Apparently, Qvar in the 40 and 80 mcg dosage are basically impossible to get in the US, and it's been a problem since October.
My pharmacy (Safeway) hasn't been able to get any, and I called a different pharmacy (Fred Meyer) that uses a different supplier, and they also can't get it. At least one CVS near me has the 40 mcg, so you may try that first if CVS is an option.
Can't find any reason why, but the problem is at the manufacturer level, so if you're low, call your doc and see if you can switch.
Walgreens disconnected me both times I tried to call (two different locations), so no fucking idea there.
For record keeping: I am posting this on January 6, 2025.
"As we understand this communication between T-cells and the cells that promote brain tumors better, we'll start finding more opportunities to develop clever therapeutics to intervene in the process."
Neurologists in the United States think they have finally figured out why people with asthma seem to develop fewer brain tumors. The findings could one day help us develop better treatments for both conditions.
The curious connection between asthma and brain tumors first began popping up in global epidemiological research about 15 years ago, but without a proper mechanism linking the lung condition to the brain condition, some experts have dismissed the findings as random.
A new study now suggests the relationship may be real after all.
Sometimes when people learn about my asthma they shy away, or they laugh because they don’t understand and it makes them uncomfortable. Sometimes people ask me what it’s like to have asthma. I usually just say it’s hard but I manage. Because how do you explain it to someone? But I decided I wanted to try.
So what is it like to have asthma?
It sucks. There is no silver lining to having asthma.
Having asthma means that every time you get sick it is 10 times worse than it would be for someone who doesn’t have asthma.
It means having people tell you that you shouldn’t be taking your inhaler because you’re just inhaling steroids.
And while that may be true, I would rather inhale a steroid then to lose consciousness and wake up in the hospital or the medical bay because I couldn’t breathe.
Having asthma means living with the reality that no matter what you do you will never be 100% healthy.
It’s having people tell you that your asthma would get better if you would just exercise, and when you try to tell them that exercising makes it worse they tell you that you’re just making excuses and that exercising always helps them breathe better so it should help you too.
And then you just sit there and say nothing because you don’t even know how to respond, but really all you want to do is turn to them and say
“Do you have asthma? Are you inside my body? Do you have my lungs? No? Then you can’t possibly understand how I feel, or how much it hurts to breathe when I exercise.”
It means not being able to do some of the things you would love to, like join a sports team, or go on a hike with your family because every time you try you either have to stop every 5 minutes to catch your breath, or you have to turn around before you make it even halfway there.
And it’s never just “catching your breath”. It’s having to sit or lie down with your inhaler in one hand, clutching your chest with the other, and staying like that for more than a few minutes.
And having asthma when you’re sick is even worse
Because it means that when you cough your entire body jolts, and you cough so much and so hard that you end up bruising your ribcage, which makes everything worse.
It means that when you’re congested, you’re terrified of falling asleep because your nose is clogged and you don’t know if you’ll be able to get enough air in your sleep because you won't be awake to manually tell your body when it’s time to breathe.
It’s not being able to get out of bed to go to school or to work or wherever because anytime you go more than 5 feet, it feels like your lungs are collapsing.
And what would take a regular person 3 or 4 days to get over, it takes you two weeks just to feel well enough to leave the house, and even then you’re stuck with a cough for weeks after.
It’s feeling like shit and like you’re dying, but forcing yourself to go to work or school anyway because teachers and bosses don’t believe you when you say you have asthma, or don’t realize how debilitating it can be or both.
It’s being forced to participate in P.E. and the coach not allowing you to go back to the classroom to grab your inhaler, which you forgot to take out of your backpack, and telling you “Well you should have brought it with you.”
It’s your coach refusing to even look at your doctor’s note that explains your condition and why you can’t participate at the same level as the other students and telling you “If you don’t participate in my class, you’ll fail and have to retake it in summer school.”
Having asthma means it takes your lung collapsing from the excessive exercise that you were forced into during P.E and not being able to come to school for two weeks, for your coach to finally realize that you weren’t lying all along and that you really do have a breathing problem.
Asthma is a dark storm cloud hovering over your head, not always raining but hanging there with the threat that everything is going to get so much worse.
