Re: The Writings of Dr. Guy E. Abraham, MD

>I wish I could get her off of the inhalers.

Paraboy,

As you know, I recently tried EVERYTHING to avoid using the inhalers. Nothing worked, and my asthma continued spiraling downhill until I was within hours of going to the emergency room. At that point I had no choice so I went to the doctor to get treated, and my lungs are now back to normal. I did learn a lot from this experience.

The doctor gave me a huge shot of steroids, and put me on steroid pills for a week. She prescribed the Dulera inhaler and some Singulair ( Montelukast Sodium Tablets)asthma tablets. Now my breath Peak Flow Test is almost normal for my age at 500 cfm. Ideal is 530cfm for me.

When there is an asthma attack, there is nothing else that will work to open up the constricted breathing passages but the emergency inhaler Ventolin. Ideally Ventolin should not be used more than 1 time a month, if used more often, then that is a sign that the cortisteroid inhaler such as Flomax should be used more frequently,

The best I can do is to minimize the use of the inhalers, and I have a plan for this. I just got my Microlife Peak Flow Breath meter today from Amazon.Com.
http://www.microlifeusa.com/product_peakflow.asp


I plan to measure my breath every morning and not take the steroid inhaler if my peak lung flow is "Normal." I know that I can go for months, sometimes a year or more without using any inhalers at all. The trick is to start back on the Cortisteroid inhaler BEFORE I get into a downward spiral.

So when my breath peak flow begins dropping down toward 50% of normal (250cfm), then it is time to start using the Cortisteroid inhaler again until peak flow returns to normal. It has been my experience that just a few puffs on the inhaler gets my lungs back to normal. I think this plan will work well for your mother. We can't eliminate inhalers, but we can sure slash the usage by using the Peak Flo meter.

Also, I have a company in Canada that supplies Dirt Cheap Inhalers. Check them out.
http://www.globalpharmacycanada.com/Shop?redirected=1

Flovent $15
Flomax $30

Grizz