[philjohn]

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.

[tejtm]

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

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

[elric]

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.

[softwarebouwer]

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).

[philjohn]

That's interesting - another asthma medication I was on as a child made me an absolute horror as well - wonder if there's some relation in the mechanism of action.

[atatatat]

Any idea what to use to replace it?

Friend of mine cannot forget to take it, or their chest/airways are quite heavy.

Does it take time for the body wean off?

[dillondoyle]

* I totally read this backwards sorry. But I'll keep the relevant part about different steroid and my mistake below.

maybe also check out a Ciclesonide inhaler (alvesco, another steroid) which has helped me a lot in my cardio. I can get that last 5-10% into my lungs and don't have those tiny wheezes at peak respiration.

And I'll make a note of that drug for the future thanks!

-- I got on steroids last year. Had huge increase in use of albuterol over the last 2 years. For like a decade i barely used anything, inhaler sat in the bottom of my climbing bag.

I'm in Denver, really bad pollution and the fire smoke is literally unlivable at its worst.

[throwawayboise]

Do you think this was largely due to wearing a mask? Whether a mask would block a virus particle is debatable but even cheap masks are effective against larger particulates such as pollen, dust, dander, etc.

When I was a kid my neighbor always wore a mask while he was cutting his lawn. He had asthma that was pretty easily triggered and he said it made a big difference.

[philjohn]

That's a good question - I didn't actually start wearing a mask until a little later, when the mask mandate came into force in the UK. Our first lockdown was definitely pretty severe and there were much fewer cars on the road here, but that has gone away, so you could indeed be onto something.