Asthma treatment cost to rise with inhaler ban

Jack50 wrote:

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BTW- Dead wood doesn't readily support mold growth all by itself. It needs help from insects or rodents to do the deed. Of course carpets are a huge breeding ground for almost anything.

ACtual it did breed mold. when you see mushrooms growing, when ever it rained the roof leaked, and 3 times the ceiling fell in the same place all the time.. right above my bed..

moody12883 wrote:

ACtual it did breed mold. when you see mushrooms growing, when ever it rained the roof leaked, and 3 times the ceiling fell in the same place all the time.. right above my bed..

Ah-ha! I forgot all about leaky roofs. So, you are right about leaking roofs that can cause all kinds of fungal growths.

Leeor wrote:

I was just out of my albuterol and short of breath when I went to Walgreens for a refill of my fast acting inhaler. I was given the new inhaler, but it cost THREE times as much because it was better for the environment. I was livid, but my asthma made it almost impossible for me to speak. So without the ability to defend myself I paid and took a puff. I was instantly relieved. I could breath! But now, I must say, three times the cost sucks. Thank You Al Gore, really. Mind you this is still a generic brand. Is the process to eliminate CFCs in the inhaler such a bothersome one that it costs 3 times as much to manufacture? Is TEVA (former IVAX) the only generic manufacturer of Albuterol? I don't think so... I will be investigating my alternative options!

Buy ARMSTRONG Albuterol inhaler. I paid only 10 dollars with the insurance, it is the generic, instead of alcohol (ethanol) has methane. Proair has alcohol and burnt my throat.

Sad day when PC places peoples' lives at risk. I need my inhaler to survive the worst attacks.

First off, Why do I have to pay to read the entire article??? This is a huge public concern and should be available in full to everyone. Secondly, I agree with the masses here. How does taking away the medicine from the patients help them? Those of us who do suffer, probably suffer in such great numbers most likely because of the contaminated environment they're subjected to. The bigger pollutants should be the higher priority. Take out those big contributers and I would imagine many people wouldn't even need the inhaler any more. They're going at back asswards, rewarding the companys and forcing the people to pay the price.

So I read these I still see the big problem. noone is helping us with this. What do we do? When is enough, enough? So who is going to help us when we can't pay for our medicine? or when we don't have a fast acting inhaler. I have nothing that helps, advair does help me sleep thru the night without taking a hit from the LIFE LINE. What else can we do?

Stephanie, you can join our campaign to save all CFC inhalers- sign the petition to get on our mailing list:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCFCinh...

We have allies in Congress who will help us but we need MANY MORE SIGNATURES and MEDWATCH COMPLAINTS against HFA inhalers (the online MedWatch complaint form to complain about any HFA inhalers you've had a problem with is on the right side of the petition).

Email me at sponsor@CFCinhalers.com with specific questions and I'll try to help.

Change sucks. Anytime someone makes you do something you don't want to do it is hard on everyone.

The reason there is no generic Alb. in HFA is that the propellant is patented by 3m and is only sold at a premium. CFC is made overseas and transported to the US. The cheapest alb hfa is Proair at around $31 the Ventolin at $36 Proventil at $42 and Xopenex at $47 (walmart.)

The drug is identical in every way including the way the companies and the FDA measure efficacy (change in FEV1). They are softer puffs, warmer puffs and slower puffs. People don't feel the force of the blast hitting the back of the throat and feel that they are working less even though the rate of inspiration is what makes the medicines work.

I have 2 immediate family members that are asthmatics and we have tried all 4 of the inhalers and once you realise that they feel differently, they work just as well.

As for the idiots that post the weight differences, some of the measures are including the cannister, and some oare net weight, the reality is that they all contain the same 200 puffs + 10-25% extra to allow for priming puffs.

If you are using albuterol every 4 hours, your asthma is not in control and you need to find a new doctor. Other products exist that can help to augment the albuterol's effectiveness and stop you from having exacerbations as frequently as you are.