And when it finally does rain, it doesn’t just drizzle, it pours.
And it keeps pouring until you’re soaked and even then it doesn’t stop.
Asthma means you have to shell out hundreds of dollars every month just to get your medicine, and standing in lines waiting for your prescription to be filled.
It’s having a hard time getting health insurance when you become an adult because you have a pre-existing health condition, and when you do finally find insurance, it costs more.
So that’s what asthma is like. And that’s just barely scratching the surface. Because there are so many side effects of asthma. So many more punishments for having an imperfect body. But for those who just want a quick overview here you go.
It's a relief to finish reading a novel like "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, managed to finish playing a certain video game on my smartphone, recovered from skin ashtma and eating a lot of food during my younger brother's birthday.
Life has a way of swinging like a pendulum. In just 24 hours, you can hit the lows of discomfort, anxiety, and regret—only to climb back to laughter, peace, and confidence before the night closes. Yesterday reminded me that sometimes the story of a single day feels like a whole season of life packed into hours.
The Downward Swing
The evening started rough. After getting home from work, I tried to shake the day off with a workout—but instead of feeling better, I felt stuffed and bloated. My chest tightened. Asthma symptoms triggered, and panic set in.
On top of that, regret kicked in. Every single thing I had eaten earlier in the day turned into a list of bad decisions. And when I went searching for my albuterol, I couldn’t find it. I figured it was buried in storage somewhere, which only made me feel more trapped in the moment.
That frustration stretched into the night. I stayed up, restless, until almost 2 a.m., still without my breathing machine, unable to fully relax. And when my alarm went off at 6 for work, I dragged myself up with only four hours of broken sleep.
The Pivot Point
But as quickly as the low arrived, it passed. My breathing eventually leveled out, and by mid-morning I was back laughing out loud at the Joe Budden Podcast and random TikToks. It felt like I had flipped into another dimension—one where I wasn’t weighed down by panic or regret but instead cracking up like nothing had been wrong hours earlier.
The Upswing
From there, the momentum carried. Despite the exhaustion, I had one of the smoothest days at work I’ve had in a while. Everything clicked, every task flowed, and I found myself moving effortlessly.
By the weekend, the full transformation was complete. Fresh haircut, dressed fly, I stepped out with a confidence that felt worlds away from the person gasping for breath and wide awake in the middle of the night.
Reflection
The lesson? Extremes don’t take weeks to play out—they can flip in a matter of hours. A bad night doesn’t have to mean a bad tomorrow.
Life is proof that balance isn’t about avoiding the swings—it’s about riding them, trusting that lows are temporary, and knowing highs always return.
يمكن لالتهاب الشعب الهوائية، وخاصةً التهاب الشعب الهوائية الحاد الناتج عن عدوى فيروسية أو بكتيرية، أن يُحفز أعراض الربو أو نوبة ربو لدى الأشخاص المصابين به بالفعل. ويرجع ذلك إلى أن الالتهاب والتهيج الناتجين عنه قد يُفاقمان حساسية مجرى الهواء. وتشير بعض الأبحاث إلى أنه في الحالات الشديدة من التهاب الشعب الهوائية الحاد، وخاصةً تلك التي تنطوي على عدوى فيروسية معينة، يمكن أن تُسبب العدوى تغيرات في مجرى الهواء تُسهم في الإصابة بالربو لدى البالغين. لذلك، على الرغم من أن التهاب الشعب الهوائية الحاد لا يُصبح ربوًا بشكل مباشر بنفس الطريقة التي تختفي بها العدوى، إلا أنه قد يكون مُحفزًا أو يُساهم في الإصابة بالربو لدى بعض الأفراد، خاصةً إذا كان شديدًا ومستمرًا أو إذا كان هناك استعداد كامن للإصابة به.
للمزيد من المعلومات، انقر على الرابط المذكور أدناه:
قارن بين الربو والتهاب الشعب الهوائية: الأعراض، الأسباب، المحفزات، والعلاجات. واعرف متى تطلب الرعاية الطبية أو تفكر في السياحة العلاجية.
