You have drawers full of inhalers. You have a medicine chest filled with pill bottles. You have a peak flow meter and a couple of spacers. But when asthma warning signs come along, do you reach for the bronchodilator, the inhaled corticosteroid, or the long-acting beta2-agonist? If you’re serious about managing your asthma, you need to understand your medications. Once you do, you should find your episodes becoming less frequent. Eventually, your episodes may disappear altogether.

Asthma medication falls into two basic categories: long-term control medication (also called controllers) and quick-relief medications (also called rescue or reliever medications). Using long-term control and quick-relief medications at the right time is key to successful asthma management. Because some medications may produce side effects, finding the most effective medication with the fewest side effects is one of the six goals for asthma management, as stated by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP, a project of the National Institutes of Health). If your asthma medication produces uncomfortable side effects, talk to your health care provider about adjusting your medications.

Long-term control medications

In the long run, treating the underlying inflammation of asthma is as important as relieving its symptoms. This may mean daily doses (either oral or inhaled) of anti-inflammatory medicines and a long-acting bronchodilator. Because they take much longer to start working, long-term control medications should never be used as a substitute for quick-relief medications, especially in an emergency.

Quick-relief medications

Fast-acting quick-relief medications provide help when you need it most — when warning signs are telling you an episode is building. These medications don’t reduce underlying airway inflammation, but they do ease symptoms by relaxing and opening constricted airways. Your health care provider will probably prescribe an inhaled quick-relief medication, because inhalation delivers exact doses of medication directly to the lungs. The effect lasts for three to six hours. If your episodes are intermittent, an inhaled quick-relief medication may be the only drug in your arsenal.

Emergency medication

Oral steroids are an extremely effective way to relieve asthma episodes. However, unlike inhaled corticosteroids (a safe and effective long-term control medication), oral steroids are typically used as a stopgap measure, meant to give you time to regain control over asthma. When used improperly, or too frequently, oral steroids can produce serious side effects. Don’t take oral steroids in place of long-term control or quick-relief medications!

Your health care provider will want to monitor your use of oral steroids carefully. Occasionally, some people become temporarily dependent on oral steroids for a longer time. You may be asked to call the doctor every time you use them. Repeated need for oral steroids could mean it’s time to call your health care provider and reevaluate your asthma management plan.

Your asthma management plan

While medication is key to your good health, it’s only part of your asthma management plan. The NAEPP recommends intensive drug therapy to gain control, then slowly reducing the amount of medication. How is that possible? Because the other three components of your asthma management plan will pick up the slack. They are:

1. Avoiding asthma triggers through environmental control measures
2. Actively monitoring your condition
3. Learning as much as you can about environmental control, self-care, and medication

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 7:08 am and is filed under Adult Asthma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.