Trevor: A Soccer Dad Takes on Asthma*
Father stays active by controlling asthma
Trevor has asthma and is the busy father of two kids. He's also the coach for his son's soccer team. "Soccer is big in my family," he said. "My kids, Joey and Michelle, play in a youth league and I coach Joey's team."
"It wasn't that unusual for me to use my quick-relief inhaler during a game, especially if it was a really close game or I was running around a lot. It was during a game last season that I had a pretty bad asthma attack."
Trevor recalled what happened, "Joey had just scored a goal against the other team. He was playing great, and everyone was excited. I was running down the field and shouting and cheering. And then it got hard to breathe."
A trip to the emergency department
Trevor needed to be taken to the emergency department due to the asthma attack. "The day went from being really great to being really bad," Trevor said. "It was especially tough on the kids. I remember them being very upset."
After stabilizing Trevor, the attending physician at the emergency department gave Trevor a prescription for QVAR®, an asthma control inhaler that can help ease inflammation of the airways, one of the key causes of asthma. "Joey and Michelle made sure I got it filled that same day."
Trevor also went to see his regular physician for a follow-up appointment. "She told me that taking my asthma control medicine would mean less chance of having to go back to the emergency department. Since then, I've made sure I take my controller medicine exactly the way she told me. It's helped a lot—I don't have to use my quick-relief inhaler as much when I'm running around with the kids."
*Note: The examples presented here are composite patients. Any resemblance to actual people, living or deceased, is coincidental.
QVAR
® (beclomethasone dipropionate HFA) Inhalation Aerosol is used in the ongoing treatment of asthma as preventative therapy in patients 5 years of age or older.
QVAR
® is also used for asthma patients who require systemic corticosteroid administration, where adding QVAR
® may reduce or eliminate the need for systemic corticosteroids.
QVAR
® does not replace quick-relief inhalers for sudden symptoms.
CAUTION: If you are stopping or switching from an oral corticosteroid to QVAR®, follow your doctor's instructions to avoid health risks. (See WARNINGS, Prescribing Information).
Inhaled corticosteroids may cause a reduction in growth rate, so children taking QVAR
® should have their growth checked regularly. The long-term effect on final adult growth is unknown.
Do not stop taking QVAR
® abruptly without talking to your doctor.
In clinical studies, common side effects included headache and sore throat. These are not all of the possible side effects of QVAR
®. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist.
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit
www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call
1-800-FDA-1088.