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I am new to the site and oh so glad I have found you. My name is Amy and I have had severe persistent asthma since I was in 6th grade. I am now 33 years old and have actually enjoyed a 10 year respite from severe symptoms up until this past October. Since October, I am back to being in and out of the ER and just plain almost immune to all of the meds. I am on Advair 500/50, Prevacid 30 mg, proventil , zyrtec, theophylline 200 mg twice a day, an epipen for allergic reactions, nasarel nasel spray, albuterol treatments and of course the dreaded prednisone. I have gone through 4 cycles now where I am up to 80 mg and then off for a few days and then another URI hits and back up I go. I have a really good pulmonologist and allergist immunologist working with me. The only med there is left for me is the IgE therapy. My nice insurance company wants to wait to see how expensive it will be to keep me on the current treatment before they will cover it. {Of course those paper pushers arent the ones that are gasping for air every night.} I am just having a morale problem really! I am forgetting how to keep on trucking! My kids are cranky and my husband is getting frustrated doing the shopping and my docs are busy passing out meds.....what I really want to hear is my doc say, "It's time to draw that first IgE level. Yipee!

Amy in Ohio

Quote from asgusbar:

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I am new to the site and oh so glad I have found you. My name is Amy and I have had severe persistent asthma since I was in 6th grade. I am now 33 years old and have actually enjoyed a 10 year respite from severe symptoms up until this past October. Since October, I am back to being in and out of the ER and just plain almost immune to all of the meds. I am on Advair 500/50, Prevacid 30 mg, proventil , zyrtec, theophylline 200 mg twice a day, an epipen for allergic reactions, nasarel nasel spray, albuterol treatments and of course the dreaded prednisone. I have gone through 4 cycles now where I am up to 80 mg and then off for a few days and then another URI hits and back up I go. I have a really good pulmonologist and allergist immunologist working with me. The only med there is left for me is the IgE therapy. My nice insurance company wants to wait to see how expensive it will be to keep me on the current treatment before they will cover it. {Of course those paper pushers arent the ones that are gasping for air every night.} I am just having a morale problem really! I am forgetting how to keep on trucking! My kids are cranky and my husband is getting frustrated doing the shopping and my docs are busy passing out meds.....what I really want to hear is my doc say, "It's time to draw that first IgE level. Yipee!

Amy in Ohio

Xolair(IgE therapy) is not considered a quick fix for asthma, and it should not. You shouldn't expect to see significant results for at least a month, if not several. And they still don't know if this comes close to curing asthma, it just decreases the amount of hospital visits and medication needed.
Not to mention the recent studies that are showing the connection between Xolair and cancer. There is very little, if any, knowledge about the long term effects of this treatment..so I'd be a little leary about it, in my opinion. You may end up later in more trouble than it was worth.
Have you been tested for your allergies? Gotten immunotherapy? I've heard great things also about accupuncture for asthma/allergies..just another route you could try.