Medications For Asthma
In this article we will be discussing some of the more popular medications for asthma. Choosing the proper
medication for you is crucial to being able to control the symptoms of your asthma.
There are several things that treating asthma with medications focuses on:
- Long term medications that focus on controlling inflammation and preventing chronic symptoms like night
asthma, coughing and exercise enduced asthma.
- Short term meds that focus on treating asthma attacks when they strike.
- Avoiding asthma triggers and monitoring symptoms and peak flows with daily tests. This will give you a
picture of which medications are most effective for you.
Long term asthma control medications reduce and prevent inflammation which can prevent attacks, hospitilization
or even death. These long term medications for asthma are usually taken daily for long periods of time to control
asthma symptoms. The most effective long term meds are anti-inflammatory drugs that control airway inflammation.
Other drugs can also be used along side anti-inflammatories for even better results.
Some of these medications include Corticosteroids, Bronchodilators, Mast Cell Stabilizers, Theophylline and
Xolair which gets injected into the patient. Xolair is usually used on asthma sufferers who do not respond to
inhalers and have severe cases of asthma with allergies.
Short term medications for asthma are used to quickly relieve symptoms for someone who has tighteness of the
chest, coughing or is having an attack. Most of the short term medications are inhalers that are either metered
doses or are in powdered form. There are also short term meds that are in pill form and taken orally. These include
over the counter pills such as Primatene Mist.
The important thing to remember is that every patients situation and symptoms are unique. Therefore, you must
consult with a doctor to develop a plan of action and decide which medications are suitable for your condition.
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