Be very careful of Primatene mist. it is a non-selective B2 agonist meaning that it reacts to receptors in the heart as well as in the lung and can cause tachacardia and death if you have elevated blood pressure or other signs of heart trouble.

As for the ethanol content that may or may not be in the inhaler, it has nothing to do with the propellant, but rather, how long the products last once opened. Ventolin HFa has no ethanlo and has the shortest shelf life meaning that if you buy one use it once and put it in your closet, the lack of ethanol may make it not work when you need it 3 months later.

I have no dofg in this fight, my sister is a nurse at a hospital in ICU and sees serious asthmatic kids every day. When the respiratory therapist administers their inhaler (Proair HFA) the change in spirometry is within 5 minutes and the breathing eases. The biggest issue she faces is getting the patient to inspire fast enough to make the medicine work.

Stop getting histerical and face the facts that the Clinton's signed this ozone agreement in the 90's and the FDA has already acknowledged that the cost of therapy is going to increase 1.3 billion till 2010 when the first genenric hfa can hit the market. My understanding is that a coupole more of the New products will hit the market in the next year and this will increase competition and lower the cost. The issue that I have is why Proventil HFA which has been on the market for over 10 years is still the most expensive pure albuterol inhaler in the group,(they also never leave my doctor samples which is why he write for the newest product proair HFA)

Proair HFA is only 2 years old, my doctor always has plenty of samples,and these cool discount cards that lets my family get their next 10 inhalers for less than $12 each and is the cheapest. He told me that it is made by the worlds largest generic maker.

skeptic,

All companies use HFA-134a. It was selected/tested by IPAC- a group of drug companies in the early 90's- it is identical in all HFA inhalers.

But the he HFA inhalers ARE different from each other, AND from CFC inhalers.

For example Schering says:(link is below, see 4th paragraph from the bottom): "Rapid heart beat, vomiting, chest pain, and palpitation occurred more frequently with Proventil HFA (than with Albuterol CFC).”

http://tinyurl.com/2d8fpb

WHY IS THAT, if Proventil HFA is the same as Proventil CFC (the original Proventil)? Answer: because they are DIFFERENT. There are four differences:

1) HFA-134a is clearly NOT as safe and effective as CFC for ALL patients. HFA-134a and one other HFA version were the only 2 candidates for CFC-replacement that IPAC came up with after looking at 15,000. The problem is, all of the SAFETY TESTING was only done on NORMAL (non-asthmatic) subjects. And the individual clinical trials by the drug companies using their actual products were SMALL (a few hundred people divided in thirds: test product, control product, pure HFA), SHORT DURATION (a couple of weeks) and only included MILD ASTHMATICS- and NO (as in ZIP, ZERO, NADA) COPD patients or patients with other pulmonary diseases were used in clinical trials.

The REAL test is starting now as 30 MM patients must use HFA inhalers. REAL patients. SICK patients. And not just for two weeks. Most will be ok.(I'm glad you and your family are in this group, skeptic-but MANY are not. They no longer have a rescue inhaler. THAT’S the problem).

Read the Medwatch complaints including 36 reported fatalities over 29 months-(6 PDFs) on the right side of our petition to see what I'm talking about (read the petition comments too):

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCFCinh...

2) The interaction of the HFA with the patented elastomers (special rubbber seals) inside the canister may cause dangerous chemicals to leak out of the elastomer and into the medication, according to Gene Colice MD, the 'father of HFA albuterol' at 3M.

3) ETHANOL IS A BRONCHOCONSTRICTOR IN INHALERS:

http://tinyurl.com/2f46th

4) All ethanol (used to disperse the plume) is corn-sourced and almost certainly has corn residue in it according to the people I talked to at Schering (Proventil), Sepracor (Xopenex) and Teva/Ivax (Proair)- it's not 100% alcohol. Many people have serious corn allergies.

I'd be careful about calling people who complain about fewer doses "idiots", skeptic- way too many have complained about this- especially with Proair- they're not all idiots. And would you mind posting your source about the extra 10-25% medicine added in for priming? I’m skeptical, too.

