Asthma

If you have asthma attacks, long-term control and preventing are important for stopping them.

Effective treatments involve the intake of specific medications to keep unwanted symptoms under control.

The right choice of special drugs depends on different things, such as symptoms, your age, causes, etc.

All meds that treat asthma can be classified as two basic groups: long-term control or preventive medications that decrease inflammation in airways and fast-relief inhalers or bronchodilators that work by opening swollen airways that limit proper breathing.

The first group of medications is taken on a daily basis, because they help patients keep their asthma symptoms under control, and they include:

• Inhaled corticosteroids or anti-inflammatory drugs;
• Leukotriene modifiers;
• Long-acting beta agonists;
• Theophylline;
• Combination inhalers.

When it comes to rescue or fast-relief meds for asthma, they’re used by patients to relieve symptoms on a short-term basis, including:

• Short-acting beta agonists;
• Ipratropium or Atrovent;
• Intravenous and oral corticosteroids are used for severe asthma.

Talk to your doctor to choose the best treatment.