What Every Asthmatic Patient Should Know About Asthma Drugs

Whenever you feel depressed because of your asthmatic problem, rejoice in the joy that you were born in this time in human history when mankind has advanced in many areas, especially medically.

If you travel in time to, say, a hundred years back, you will see how terrible asthmatic victims suffered. At that time in human history, medicine hadn’t advanced as it is today. There were hardly any helpful asthma drugs to use for preventing or treating the condition.

Many people who had the condition at this point in history were left with no choice but to suffer the attacks whenever it occurred.

But today there are many asthma drugs that can help to prevent attacks and even to treat a serious asthmatic case - thereby prevent death.

The asthma drugs are grouped under two categories- the quick relief medicines (also known as relievers) and the long-term medicines (also known as preventers).

Some of these reliever and preventer asthma drugs include:

- Inhaled corticosteroid (also known as ’steroids’ for short) - These types of asthma drugs help you by reducing the swelling of your airways. With this reduction, there is less likelihood an asthmatic attack.

- Bronchodilators- These types of asthma drugs are not anti-inflammatory but are used by asthma victims to control the condition and prevent certain symptoms.

- Leukotriene modifiers- These types of asthma drugs can help you to treat mild cases of asthma.

- Theophylline- is a type of asthma drug that you can use to treat mild cases of asthma and also moderate cases.

To get the best use of these asthmatic drugs, make sure you take them with a doctor’s guide. Most importantly, make sure you take the right dose. You don’t want to make your condition worse by taking the wrong doses.

Note that these medicines are mostly taken as inhalers. There is a reason for this. It is so that you can breathe them in through your nose for it to be delivered where it is required most - in your lungs. It is also so that it can start working much faster.

Do You Know What Asthma Nebulizer Really Is?

When I sit and imagine the power of modern technology today, especially with the availability of asthma nebulizer, I feel so happy being born in this generation? and not some 100 years ago.

Imagine being born some 100 years ago when people were dying from very simple diseases because of unavailability of medical solutions. Asthmatic patients in those times didn’t have any asthma nebulizer.

Still wondering what asthma nebulizer is?

It is a machine that is used by asthmatic patients for getting medicine into the lungs.

An asthma nebulizer makes a mix of liquid medicine and water into a mist that an asthmatic victim or someone having an asthmatic attack then inhales (through a mask or a mouthpiece). This then gives an instant relief from the asthma attack.

Nebulizers are often used for little babies and children too small to be able to coordinate themselves using a metered dose inhaler.

They are also sometimes also used for asthmatic victims having harsh asthma symptoms. This is because many asthmatic victims find it easier to take in the medicine this way when they are having a lot of difficulty breathing.

Asthma nebulizer can also be referred to as a machine that changes fluid medicine into fine droplets (in aerosol or mist form) that are inhaled by an asthmatic victim, from beginning to end of a mouthpiece or mask.

Nebulizers can be used to distribute bronchodilator (airway-opening) medications such as albuterol and Atrovent, as well as anti-inflammatory medicines (Pulmicort Respules).

A nebulizer may be used as an alternative to a metered dose inhaler (MDI). It is mostly beneficial to little children who might find it difficult to take the other types of asthma treatments.

Asthma Medicine That Can Save Your Life

Prior to advancement of modern medical sciences, there were so many deaths from asthma. People were mostly helpless when faced with asthma. The previous asthma medicines were not as effective in handling the disease as recent medicines are.

Now, with the constant use of the best asthma medicines asthmatic patients can live long and healthy without daily incidences of attacks or death. There are even people who stay for many years without experiencing a single asthmatic attack.

And even when the asthmatic attack does occur, with the right medicine inhaled the asthmatic patient will get instant relief, usually within a few seconds or minutes!

Most of the asthma medicines get inhaled directly into the lungs where they get to work instantly to bring the victim relief.

Some of the asthma medicines include:

? Inhaled corticosteroid (also known as ’steroids’) - These types of medications help you by reducing the swelling of your airways.

? Bronchodilators- These types of asthma medications are not anti-inflammatory but are used by asthma victims to control the condition and prevent certain symptoms.

? Leukotriene modifiers- These types of asthma medications can help you to treat mild cases of asthma.

? Theophylline- is a type of medication that you can use to treat mild cases of asthma and also moderate cases.

There is also another common asthma medicine known as “Cromolyn Sodium or Intal”. It is a drug used to treat many respiratory problems. Apart from asthma, it is also used to treat hay fever.

It works by interfering with the chemical reactions within that constrict the muscles in the bronchi, the two branches that connect the trachea or windpipe to the lungs.

Note that most of these medicines taken by asthmatic patients are taken orally- mostly inhaled in vapor form using what is known as a metered-dose inhaler.

This inhaler is a kind of hand-held pump which helps to deliver the medication directly into the airways of asthma victims.

So, if you have asthma and want to stay alive and healthy all the days of your life, talk to you doctor on the best medicine to take and the best ways of effectively managing the condition.

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