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Inside Health

Asthma inhalers and Covid antivirals

Inside Health

BBC

Health & Fitness, Science

4.4575 Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Are you one of the five million people with asthma in the UK? If so, could you be on a different inhaler - one that could control your asthma better while also being kinder to the planet? “Puffers” - or aerosol spray inhalers - contain potent greenhouse gases and can be tricky to use correctly, so not everyone can control their asthma. We speak to Caroline from Cornwall, who has switched inhalers and it’s transformed her life. James talks to the doctors who think far more people could benefit from making the change.

We also speak to Nerys from North Wales who has started antiviral treatment for her Covid infection. We explore the new drugs with virologist Dr Elisabetta Groppelli and Prof Chris Butler who is running the clinical trial designed to pinpoint who is likely to benefit from antivirals the most.

PRESENTER: James Gallagher PRODUCER: Beth Eastwood

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, I'm Greg Jenna and good news, Your Dead to Me is back for a new series. Here we go. Yes, we'll explore Emperor Nero's notorious reign with Professor Marybeard and Patton Oswald. I would not want my daughter having the remote control, not alone an empire. We'll dissect the decadent life of Philippe Duke-Dor-Leon with Tom Allen. I've often tried to pretend I'm an aristocrat and being very quickly knocked down.

0:23.0

And there'll be so much more with comedians like Olga Koch, Mike Mosniak and Rihalina.

0:26.9

I'm excited.

0:27.6

You're dead to me.

0:28.5

The comedy podcast that takes history seriously.

0:30.9

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:34.5

BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts.

0:38.3

Hello everyone and welcome to the Inside Health podcast with me, James Gallagher.

0:42.8

Are you one of the five million people with asthma in the UK?

0:46.6

Or do you have children with the condition?

0:48.9

Then I've got a simple question for you.

0:51.2

Should you be on a better inhaler?

0:53.8

One that could control your asthma better

0:55.8

and one that's also kinder to the planet. Yep, it's a big topic we're covering this week.

1:00.9

If I go back in time to when I was in primary school, I had two types of inhaler, a brown

1:05.2

preventer and that reduced the chance of having an attack, and then I had a blue reliever

1:09.9

in case an attack actually happened.

1:12.7

I was lucky, though, to be honest, because mine went away as I grew up, but for Caroline

1:17.0

from Cornwall, it didn't. Asthma has been a part of my life since I was three. I would wake

1:22.8

up wheezing, usually having to take my inhaler. For years of my life, I would certainly not go anywhere without an inhaler in my hand. And it really affected what I was able to do and when I was able to do it. It did mean that I was having to take quite a lot of the reliever inhaler, and that would indicate I might need to go on some steroid pills, which was the only way that I could ensure I wasn't going to be hospitalized. And spoiler alert, Caroline has changed her inhalers and is now doing much better. And you want to keep listening because the difference in her voice at the end is joyous to hear. But let's interrogate these inhalers with Artie Bancel, who's a GP in Sheffield. Artie, welcome to Inside Health. Thank you, James. Thank you for having me. Artie, you have a job that I'll be honest, I had never heard of before.

2:04.0

What is a net zero GP?

2:06.4

That's because the job's only just been created.

...

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