Reagan got us into the Montreal Protocol in 1987- Clinton-Gore radicalized it in 9/97 to require all signatories to start the process to ban CFC inhalers. CFC INHALERS DO NOT HARM THE OZONE LAYER AND SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN BANNED:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCFCinh...

Regarding your sister (a nurse) you said:” The biggest issue she faces is getting the patient to inspire fast enough to make the medicine work."

This is a MAJOR PROBLEM for MANY pulmonary patients with the much slower HFA inhalers, skeptic. And your sister’s Proair experience notwithstanding, for MANY people, including me- Proair AGGRAVATES our asthma. HFA inhalers ARE NOT the same as CFC inhalers in terms of safety or efficacy for all patients.

Many people prefer Primatene Mist to ANY other inhaler. Nothing else works as well for them. PM could NOT have lasted 50 years OTC if it was as half as dangerous as the anti-PM crowd says it is. It has an EXCELLENT 50 year safety record and has saved COUNTLESS lives. I hate the stuff personally, but we are fighting to save ALL CFC inhalers, including PM.

Chris wrote:

I've had asthma for about 10 years now. I get 2 inhalers per month (one to keep on me and one to keep in my gear at work). The price went from 30 dollars for 2 to 125 for 2. So I talked to my doctor and he recommended that I go back to Combuvent (something I used a few years ago), since it was cheap when I used it... I went to pick up my prescription today... 185.00 for 2 inhalers. This is on a prescription plan too. Now I can't even afford to breathe.

Hey Chris, Sorry to hear that. I would like to bring to your attention an awesome botanical that may just be what you're looking for. How would you like to go back to work and not worry about an Asthma attack? I can't make any claims that this will give you the same results as most folks but you may want to do your own due diligence and research it for yourself. It has tons of research and studies to back it up and it's 100% all natural. It's helped me in a mighty way. You may want to try it to see if you do get great results as most folks with severe Asthma. The botanical is called Mangosteen and you can learn more at this website www.InformationOnMangosteen.info it would be well worth your time I assure you.

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CFC-Free inhalers do not work! Since using the HFA inhalers my asthma has got increasingly worse I have had to have a course of steroids to get my asthma under control. Since switching to the new inhaler my asthma has deteriorated. I am not the only one; millions around the world are having the same problem. Are you one of them?

Kristy,

We are fighting this in the US but we NEED PEOPLE LIKE YOU FROM OTHER COUNTRIES who have the SAME PROBLEMS with HFA INHALERS to COUNTER THE LIES told by our FDA, EPA, AND THE SLEAZY, SLIMY, PHONY 'PATIENT ADVOCATE' NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS (they tell Congress and the media that other countries' pulmonary patients are DOING FINE with HFA inhalers, and that the people who complain in the US are JUST USING THE INHALER INCORRECTLY!

Kristy- this is an ENORMOUS INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM and it needs to be solved INTERNATIONALLY. THE MONTREAL PROTOCOL MUST BE CHANGED TO ALLOW FOR CFC MEDICAL INHALERS!

WE NEED YOU TO CIRCULATE OUR PETITION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW (AND ONLINE, IN EVERY FORUM, BLOG, GROUP POSSIBLE) WHO HATES HFA INHALERS (in England, or any other countries) AND SIGN IT AND ENTER A COMMENT about their personal experience with HFA inhalers, along with the BRAND(s) they had the problem(s) with.

BE SURE TO ENTER IN THE COMMENT BOX YOUR CITY AND COUNTRY!

You will be required to choose a US STATE- pick CALIFORNIA,(or any state, really- it's not important AS LONG AS YOU STATE YOUR CITY AND COUNTRY IN THE COMMENT BOX).

Please have these people COMMENT ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH HFA INHALERS- IF POSSIBLE, NAME THE BRAND.

MEDICAL COMPLAINTS ONLY, PLEASE!

FINANCIAL COMPLAINTS ARE EXTREMELY COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.

