How do you take it?  Is it like Advair, twice a day?  I'm assuming it is
instead of Advair.  When I did the study it was twice a day, but I
wasn't sure if they kept it the same.

I'm trying to talk my doc into it, but he's on the Xolair bandwagon, and
I'm not ready to join.  I'm still thinking about it.

Please keep me posted......I'll use you as a good argument, LOL!!  Good
luck Jack!!

Life is uncertain.........eat dessert first!!

Nancy
8=: )

This was posted by my friend Mitch on another lung disease group

<<<Inhaled Steroids  

Studies: 30% Less COPD Death, Hospitalization With Inhaled Steroids
WebMD Medical News Reviewed ByBrunilda Nazario, MD on Monday,

August 15, 2005
Aug. 15, 2005 -- New evidence supports the use of inhaled steroids by
people with chronic lung disease.
Doctors disagree over whether regular use of inhaled steroids helps the
conditions collectively known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
or COPD. COPD includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It usually gets
worse over time. In the U.S., COPD is the fourth leading cause of death
-- and it's moving fast toward becoming the No. 3 killer.

Now researchers from GlaxoSmithKline report studies showing that regular
use of inhaled steroids seem to cut COPD death and hospitalization by
30%. GlaxoSmithKline is a WebMD sponsor.

The results "indicate a beneficial association of inhaled
corticosteroids and the risk of death or rehospitalization in COPD,"
report GlaxoSmithKline's Victor A. Kiri, PhD, and colleagues. The
findings appear in the Aug. 15 issue of the American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

2 Studies, 1 Result
Kiri's team used data collected by doctors in the U.K. They compared 393
COPD patients treated with inhaled steroids to 393 matched COPD patients
who did not get the treatment. The treated patients had 31% fewer deaths
and hospitalizations.

The researchers then analyzed 2,222 cases of COPD. They found that those
treated with inhaled steroids had 29% fewer deaths and hospitalizations.
The findings do not prove that inhaled steroids help people with COPD,
notes Johns Hopkins researcher Jonathan M. Samet, MD, in an editorial
accompanying the Kiri report.

"Reflecting the still incomplete and evolving evidence base, some recent
recommendations on the use of inhaled steroids in COPD have been
guarded," Samet writes. "The new report by Kiri and co-workers suggests
a 30% reduction in risk for rehospitalization or death -- a meaningful
gain for COPD." Samet suggests that more definitive proof will come from
an ongoing clinical trial with 6,000 COPD patients.

SOURCES: Kiri, V.A. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care
Medicine, Aug. 15, 2005; vol 172: pp 460-464. Samet, J.M. American
Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Aug. 15, 2005; vol
172: pp 407-408. http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/110/109533.htm >>>

I posted some comments on the above:


<<<Inhaled Steroids  

Inhaled steroids were originally for asthma. The medical profession
seemed surprised when people with bronchitis and emphysema started
benefiting from them.
So now you see from Mitch's post that they're still testing,
experimenting, and evaluating. And the academics are "reserved" about
the benefits of inhaled steroids for people with COPD.

Well DUH!

Some of us have been using Flovent and Pulmicort and other inhaled
steroids for years and years. I, for one have, from the gitgo eleven
years ago, because I have asthma as well as COPD and so was prescribed
the milder Asmacort from the beginning.

It took me some years to find a steroid that was more effective, but the
Asmacort did work, not only on my minor exercise induced asthma
component, but on slowing the progression, I'm sure, of my Emphysema.

Glaxo scored a coup when they combined Serevent, a long acting
albuterol, and Flovent, their excellent steroid, to create Advair.

When Advair first came out Glaxo spent millions publicising it.  They
won over most of the people who had been taking other steroids and their
own Flovent.

Seems to me I was the only one left on this newsgroup (alt.discuss lung
disease) who didn' switch to Advair but continued to take Pulmicort. The
only reason I never tried Advair or Flovent was the Pulmicort was doing
me so well .

I heard about Asmanex on another ng more than three years ago from
someone (Nancy) who was part of the experimental phase. She was
enthusiastic. Said she was able to quit oral prednisone while she was
still taking the Asmanex.

So I've been waiting all this time to try it.
Asmanex will have to be far superior to Advair to grab much of the
market share.>>>