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(Beta2-agonists/Relievers)
"Why you’re dying to breathe"
"Inhalers like Ventolin have many established side effects."
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These include a sudden lowering of blood pressure, abnormal heartbeats, swelling around the heart and collapse. By re-opening the airways they have the potential to spread whatever the allergen is to more remote parts of the lungs, which increases inflammation and the formation of mucus plugs or to cause the bronchial muscles to constrict to a fatal degree.
Regular inhalation of beta-agonist is associated with the deterioration of asthma control in the majority of people. Discouraging patients with mild asthma from beta-agonists appears warranted in view of current data.
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ref: CHEST editorial June 1992
High doses of beta-agonists could result in poor lung function, increased bronchial reactivity and increased risk of death.
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ref: Australian Doctor July 1995
Regular use of beta2-agonist causes "hyper-responsiveness"
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ref: Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology 1985:76
Almost half of fatal and near fatal asthma attacks involve relatively young patients that were considered stable. All of them used short-acting inhaled beta-agonists. Eighty-eight per cent of them were also taking daily doses of inhaled corticosteroids. Almost half of the near fatal and fatal asthma cases happened suddenly and without warning in younger patients that were thought to be conscientiously taking regular asthma medication. These patients were not previously categorised as 'high risk' nor were they considered to have had severe asthma
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ref: Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2000; 84: 587 - 593
High bronchodilator use was found to be a marker of asthma severity. Asthmatics who favour bronchodilators in preference to inhaled steroids increase their risk of acute asthma and emergency hospitalisations.
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ref: Journal of Asthma August 1999
Using salbutamol regularly increases asthmatics response to allergen. It also causes a decrease in lung function. In comparison with placebo patients those who received salbutamol treatment had a significantly increased early asthmatic response. These findings re-enforce the recommendation to "limit" the use of these drugs.
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ref: British Medical Journal December 1991
It is now clear that the regular use of short-acting beta-agonists three or four times daily causes little or usually no discernible clinical benefit when compared to their use as needed.
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