Understanding Asthma is a Free comprehensive guide covering asthma's various forms, its symptoms, its management, and its treatments. An essential guide for anyone wanting to understand this growing health concern. Free! Learn more.

INVALUABLE ASTHMA INFORMATION

Quick Relief Medicines (also called relievers): give rapid, short-term treatment and are taken when you have increasing asthma symptoms that could lead to an asthma episode or attack.  You'll feel the effects of these medicines within minutes.

Long-Term Control Medicines (also called preventers): are taken every day, usually over long periods of time, to control chronic symptoms and to prevent attacks.  You'll feel the full effects of these medicines after taking them for a few weeks.  People with persistent asthma will require long-term control medicines.

Drugs, such as those resembling two of our hormones, can also help with your asthma treatment.  These two hormones are adrenaline (epinephrine in the USA) and hydrocortisone (a steroid). While drugs can eliminate your symptoms if you have mild asthma, those with more severe or long-standing asthma will generally not receive the same results. In which case, alternate medications are required.

Adrenaline (epinephrine) is pumped into our bloodstream when we have a sudden fright or emergency.  It's the quick-acting hormone from the middle of the adrenal glands near our kidneys.  It makes your pulse race, makes your heart thump, and readies your body for emergency action.  In asthma, the medicines which resemble adrenaline provide quick relieve from your symptoms for a short time. These medicines fall under the category of relievers.

Hydrocortisone comes from the outer part of our adrenal glands, called the "cortex."  It's also partly an "emergency hormone" but works much more slowly, for much longer, and in a completely different way than adrenaline.  Medicines which resemble hydrocortisone slowly allow the lining of the air tubes in an asthma sufferer to return to normal.  As a result, your asthma becomes less severe and you're more likely to avoid an asthma attack.  These steroid medicines fall under the preventers category. There are other asthma preventers, however, the steroids are the most powerful.

Most people with asthma should use both preventers and relievers in their treatment.

These medicines are primarily taken by inhaling them through your nose or mouth. You inhale them because:

• You require less of the medicine
• You'll suffer fewer side effects 
• The medicine works faster (it is particularly important with the adrenaline-like, fast-acting relievers that the medicine work faster)

Another advantage of inhaling the hydrocortisone-like steroid preventers is that they are biodegradable inside the body.  Because your liver breaks them down, they can do their job within the lungs without producing any side effects in the rest of your body.

Quick relief medicines are used only when needed.  A short-acting, inhaled bronchodilator falls into this category.  Bronchodilators work by relaxing the muscles around the airways.  They help the airways quickly open, which eases the asthmaic's labored breathing.  Bronchodilators are sometimes called "rescue" or "relief" medicines because they can quickly put a stop to an asthma attack.  The effects of these medicines only last a short period of time. 

You should take quick relief medicines when you first begin to feel your asthma symptoms coming on ... coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, or shortness of breath.  Anyone who has asthma should always have one of these inhalers handy in case of an attack.  Of course, for severe attacks your doctor may use steroids to treat the inflammation.

Long-term control medications include :

• The most effective, long-term control medication for asthma is an inhaled corticosteroid because this medicine reduces the swelling of the airways which make asthma attacks more likely.   Inhaled corticosteroids (or steroids for short) are the preferred treatment for controlling mild, moderate, and severe persistent asthma.  They are safe when taken as directed by your doctor.  Inhaled medicines go directly into your lungs where they are needed.  There are many kinds of inhalers that require different techniques, and it's important to know how to use your inhaler correctly.  In some cases, steroid tablets or liquid are used for short times to bring asthma under control.  The tablet or liquid form may also be used to control severe asthma.
• Long-acting beta-agonists are another kind of long-term control medication. These are bronchodilators, not anti-inflammatory drugs.  These medicines are used to help control moderate and severe asthma and to prevent night-time symptoms.  Long-acting beta-agonists are taken together with inhaled corticosteroid medicine.
• Leukotriene modifiers (such as montelukast, zafirlukast, and zileuton) are long-term control medicines used either alone to treat mild persistent asthma or together with inhaled corticosteroids to treat moderate persistent asthma or severe persistent asthma.
• Cromolyn and nedocromil are also long-term control medicines used to treat mild persistent asthma.
• Theophylline is a long-term control medication used either alone to treat mild persistent asthma or together with inhaled corticosteroids to treat moderate persistent asthma.  People who take theophylline should have their blood levels checked to be sure the dose is appropriate.

If you discontinue taking long-term control medicines, you'll likely experience an increase in asthma symptoms and attacks.

Many people with asthma need both a short-acting bronchodilator to use when symptoms increase and long-term daily asthma control medication to treat the ongoing inflammation.  Over time, your doctor may need to make changes in your asthma medication.  You may need to increase your dosage, lower your dosage, or try a combination of medications.  Be sure to work closely with your doctor to find the best treatment for you.  The goal is to use the smallest amount of medicine required to control your asthma.

At A Glance

• Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that makes airways (bronchial tubes) particularly sensitive to irritants, and this is characterized by difficulty in breathing.
• There two main types of medicines for the treatment of asthma:
     ·  Quick Relief Medicines: also called relievers, and,
     ·  Long-Term Control Medicines: also called preventers.
• Quick Relief Medicines give rapid, short-term treatment and are taken when you have worsening asthma symptoms that can lead to asthma episodes or attacks.  You will feel the effects of these medicines within minutes.
• Long-Term Control Medicines are taken every day, usually over long periods of time, to control chronic symptoms and to prevent.