What the heck is Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD)?
Well, Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD) is certainly a mouthful! Asthma really has some weird terminology, and this is one of them! What the heck is Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease (AERD) ? AERD is also known as "Sampter's Triad". The word triad is used to explain a group of three. And AERD/Sampter's Triad has - you guessed it - 3 things that usually happen. The disease has: 1. Asthma 2. Polyps in the nose (that come back even if they are removed surgically) 3. Sensitive to aspirin or ibuprofen AERD/Sampter's Triad can be hard to diagnose. People are usually diagnosed later in life. Some people may notice they can't breathe as well or smell as well as they used to (this is before COVID...) And they may have a weird reaction to taking aspirin or ibuprofen (remember that some cold medicines also have aspirin or ibuprofen in them!) Someone may start coughing, wheezing, sneezing, or have a stuffy nose. Some people will have the sa