Quote:
Originally Posted by Kitsa
also, my pulmonologist says that in 50 years an asthmatic's lungs and a smoker's lungs look the same.
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Maybe he's only referring to scar tissue? Still, it seems a pretty lame comparison to me.
One of my foster children was prescribed an agressive regimen of albuterol and pulmicort (steroid) due to lung damge suffered in utero. The pediatrician was hoping that by hitting the symptoms hard, early, while he still had a developing respiratory system, the air passages and the interior of his lungs would respond by healing and even by repairing damaged alveoli. It is quite a stretch, seeing as lung tissue does not regenerate, but that's more in adults - infants can be much more resilient.
18 months later on, and there was no longer any sign of wheezing or gasping in any of his checkups. So we're cautiously optimistic that he may have turned the proverbial corner.
His steroid regimen was cumulatively very small in comparison to what a typical adult with asthma would be prescribed, I'd think.
I'm not sure if any of this is relevant to your situation at all, but sometimes it's useful to get another perspective.