily added to foods (it has no flavor-—and about 2000 mg of Omega 3).


58 posted on 12/29/2007 12:16:21 PM PST by Liz (Rooty's not getting my guns or the name of my hairdresser.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: penowa

Geez, maybe that’s what NAIS is really all about (and I’m hoping I’m being sarcastic)


59 posted on 12/29/2007 12:25:33 PM PST by coydog (Keep Canada green - paint a Liberal!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: Liz

Thanks Liz. My inhaler use is limited - I don’t have asthma per se, but my girls and I have inhalers that we use on occasion. I am a recent convert to coffee (what have I been missing all these years?) and have found that my breathing is actually better. I never made the connection.


60 posted on 12/29/2007 12:32:33 PM PST by Mygirlsmom (Realtiy check: Fred is the only VIABLE conservative in this race.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-113 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson