Health/meds update.

[rivka]

Thanks to everyone who weighed in yesterday with credible evidence about the safety of albuterol for a nursing mother. I spoke to the NP who prescribed it yesterday evening, after doing a fair amount of my own research, and she reiterated that she believes albuterol to be a safe drug, regularly prescribed to pregnant women and babies when needed.

So this morning I filled the prescription at my usual pharmacy, rather than the hospital pharmacy I went to yesterday. They gave me the other brand of albuterol inhaler - Ventolin rather than Proventil. This time the sticker on the box read:

Breastfeeding while taking this drug may result in drowsiness, jitteriness, or decreased feeding in young infants.

Do you know what we call that? A useful and informative drug warning, more oriented towards educating the consumer than protecting the drug company and/or pharmacy from lawsuits.

Thank you, CVS, or thank you, GlaxoSmithKline. Whichever one is responsible.

Comments

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I generally find the CVS warnings helpful and informative. It's one of the reasons I still go there.

[piqueen.livejournal.com]

Ah Ventolin - I took that as a small child (over 20 years ago).

[ailbhe]

When I was at school, it was kind of cool to have Ventolin. Glasses weren't cool, Ventolin and plaster casts were. Walking aids were not, wheelchairs were. I never figured it out.

I also didn't realise until I was an adult that some adults also had inhalers. No idea why.

(I'm so glad they said "young infant" on that label. Newborns and 2- or 3-year-olds are not the same.)

Xopenex

[daddywarlock.livejournal.com]

is lev-albuterol and has significantly fewer side effects. This suggestion comes from Clarissa, who also suffers from asthma and has used albuterol and other bronchodilators and prefers Xopenex by far. She also suggests you ask your medical professional (MD, NP, etc.) for a sample, if your insurance doesn't cover it.

[(Anonymous)]

If I recall correctly, Ventolin is also the one that has a puff counter on it so you can tell when it's almost empty without ejecting the cartridge and floating it - VERY HANDY.

breathing is good

[(Anonymous)]

Asthma drugs. Yet another reason to be glad to be born in the late twentieth or early twenty-first centuries. Flixotide and ventolin keep my son alive, and when I was pregnant and developed asthma for the first time, I was glad of them too (although I had a similar problem with the damn warnings). It's like they say in airplane safety routines -- make sure your oxygen is secure before helping others. You are a better parent when you can breathe. Here's to a speedy return to drug-free breathing.
Emma