I had a funny experience recently with my asthma medication.
As most of you know, I've had a life-long battle with asthma. We all know that the illness can kill. But I've always been one of those sufferers whose life was never quite at risk. I have two inhalers, Symbicort, a maintenance inhaler, and a Xopenex emergency inhaler (which I was told was better for the environment than other aerosol inhalers.)
My health is fine.
Recently I started working with a young man who deals day-in, day-out with a serious condition. He's open about it in his blog so I won't go into it here. But on his most recent blog entry, he listed the side effects of one of his medications.
They included:
- Diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Drowsiness
- Indigestion
(snip)
- Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing)
- Tightness in the chest
- Swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue
- Bloody stools
- Blurred vision
(snip)
- Blistered or peeling skin
- Ringing in the ears
- Seizures
"Geez," I told the husband. "Are these medications even worth taking?"
"All medications have side effects," he said.
That's when I started thinking. He was absolutely right. So, obviously my medications do too!
I called up Google, where everyone else gets their medical advice, and looked up Symbicort. Here's what I found:
Long-acting beta2-adrenergic agonists (LABA), such as formoterol one of the active ingredients in Symbicort, increase the risk of asthma-related death.
Ok, it's a warning. I kept looking but kept finding the same darned warning. Now they're bumming me out.
I told Bill, "Either I'm about to die or I suck at Googling."
I obsessed over finding something. Then it occurred to me, the medication guide! There, for the world to see, were the side effects. The first of which was "death from asthma problems."
BUT that was followed by the full compliment more common side effects including throat irritation, fever, headache sinusitis, flu, back pain, stomach discomfort, vomiting, thrush, increased blood pressure, nervousness, tremor, a fast irregular heartbeat, chest pain and all sorts of allergic reactions (hives, rash swelling.) My favorite side effect is "increased troubles breathing."
Nice. Can't breathe before, can't breathe after.
Trust me when I tell you that NONE of the side effects I listed COME CLOSE to the ones my fellow journo listed. But it is interesting. I can say that when I'm in the midst of an asthma attack, nothing else flipping matters than sucking on that inhaler, so I guess it's worth it.
Whaddya gonna do but pass the prescription pad.
