Asthma: GET YOUR FLU SHOT NOW!

Wow, all-caps screaming. Yes, it is that important. Everyone with asthma will fall into the orange zone (just in time for Halloween or Thanksgiving) when they get an influenza virus. The flu season is here and the flu shots are now available almost everywhere. It takes about two weeks after the shot for it to become fully effective, so think ahead! The kids will bring the flu home faster than you can say ... Large studies have proven that the flu shots themselves do not cause asthma to worsen, even temporarily.

The FluMist nasal spray influenza vaccination is great for children who don't like shots, but is not recommended for folks with asthma. If you have asthma, but your children do not, then consider this more expensive option for them, because if they get the flu, then you almost certainly will get it from them the next day.

Also ask your doctor for a ten day prescription for oseltamivir (Tamiflu, 75mg per day for adults, less for children) and then fill the prescription so that you can start taking it at the first sign of flu symptoms. If you have asthma, also consider taking Tamiflu if and when a family member begins having flu symptoms.

Tamiflu is also effective for treating the new "bird flu," and thus may be in short supply. If you have asthma or COPD, avoid taking zanamivir (Relenza), since it has an increased risk of causing bronchospasm. For details, see this FDA Drug Advisory.

Related Topics: The Flu Survival Guide, Chronic Conditions and the Flu

Technorati Tags: flu shot,asthma,Tamiflu

Moldy Hurricane Damage

Hurricane Katrina took the roofs off tens of thousands of homes and buildings, and then flooding damaged additional tens of thousands. Salvage of items from these buildings and removal of water-damaged items will result in the release of millions of microscopic mold particles (spores) into the air. Those who have become allergic to molds will experience many hours of respiratory symptoms if they inhale those particles.

More than one-third of everyone with hay fever, allergies, sinusitis, and asthma are allergic to molds, although many of them don't know it. Mold allergies affect all age groups, but older folks are more likely to suffer the most from worsening of asthma and other lung diseases when exposed to mold spores.

The respiratory symptoms of mold exposure include a runny or congested nose, sinus pain, a sore throat, cough, wheezing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. You can also get headaches, a fever, a skin rash, eye irritation, and a generally ill feeling (like you have the flu) from large mold exposures. Exposure to high levels of indoor mold growth can eventually cause health problems for anyone.

Volunteers who are responding to the destruction and tragedy, as well as returning home owners, should worry about airborne mold exposures from water-damaged homes and other buildings.

Molds can be many colors: white, grey, brown, black, yellow or green. Mold can also grow on relatively hard items like plastic, tile, flooring, concrete, solid wood, glass, and metal. Such mold can be killed by using a true steam cleaner (not just hot water), but then it must be wiped up before it dries.

If the material is near an open window or outdoors, use detergent to clean the surface and then apply a diluted bleach solution (one-fourth cup of bleach to one gallon of water) using rubber gloves and while wearing goggles. Wipe up the wet gunk with a sponge or wet mop, or remove it with a wet/dry vacuum. Don't use cleaning solutions with ammonia. Avoid ozone generators.

See the EPA mold website and the excellent book "My House is Killing Me" for details of finding moldy materials and cleaning or discarding them safely. Take your time and be careful.

Related Topics: Hurricane Katrina, Healthy Home

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Katrina,mold,home safety

How Doc Enright Learned About Asthma

I'm very happy for the opportunity to help folks with allergies, asthma, and other lung diseases on the WebMD Asthma message boards since February 2000. Over 10,000 messages have been written on the board and only a fraction were written by me since I've encouraged those with years of personal experience with asthma and asthma medications to respond to those newly diagnosed. So what makes me tick?

Judging from my baby photos and my mother's recollections, I've always been a curious guy, and according to my wife, I may have more than a touch of attention deficit. In college, I wanted to be an electronics engineer, but switched to pre-med just before my senior year, after working with a mainframe computer used for medical research at the local hospital (now Loma Linda University Medical Center). I had long hair, listened to loud rock and roll whenever possible, went to church every weekend, and scored highest in psychiatry during my last year of medical school, but applied for internal medicine residencies because my mom wanted me to be "a real doctor."

I became very interested in asthma after two patients were admitted to our team from the emergency room during a six week rotation in 1976 and both died in the middle of the night while desperately sucking on nebulized bronchodilators. In retrospect, it was probably because their primary care physicians wouldn't let us administer corticosteroids, thinking that the patients would "get hooked on them." Wow, that was 30 years ago and more than 5000 people still die each year in the United States from severe asthma attacks. We now have much more effective and safer asthma medications, but they are not always available or used by those who need them.

I started to read about asthma and learned that its severity could be measured by spirometry. I then found an old Vitalor spirometer in a closet at Queens Hospital in Honolulu, ordered some paper and mouthpieces for it and learned how to use it. Over time, I made contact with an allergist who got me an interview for a fellowship at National Jewish Hospital (NJH).

I was offered the fellowship two weeks later, as long as I started in 4 weeks. My wife didn't want to leave the Hawaiian beaches, but I told her the sky was always blue in the Rocky Mountains (true, but not in Denver in the winter).

NJH deservedly had the reputation as the best asthma center in the country and also had the best atypical TB experts. The steroid-dependent asthmatics would move to NJH for weeks to months to learn about asthma and get on the best available asthma medications, and taper their steroids. During the first year in Denver, I learned asthma research in a basement pulmonary function lab.

Over the next year, my mentors at NJH convinced me to apply for a pulmonary fellowship which my wife strongly opposed because she wanted me to finally get a "real job" that made lots of money.

With a week to consider my options, I tapped our home phone line (I'm an electronic hobbyist, too) and discovered a more traditional reason for a divorce, so I accepted the fellowship and moved on.

Stay tuned to discover how I got "religion" -- asthma religion, that is!