So this is ONLY for people WHO HAVE MEDICAL COMPLAINTS WITH HFA INHALERS.

Kristy, feel free to email me directly anytime at sponsor@saveCFCinhalers.org

Your timing is PERFECT!

Let's work together to make this an INTERNATIONAL REVOLT against the MORONS who are trying to SHOVE THIS POISON DOWN THE THROATS OF INNOCENT PULMONARY PATIENTS!

Best Regards,

Art

Kristy, the link to our petition is:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveCFCinh...

OR just google: "save cfc" (our petition has #1 rank on these keywords)

We are in the process of adding quotes from TOP SCIENTISTS and MDs, as well as adding fantastic MedWatch reports in PDF form that clearly support our position.

Kristy- ANY TIME YOU SPEND FORWARDING THIS PETITION TO HFA INHALER HATERS (along with the instructions above) will be RICHLY REWARDED.

Thank you!

Kirsty,

Please forgive me for misspelling your name!

Please use the following link ONLY to circulate the petition for maximum reliability:

http://tinyurl.com/4l6bb3

(You can also tell people to find us by googling:'save cfc')

My email address is:

sponsor@saveCFCinhalers.org

As I said yesterday, your timing is perfect- we are finalizing plans to begin our US campaign by Mid-June at the latest, but it looks like we may be able to meet our preferred start date of June 1, and WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO TELL OUR PETITIONERS that we have a serious, responsible, MOTIVATED PARTNER working with us in the UK.

I'll help you with the details- you don't need to spend a time. YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU NEED: brains, passion, enough experience with HFA inhalers to know that they are POISON for MANY (not all) patients- and a computer.

When you least expect it- you're selected! Pulmonary patients in the UK, the US and ALL OVER THE WORLD are counting on you, Kirsty, to do the right thing and help us make this a truly international issue.

We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible at:

sponsor@saveCFCinhalers.org

Art

The National Campaign to Save CFC Asthma Inhalers

"To escape criticism- do nothing, say nothing, be nothing"

-Elbert Hubbard

Kirsty,

It should read above: "... you don't need to spend a dime."

You will need to spend SOME time, but not as much as you may think. And we've completed all of the research (we're in the process of wrapping things up over the next few weeks with powerful petition quotes from world class scientists and physicians)- so now it's just a matter of posting links to the petition, and having you join us to circulate the petition in the UK- OR- starting your own petition- whatever you prefer. We'll help you either way.

(If you join us, you will come on board with the IMMEDIATE authority- as our UK Petition Co-Sponsor- to make ANY changes to the petition that you want, and we'd change the name of the petition to reflect its international nature.)

Kirsty, picture all the little boys and girls all over the world who will slowly suffocate to death in great agony and terror (some of whom undoubtedly already have) EVERY DAY in front of their horrified, helpless mothers and fathers because their HFA RESCUE INHALERS are USELESS, or worse, the 10-14% ALCOHOL content in them actually AGGRAVATES their asthma, or the HFA-134a causes a devastating side effect (it INCREASES THE RISK of VOMITING, according to Schering Plough ITSELF- we have a comment about this on the top of our petition- imagine some sweet, innocent little boy or girl VOMITING during his or her LAST ASTHMA ATTACK, in front of his or her helpless mother, Kirsty. This is the reality of the situation we are facing.

I don't know about you, but this is all the motivation I need.

We're only going to have one chance to stop this nightmare, Kirsty. And WE ABSOLUTELY CAN STOP IT. LITERALLY MILLIONS OF PATIENTS IN THE US ARE STARTING TO REVOLT NOW THAT THEY HAVE FINALLY TRIED THESE TOXIC HFA INHALERS. THIS IS A FACT. We have a 1-2 year window to organize patients in the US and UK to get this CFC ban REPEALED either through the Montreal Protocol itself, or at the national level, by treaty abrogation.(Patients from other counties WILL join us.)

We look forward to hearing from you, Kirsty,

Art