There is a nationwide shortage of the asthma medication albuterol.
We spoke with an Acadiana doctor who has some advice to avoid flare ups of asthma symptoms amid the shortage.
"We always advocate with any patients that it's important to try to identity any potential triggers of asthma symptoms. People can have asthma from different reasons you can have allergic induced asthma, you can have asthma that is triggered by things like viral infections some people also have what we call intrinsic asthma which is kind of triggered by unchecked inflammatory pathways in their own respiratory system that can cause asthma symptoms. The important thing really is for patients to really try to have a really good action plan ahead of time to make sure their on the right maintenance medications, and they can avoid triggers of their asthma to try to avoid the need for these sort of respiratory medications.
I would tell any patient with uncontrolled asthma which you can define in different ways based on the frequency of symptoms, or how often patients might be using their rescue inhaler or if their having multiple exacerbations that are requiring oral treatment with steroids you know within a sixth month period, but any patients with uncontrollable asthma symptoms I always recommended seeing an allergist as allergy specialist we do a lot to help patients identify those uncontrollable triggers." said Andrew Collins, ABAI Certified Allergist and Immunologist.
