Good News. Bad News. Sort of.

I saw my asthma doctor today, who told me to come back in a year. This is ground breaking, because I've always had semi-annual visits. Turns out this year has improved my asthma far beyond what it's ever been.

My lungs still also have about 50 percent greater capacity than normal people's lungs. This explains my ability to outrun, outswim, outbike, & outsex non-asthmatics. In the past, my doctor has repetatively told me "you have a V12 underneath your ribs that usually runs on 8 cylinders." I suppose this is a decent genetic consolation given the fact I didn't grow up to be tall. Although I've also wondered that this might be product of my years of competative swimming...(being used to being out of breath is also probably a factor)

He did note, however, that one of my medicines --when used alone-- has a high propensity for killing people. Particularly those of African descent. Which is freaky, but it's difficult to get this medicine these days by itself. It's now packaged directly with a cordicosteroid, apparently making it safer according to the study above.

This is still very unsettling to me. I don't like putting things into my body that are unhealthy. Would not taking this medication be more healthy than taking it? I still have my albuterol, a.k.a. "rescue inhaler," but I can still run miles without using it. My doctor would say "NO!" but I really wonder about what toll it will have in 20, 30, or 50 years. Inhalers have not been around very long, relatively speaking......