Asthma Drugs That Can Kill You

Last month, Public Citizen alerted the public about GlaxoSmithKline presenting false safety information to the FDA about Serevent. The FDA finally took action late last week, mandating new warnings on Serevent as well as Advair and Foradil about these long-acting beta 2-adrenergic agonists (LABAs) increasing an asthma sufferer’s chances of death.

Just how serious is this warning? According to the FDA, this deadly trio of medications should only be used after every other asthma medicine has failed.

Of course, GlaxoSmithKline strongly objected to the warning: The company lost 4 percent of its net value yesterday on the stock market. Nevertheless, Morgan Stanley analysts remained optimistic, arguing many U.S. physicians may disregard the warnings “given the positive Advair experience.”

If you’re looking to avoid positively deadly experiences with any potentially toxic asthma drug, here are some safer, more natural treatments worth considering:

  • Retool your diet based on your body’s unique metabolic type.
  • Reduce, with the plan of avoiding, sugar, most grains, fruit juices and pasteurized dairy products.
  • Balance the ratio of omega-3 fats in your diet by taking a high quality fish or cod liver oil daily.
  • A course of allergy skin tests (if you suffer from a more severe form of asthma).
  • Replacing commercial milk with raw milk from grass-fed cows.

Yahoo News November 19, 2005

Guardian Unlimited November 22, 2005