As of this week Ive been on Fasenra(benralizumb)for exactly 2 and a half years. My doctors are thrilled that my hospitalizations have dropped by about a 30% since starting on the drug. Im happy about that as well, but honestly I dont “feel” any better and I’m not totally convinced that Fasenra played the only role in that reduction.
While its true that I’ve suffered fewer really bad attacks while on the drug, my quality of life day- to- day hasn’t improved at all. Sure my hospital usage usage is down, everyone loves that, but in between those hospitalizations, I still struggle to breath. Might sound strange, but Id much rather deal with 2-3 hospitalizations a year and breath good in between them, than have slightly few hospitalizations, and feel crappy in between them.
There are other factors at play here as well that are contributing to less time in the hospital. One of them is that Ive raised the proverbial bar in determining when I should seek emergency care. Ive had such awful issues with ICU induced delirium when I get intubated, that lately Im just more hesitant about going to the hospital. Just the thought of ending up on ventilator and suffering through days of delirium has been a potent motivator in starting steroids earlier on in my attacks. Plain and simple, my paranoia of developing a nightmarish bout of delirium while in the hospital absolutely trumps my hatred for oral prednisone. So again, while Fasenra might be partially responsible for fewer hospital admissions, I think my attitude has played a major role as well.
That said, and at the risk of pissing off my doctors in the face of such “good numbers”, I decided to make my feelings on the subject heard and told one of my Allergists ( I have two of them) that Id like to try a different biologic. One that would not only help keep me out of the hospital, but also might actually make me feel better. To my astonishment he didn’t bat an eye and said sure…lets try Tezspire again. Wow, that was easier than I thought. I say easy, because I had actually requested and received a single dose of Tezspire 18 months prior for the very same reason. However, a few days after getting that dose I reported back that my symptoms were worse, so they took me off it. In retrospect I think I was already flaring and my worsening symptoms was just due to my stupid asthma doing its thing.
So anyway, according to the latest data and the main reason why we chose Tezspire over the others, is that it appears to work better in asthmatics who have mucus plugging of their smaller airways, which I have. I should also note that it usually takes 2-3 months for Tez to kick in. Knowing that, they decided it was best to continue me on the Fasenra for at least another 2 months. I left that appointment with a shot in each arm and a bag of asthma freebies.
In addition to the biologics, I also switched from Breztri to Trelegy, and like many others out there, will add to AirSupra to my albuterol regimen. Thankfully my Allergy doc has lots of free samples, because as well all know, some of these drugs are ridiculously expensive. The Fasenra/Tezspire combo alone will set back my insurance company a little over 12K
Lastly, I found out that there are a couple new drugs in the pipeline that will hopefully work better than all of the current ones combined. Unfortunately, they probably wont be reach the Pharmacy for at least another 4 years. When I find out more Ill be sure to let everyone know.
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