Preventer inhalers for the respiratory condition asthma
usually comprise of a steroid drug and are used daily to prevent
symptoms from developing by working to reduce inflammation in the
airways. As the inflammation has subsided, there is less risk of the
airways becoming narrow and causing symptoms like wheezing.
The brown preventer inhaler is usually taken twice a day. Your doctor
may advise you to use the brown inhaler more often if you are
experiencing a regular flare-up of symptoms. Medical Specialists™
Pharmacy have noticed a worrying trend of asthma patients very rarely or
even not using their brown inhalers at all and over-using the blue
reliever inhaler.
You should always remember it can take
between 7 to 14 days for the brown preventer to build up its effect, or
sometimes as long as six weeks, and will not give immediate relief of
symptoms like the blue inhaler offers. Basically, the impact of the
brown inhaler is built over time and will decrease the chance of an
asthma occurring by slowly building resistance to triggers.
In fact, you may find your asthma is well controlled by regular use
of the preventer and find you need to use your reliever inhaler less
often, if at all.
This is particularly significant following a national review claiming
that around two thirds of UK deaths from asthma in the UK — including
nearly all cases where a child is involved – could have been averted if
there was less complacency amongst doctors, carers and the patients
themselves, with a quarter of sufferers receiving unsatisfactory care.
The report, led by the Royal College of Physicians, found a shocking
number of needless deaths that experts described as “a tragic waste of
life”.
Only Estonia and Spain has higher death rates than the UK in the
Western world, and there are huge concerns about the increasing death
toll. For instance, in 2012 there were 1,250 asthma related deaths – a
10% increase over the previous three years. The new review states 800 of
those could have been prevented with better care.
The National Review of Asthma Deaths — the biggest single study
looking into the circumstances involved with asthma deaths — examined
195 deaths within the UK. It was discovered that in about a quarter of
the cases, care was not of a satisfactory standard and in 83% of cases,
there was room for improvement.
Dr Mark Levy, a GP and one of the authors of the report, said ‘complacency’ was a fair word to describe the situation.
“We have known about the identifiable or preventable factors relating
to asthma deaths since 1966,” he said. “The shocking and surprisingly
sad thing about this report is that we still find preventable factors in
over 70% of cases, some of which are pretty serious. For instance, 45%
of those who died did not call or obtain help, which indicates that
either these patients weren’t too worried about their asthma or they’d
never been told how to recognise the danger signs.”
Those who died tended to over-use their blue reliever inhaler to
subside the symptoms of an asthma attack as these inhalers help to open
the airways for easier breathing. They do not treat the underlying
problems however, and this is something many asthma patients do not
realise.
“They don’t address the inflammation,” said Levy. “It’s like painting
a rusty pipe.” Unsurprisingly, the study found an alarming under-use of
the brown preventive inhalers.
The review has called for each hospital and GP practice around the UK
to have a specified doctor in charge of asthma services and who should
work at improving asthma care. In addition, patients need to be
monitored more thoroughly according to the review, so that action is
taken at the first instance if it is apparent that a patient’s asthma is
no longer under control.
It is recommended that each asthma patient should keep a personal
asthma action plan to help them realise when the condition begins to get
worse and when to seek further help.
If you seek help from Medical Specialists™ for your asthma, you can
be assured of an efficient and discrete service. We offer a wide range
of both blue reliever inhalers, such as Ventolin Evohaler and brown preventer inhalers, such as Qvar Easi-Breathe.
Patient care is at the core of our aims and our GMC-registered
doctors will carefully review your consultation to decide your
suitability for that medication and then also assess the frequency of
your orders with us thereafter. This is essential as if mentioned
earlier, you are requiring too many relievers, it could be a sign of
underlying problems with your asthma and we would recommend you see your
own GP for further monitoring as you may need to undergo a lung
function test. This is essential to determine if your asthma is getting
worse or to check if your asthma is improving with treatment.
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