Ask Mark - September-2012 Mark Mangus not only helps those with lung disease in our country but also answers questions for people from Canada! Our friends at COPD Canada (www.copdcanada.ca) have Mark lend his expertise to help better understand their breathing problems. Shelley writes, I purchased a three-layer cotton, loose fitting mask to deflect the…
Ask Mark Mark has been answering lots of questions about medications lately! Q I use Spiriva and Foradil but have been reading about Inda- caterol. Could I add this to my medications or would it conflict with the two I am taking? A Indacaterol and Foradil are the same class of long-acting bronchodilators.…
Ask Mark … Phillip H. asks Mark to explain what “clubbing” of the fingers and toes mean. Mark explains, Digital clubbing is a deformity of the fingers and fin- gernails and is a sign of underlying heart and/or lung disease. Infection has nothing to do with the develop- ment of digital clubbing. The only hereditary…
Ask Mark We were lucky to have Mark and his lovely wife Kay come with us on a recent SeaPuffers cruise. Everyone enjoyed his willingness to answer questions about living and learning with lung disease. Lively discussions about many topics popped up often! We started every session with Nick Jones asking the group, “How you…
Ask Mark Margaret from COPD Canada (www.copdcanada.ca) asks Mark if it is okay for her to take Roflumilast tablets with her Symbicort and Spiriva inhalers and her Uniphyllin tablets. Mark answers, Most surely the answer to your question is “Yes!” Keep taking your inhalers and the theophylline. The Roflumilast is not a substitute for the…
Ask Mark Don of Canada is currently taking Spiriva and Symbicort and inquires if their use could cause his recently diagnosed glaucoma problems. He has moderate COPD but didn’t really notice much of a benefit from inhalers so doesn’t take them on a regular basis. Mark explains, Your suspicion about Spiriva (Tiotropium boro- mide) is…
Dear Chris, I currently have the Eclipse 3 and although adjusting it to the most sensitive position it still changes frequently to continuous flow. When I’m traveling in my car with the unit on the back seat, it is not convenient to stop and change it back to pulse. Is there any way that I…
Ask Mark … Margit tells Mark she has had to stop exercising completely because of increasing breathlessness. She was told that this is due to air that is trapped in her lungs and wants to know if this is true. Mark replies, Your worsened breathing is likely due to decondi- tioning from cutting…
Lois from Pennsylvania just began using a nebulizer with Albuterol. She complains it is noisy, uncomfortable and a bother to clean. Since she reg- ularly uses Spiriva and Advair and so far feels no benefit from the nebulizer treatments, would her physician change the medication? Mark answers, Albuterol is often used as a “rescue”…
Ask Mark Sally from Missouri asks Mark: I hope this is not too silly of a question but, if one side of your nose is totally stopped up, are you receiving only half the oxygen you are breathing in? Mark thinks, It’s possible. Meas- uring your oxygen saturation would determine if the oxygen flow…