I have a confession to make, it pains me to write this post, about the removal of over-the-counter epinephrine (a.k.a. primatene) inhalers, the only inhaler available to asthmatics without a prescription. I mean, it literally causes me a visceral pain. But it’s not for the reason you might think. It has nothing to do with all the hoopla concerning the politics of right vs. left . Neither is it necessarily the strange notion of telling people that they have to breathe worse, so we can save the ozone layer, so they can breathe better (though you must admit that does sound weird).
No, it has more to do with the simple fact that I (and undoubtedly other physicians as well) hate this inhaler. It is a dangerous, possibly addictive, unforgivably poor substitute for a real asthma regimen, and should have been banned from the market long ago.
And so for me, here’s the painful part; I don’t think that simply removing it from the market is the right thing to do.
Continue reading “In Asthma vs. Ozone Layer, Ozone Layer Wins.”