h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Dear h2g2 users; I would very much appreciate any feedback you might want to give on this article so I can make it better and more user friendly.

Regards

Peter Mills

Peter - well done to you and your team. Whom is this article aimed at and how could I navigate round the sections more easily? Did you write it?

Hi there...

I read about the first half of this entry and found it fascinating.

Recently (well, yesterday) I saw reported on the news that Saudi Arabian scientists have found a link between eating a 'Western' diet (taken to mean junk food by the news) in preference to a more healthy diet and increased levels of asthma in the population... do you have any comments?

My suggestion is that you put a summary of the headings somewhere near the top of the entry...

Joanna

WOW!
My wife suffers from asthma and I've grown to learn a lot about it in the time we've been married.

This is a great overview of the condition! Great work!! This is a really great entry!

Are we eventually going to have a section devoted to medical entries? If they're all like this, forget going to the doctor! (I'm kidding of course!)

- X

An article I wrote about asthma lives at http://www.h2g2.com/A429914

The yarn takes a more global view. Not containing as much info as this one, it is written in a more "user-friendly" style.

Maybe, one day, the two versions will be linked together....

Loony, an asthma sufferer

Joanna, my yarn touches on the Saudi Arabia research

An excellent artice, but I agree - there ought to be a TOC at the top so that navigation can be made much easier. How about some global statistics, eh! Asthma sufferers are not just limited to the UK and US, you know. I'm from India and I never had asthma until I was 18.

sundiver

I have suffered from adult asthma for twenty years, except in the U.S. we call it "chronic Bronchitis" because our health insurance will pay for bronchitis treatment, but will not for asthma. I have used three inhalers over the years, two of which are steroids, and one a "quick relief" inhaler. The result of my long time condition is that current x-rays of my lungs show them to be the same as if I had emphysema (although I am not a smoker and have not been for 40 years).
There have been no new treatments for this condition introduced during my period of illness. Therefore, since I am using 20 year old medical treatments I am of the opinion that asthma will worsen regardless of the regimen utilized and that all of us with asthma will eventually end up sucking on oxygen just like the smokers. It seems odd to me that with the money which drug companies make from new products, that none have evolved for the treatment of this disease for such a long time. Your description of the symptoms and the treatments are identical with those I have experienced in the U.S. Thank you for yur efforts.

excellent article, I'm no expert but with a few more articles like this I may be.

Particularly if you are at the end of the road of 'conventional' treatment, you could search under 'buteyko' on the internet, and find out about what is available near to you. Although barely mentioned in the article we are discussing, it is credited with good results even there.
The ideas behind the treatment upset conventional wisdom to a degree - but it is well worth learning more. I have seen a therapist and it works for me.
The only prerequisite for benefitting is a commitment of time and effort within your daily routine.
The drug companies have no incentive to research this therapy, by definition - as it involves a reduction in the medicines that need to be used.
Hope you might find it worth your while.

Re spacer devices for inhaled steroids

They clean up well in a dishwasher!

I know this is somewhat of an older thread but...

I have had asthma my entire life.

One small thing I noticed in the article was a lack of differentiation between anabolic and corticoid steroids.

Anabolic steroids are of the type that are used illegally for athletes and others to increase muscle mass and enhance physical performance, I believe they also have some legitimate uses medically, perhaps for people with growth disfunctions of some sort.

Corticosteroids are widely used in the treatment of asthma and other inflammatory diseases and allergic reactions. They have no positive effect on muscle development (in fact, in large enough doses can cause a condition called 'steroid myopathy' which causes muscle atrophy).

They are both called 'steroids' because they mimic hormones naturally produced by the body, but they are two entirely different kinds of drugs/chemicals.

It's a little thing, but kind of a pet peeve of mine, as I've had to explain for a good portion of my life that I wasn't on the anabolic variety. In college I even had a football player who was on the illegal variety ask me about the side effects he was experiencing, as he'd heard I was on 'steroids'.