Originally Posted by asfried
Don't make the extremely common error of thinking that fixing your allergies will decrease your risk of an asthma attack. While asthma might be triggered by your allergies, fixing your allergies WILL NOT fix your asthma. Asthma is an inflammatory illness. Treating the inflammation is ESSENTIAL to reducing your risk of an asthma attack. If you have asthma, it will likely be triggered by several different things: allergies, viral illnesses, exercise, cold, or just a random strike from the asthma demons. Taking something over the counter will give you a very false sense of security. Moreover, your next asthma attack could be life threatening (as the severity of your usual asthma attack does not predict the severity of your worst asthma attack). MANY athletes who have thought they had "mild" or "intermittant" asthma and have played around with OTC meds have ended up DEAD DEAD DEAD. So, ignore anthing you might read on this forum or anything you might hear from anyone else (even yourself). Go see a competent internist NOW and get this taken care of. Untreated or improperly treated asthma is a fatal disease -- even more fatal than some forms of cancer. Properly treated asthma is barely a nuisance.
Irregardless of what I said above, I am in agreement with you on this, and do carry an inhaler and "epipen" with me at all times. Haven't had the need to use them for several years, but if an attack comes, I'm ready. Not going to be obstinate or take stupid risks with my health.
My sister is a doctor, and while it may seem she dispenses meds to her patients almost like candy (yeah, but most of her patients are afflicted with AIDS), as a normal rule, she won't take anything personally. She won't even allow her dentist to use novacaine unless the absolute need arises--and she says it hasn't yet, because even when drilling, they rarely hit a nerve. Improperly prescribed medication ranks somewhere around the 5th or 6th as a leading cause of death! This is a fact that has been published in most major medical journals, but far too many people pay that no mind and think meds can cure anything.
Modern medicine is a wonderful thing, but taking proper care of your health can go a long way in decreasing or entirely eliminating the need. The human body is an amazing machine.