Uncle Cecil:
Just a quick comment on your column about steroids, especially the inhalers for asthma. You’re pretty much right on the money that they do reduce asthmatic exacerbations, and that we cannot consider them side-effect free, but I couldn’t help but get the impression that you underplayed the seriousness of asthma. As a physician who treats lots of asthmatic patients, the steroid inhalers are a godsend, because they do help control the disease which, if left improperly treated, results in a high rate of morbidity and mortality. Anyone who has an asthma exacerbation more than once a week needs to be on an anti-inflammatory medication (steroid pills, steroid inhalers, inhaled cromolyn, or leukotriene inhibitors) to prevent lung destruction. Since the steroid inhalers have (thus far) been shown to be effective with fewest side effects, I’d hate to have an asthmatic patient refuse to use them because of a theoretical risk of glaucoma or cataracts, versus the very real and concrete risk of lung damage and death.
Thank you for posting your comment.
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space before and after the text of the URL).
Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link:
What’s the difference between the steroids in asthma inhalers and the ones jocks use? (29-May-1998)
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