Might Steroids do more harm than good for many Severe Asthmatics?

[Matman]

Interesting Recent Article suggests Steroids may do more harm that good for around 50% of Severe Asthmatics.

medicalnewstoday.com/releas...

[Jenzzie18]

Makes for interesting reading. X

[risabel59]

Very interesting Matman. I just remember the times when there were no inhaled steroids! only tablets. 2 of my childhood friends died from asthma. Both had stunted growth, as that was a bad side effect of prednisone, the only treatment in the 1960's. So sad. If they were around today, they would both be still alive.

R x

P.S luckily my childhood asthma was not that bad, it only started to get bad when I was in my late teens.

[Hidden in reply to risabel59]

There was a drug that came out in the late 1960s that was inhaler delivered and was not a steroid. I was put on it in 1969. There were two versions, Intal and Intal Co, the latter (the one I was put on) being the more powerful. The medication was delivered by means of the spinhaler, a very effective inhaler. By comparison, the evohaler was (is - since it's still in use) a poor substitute.

[Hidden]

Interesting article, the number of asthmatics classed as severe is 5 - 10 percent, so this will effect only 2 - 5 percent of asthmatics so most will be fine. I have seen some research that suggest antibiotics may exacerbate asthma or even be a cause for some people.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

It's known that some people are allergic to certain elements of some antibiotics, penicillin is the most obvious example. Every doctor I've ever seen has always checked with me whether I'm allergic to penicillin or not before prescribing an antibiotic.

[Hidden]

Hi Matman

There aren't definitive stats on numbers of people with severe asthma and for how many don't respond to steroids but we know there's definitely a group of people that don't. There's more details on the numbers in the Severe Asthma report (p8-11) that you can download from on our site here: bit.ly/2tlR370

Hope that helps,

Dita

[lejaya]

so is this just about pred or steroids in general as it is not clear in the article. I was trying to explain why I taper pred yesterday to another asthmatic which was near impossible. pred bashing is so offensive in my opinion. Its not like we have a choice in wether we take it or not.

[Matman]

I take Steroids and enjoy the benefits, however, I don't think it's wise for anyone to bury there head in the sand when new or additional info comes along. Nor to turn a blind eye to articles that contradict one's own point of view. The best way forward must be to take onboard the arguments for and against then - armed with all the info - make the decission that's best for ones own situation.