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Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

theatlantic.com

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Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#11

Post by tejtm »

philjohn wrote: post #3

I certainly noticed this - over the last year I've gone from using reliever inhalers several times a week to not needing them for months. I did also start a new medication, Montelukast, around the time of the first lockdown, so it could conceivably be due to that in my case - but not having a chest infection at all for the last 18 months whereas I used to get one a year or so has been lovely.

PSA: Montelukast (Singlar) can slowly and subtlety "change your mind"

[0] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-r...

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#12

Post by oh_sigh »

ADSSDA wrote: post #9
mensetmanusman wrote: post #2

I have had asthma my entire life, and it definitely flares up with airborne irritants. There has been awesome citizen science work going on helping people understand the direct link between anything that emits smoke and asthma attacks: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1315 They even found that parents waiting to pick up kids at schools with their ICE engines running increased PM2.5 inside the en…

Isn't most PM 2.5 pollution produced by brake pad and tire wear, which is made worse by EVs due to their weight?

If the ev has regenerative braking, the brakes actually last much longer than in ICE cars. Not sure how tires are affected but I'd imagine they do have a shorter life, and I'm not sure how the longer brake life balances with (probably) shorter tire life from a pollution perspective

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#13

Post by elric »

tejtm wrote: post #11
philjohn wrote: post #3

I certainly noticed this - over the last year I've gone from using reliever inhalers several times a week to not needing them for months. I did also start a new medication, Montelukast, around the time of the first lockdown, so it could conceivably be due to that in my case - but not having a chest infection at all for the last 18 months whereas I used to get one a year or so has been lovely.

PSA: Montelukast (Singlar) can slowly and subtlety "change your mind" [0] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-r...

Anecdata: I took Montelukast for 3 years to help with my allergies & asthma. Worked like a charm. Except for the fact that it made me really irritable. I was angry and down all the time. And I didn't really notice it until I stopped taking the tablets. That's when I started to put two and two together. I spoke to my friends about it, and they agreed that I suddenly seemed much less murdery.

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#14

Post by deeviant »

ADSSDA wrote: post #9
mensetmanusman wrote: post #2

I have had asthma my entire life, and it definitely flares up with airborne irritants. There has been awesome citizen science work going on helping people understand the direct link between anything that emits smoke and asthma attacks: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1315 They even found that parents waiting to pick up kids at schools with their ICE engines running increased PM2.5 inside the en…

Isn't most PM 2.5 pollution produced by brake pad and tire wear, which is made worse by EVs due to their weight?

> which is made worse by EVs due to their weight?

What a ridiculous supposition.

First the weight difference is not that huge, second EV's use regenerative breaking for a huge portion of their breaking spectrum bypassing break pads entirely.

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#15

Post by elric »

Irceline publishes PM2.5 stats for Belgium. Here's [1] a pretty little chart with the annual mean PM2.5 concentration. If you switch between 2020 and 2019, the difference seems pretty small. Same for PM10 and Black Carbon. If the pandemic had a big impact on air quality, that effect seems to have skipped Belgium at least. It's a shame there's no similar dashboard for viruses and allergens.

[1] https://www.irceline.be/en/air-quality/measurements/particul...

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#16

Post by briefcomment »

deeviant wrote: post #14
ADSSDA wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't most PM 2.5 pollution produced by brake pad and tire wear, which is made worse by EVs due to their weight?

> which is made worse by EVs due to their weight? What a ridiculous supposition. First the weight difference is not that huge, second EV's use regenerative breaking for a huge portion of their breaking spectrum bypassing break pads entirely.

Idk if you tried looking at any evidence when making your claim, but this clearly supports the gp and contradicts your statement [1] [2].

[1]https://www.ridef2.com/blog-del-direttore-ridef/will-electri...

[2]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13522...

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#17

Post by briefcomment »

elric wrote: post #15

Irceline publishes PM2.5 stats for Belgium. Here's [1] a pretty little chart with the annual mean PM2.5 concentration. If you switch between 2020 and 2019, the difference seems pretty small. Same for PM10 and Black Carbon. If the pandemic had a big impact on air quality, that effect seems to have skipped Belgium at least. It's a shame there's no similar dashboard for viruses and allergens. [1] https://www.irceline.be…

I wonder what the PM1 and under figures would look like. I recall seeing some analysis stating that the bulk of car related PM was smaller than PM1.

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#18

Post by softwarebouwer »

tejtm wrote: post #11
philjohn wrote: post #3

I certainly noticed this - over the last year I've gone from using reliever inhalers several times a week to not needing them for months. I did also start a new medication, Montelukast, around the time of the first lockdown, so it could conceivably be due to that in my case - but not having a chest infection at all for the last 18 months whereas I used to get one a year or so has been lovely.

PSA: Montelukast (Singlar) can slowly and subtlety "change your mind" [0] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-r...

Thanks for that link, I've read something about that before but haven't thought about it since I've been prescribed it myself since March.

For me since then most of the symptoms in the list on that page have actually improved. The only thing my doctor (in The Netherlands) warned me about was the bad/vivid dream part, before Montelukast I could hardly remember dreaming but now I do almost daily (but I am also sleeping much better).

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#19

Post by Gibbon1 »

ADSSDA wrote: post #9
mensetmanusman wrote: post #2

I have had asthma my entire life, and it definitely flares up with airborne irritants. There has been awesome citizen science work going on helping people understand the direct link between anything that emits smoke and asthma attacks: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.1315 They even found that parents waiting to pick up kids at schools with their ICE engines running increased PM2.5 inside the en…

Isn't most PM 2.5 pollution produced by brake pad and tire wear, which is made worse by EVs due to their weight?

People tend to assume that gasoline engines don't produce PM2.5, but that's apparently wrong. I saw some seemingly legit report that claims tire and brakes create about 10% of the PM2.5 pollution.

EV and Hybrid cars have regen braking which reduces brake pad wear. I don't know about PM2.5 but hybrids also emit much less NOx than straight gasoline cars.

Re: Doctors Might Have Been Focusing on the Wrong Asthma Triggers

#20

Post by deeviant »

briefcomment wrote: post #16
deeviant wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> which is made worse by EVs due to their weight? What a ridiculous supposition. First the weight difference is not that huge, second EV's use regenerative breaking for a huge portion of their breaking spectrum bypassing break pads entirely.

Idk if you tried looking at any evidence when making your claim, but this clearly supports the gp and contradicts your statement [1] [2]. [1] https://www.ridef2.com/blog-del-direttore-ridef/will-electri... [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13522...

Idk, if you bothered to read the study that you are pointing to in your coup de grace, you'd would realize your cited sources admit that EV's create no more particulate pollution than ICE engines. Your cited study actually states that EVs do reduce particulate pollution but only by a couple percent, which is opposite of "creating more" for those who prefer evidence based positions.

It's almost as if regenerative breaking reduces break wear and compensates for the marginal increase weight as many other people have already pointed out?

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