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So my pulmonologist ordered a bunch of tests recently -- he suspected aspirin-induced asthma, which turned out not to be the case -- and my IgE level was through the roof.
He wants to talk about putting me on Xolair. I had never heard of it, but it binds to most of the IgE and gets rid of it. From what I've read, it's mainly for people with severe chronic asthma. We're talking about people who end up hospitalized and intubated multiple times a year because nothing else works to control their asthma. Or they're always on prednisone. So they don't have much quality of life.
There are a couple of issues with Xolair. First, it's a subcutaneous injection and reportedly it hurts a lot for at least a day. Second, insurance may not cover it and it is very, very expensive. Like $3,000 an injection expensive.
I was just asked by my allergist if I would be interested in this for my chronic urticaria. Is this a new drug?
A bit off topic but I had a really bad case of hives for many years as well as asthma in recent years and it turned out that I am allergic to most hard pill forms of medicines and especially aspirin even in powder form, and NSAID in pill form but not gelcaps and even hard forms or vitamins, thus it has to be the compound they make some hard pills with. I have found that taking probiotics along with items that I would normally be allergic to has stopped my problem for the most part. Finding the trigger of the hives or asthma is what I suggest as being better than taking meds for it, it has worked for me, I hope that helps some of you.
I was just asked by my allergist if I would be interested in this for my chronic urticaria. Is this a new drug?
Relatively new -- it was approved for use in the U.S. in 2014.
I take it you have chronic idiopathic urticaria?
I've been doing more reading about Xolair. It doesn't look like I'm a good candidate for it because my asthma is generally well-controlled by careful and consistent doses of Symbicort. I have a bad tendency to forget or put off taking my morning dose, though I almost always remember the evening one. I've been using it consistently the past two weeks, though, with the result that this morning I blew 480 on my peak flow meter.
If the alternative is getting painful, expensive shots 2 to 4 times a month, you bet I'll make a point of taking the Symbicort on time.
A bit off topic but I had a really bad case of hives for many years as well as asthma in recent years and it turned out that I am allergic to most hard pill forms of medicines and especially aspirin even in powder form, and NSAID in pill form but not gelcaps and even hard forms or vitamins, thus it has to be the compound they make some hard pills with. I have found that taking probiotics along with items that I would normally be allergic to has stopped my problem for the most part. Finding the trigger of the hives or asthma is what I suggest as being better than taking meds for it, it has worked for me, I hope that helps some of you.
I know medications can't be tested by allergist but I am surprised they were unable to narrow it down for you.
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