Asthma Medicines

To treat asthma efficiently in most cases you would need two common forms of asthma medicines. One of it is a medicine that helps in a rapid way and is used for short-term treatments. You would need this kind of medicine when your asthma symptoms get worse and could probably lead to asthma episodes or even attacks. This is often called a quick relief asthma medicine as you would feel its effects within minutes. The second kind of asthma medicine must be taken every day to care for long-term control of asthma. Usually you hat to take it over a long period of time to control chronic symptoms and to prevent further asthma attacks.

These two forms of ashtma medicines are described below in detail:

Quick relief asthma medicines

These medicines are only used on a first aid basis. The relief you get from these is short-term as with the inhaled bronchodilators. They effect the muscles around the air passages and cause them to relax again so that you can breath with more ease again. In case of beginning asthma symptoms such as difficulty in breathing, coughing, chest tightness, or wheezing these so called rescue or relief medicines can stop an attack very quickly. These inhalers should be carried regularly by anyone who suffers from asthma to be prepared to act accordingly if an attack occurs. The use of steroids by your doctor may be neccessary in case of a more severe attack to reduce the imflammation.

Long-term control asthma medicines

To control mild, moderate, and severe persistant asthma inhaled cortiscosteroids (or in short form steroids) are the most used and preferred treatment. This medicine reduces the swelling of airways. It is safe to take it if you act according to your doctor's advice. The advantage of inhaled medicine is that it is directed exactly to your lungs where the treatment is needed.

Many different forms of inhalers are available and it is unavoidable to learn the techniques how the inhaler works effectively. There are also steroids in forms of tablets or liquid which are used for a short period of time to control asthma. Even for cases of severe asthma the tablets or liquid medicines can be useful.

Another kind of long-term control asthma medication are the long-acting beta-agonists. These bronchodilators are needed to prevent nocturnal symptoms and to control moderate and severe asthma. Beta-agonists are generally combined with inhaled corticosteroid medicine.

To treat mild persistent asthma leukotriene modifiers (i.e. montelukast, zafirlukast, zileuton) are often used long-term medicines. For the treatment of moderate persistent asthma or even severe persistent asthma inhaled corticosteroids are perscribed in addition to the leukotriene modifiers.

In case of mild persistent asthma a treatment with cromolyn and nedocromil as long-term control medicines is commonly used as well.

If theophylline is used to treat either mild persistent asthma or together with inhaled corticosteroids in case of moderate persistent asthma, your doctor will need to check your blood levels to secure an appropriate dose of this medicine.

In general it is not advisable to forget or stop taking those long-term medicines as your asthma symptoms might get worse.

As asthma and its symptoms differ from person to person you should consult your doctor regularly to change your medication along the way. It could be neccessary to find new combination of different medications or to increase or even reduce the dose to help with your special symptoms. In case of an ongoing inflammation you would need to regularly take long-term asthma control medicine. With the help of your doctor it should be your aim to find a way to control your asthma with the least amount of medications.

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