Inhaler Propellant and Corn Allergies

Just FYI, if your child is using an inhaler and doesn't seem to be getting better after the treatment; and in fact seems worse, it could be the propellant. Abigail uses an Albuterol nebulizer at home as needed, and if she happens to need a little help with her breathing while we are out and about, we used an Albuterol inhaler. Both Albuterol, they should be the same right? Wrong. Abigail also happens to be very allergic to corn...did you know that most inhalers use ethanol (a by-product of corn) as the propellant? This would explain why time after time we would use the inhaler and I would swear that it was making her worse. Because it was! Of coarse, I countered myself by saying that couldn't possibly be since she used the nebulizer and responded well to treatments. It finally got to the point that more times than not we were counteracting the inhaler with the nebulizer until one day, I happened to catch the word "ethanol" on this side of the inhaler. By the way, Xopenex also uses ethanol as the propellant. We now have a portable nebulizer that travels where ever we go, and we haven't had any problems since. I figured I wasn't the only one who didn't know about the ethanol, and wanted to spread the word to you other mom's and dad's who might be experiencing similar scenarios.

Ross' Results

So, Dr. Kushner called with Ross' preliminary results. He still has mild to moderate eosinophils, but the numbers went down from 245 to 26. That is huge improvement but the disease is still prevalent. He is going to continue his beef trial along with the formula until all of the the doctors (from U.C. and Cincy Children's) meet sometime in July. They will discuss his further treatment options and get back with us. He also still had eos in his small intestines as well as in his esophagus; so this may change his diagnosis a bit, but we will have to wait and see.