Asthma Medication Reverses Constriction of Bronchi

To reverse the constriction of bronchi, which results in great difficulty in breathing and is known as asthma, use may be made of asthma medications. These are anti-asthmatic drugs that may be sub-divided into relievers, symptom controllers, as well as preventers. How they are used depends on the method of action as well as duration.

The first of the widely used asthma medications are known as relievers, which includes salbutamol or terbutaline. These are two substances which have been designed to dilate the smooth muscle of the bronchi to allow air to flow freely, and are usually found in a blue inhaler.

When breathing becomes difficult, the patient needs to inhale receptors, and the best method to do so is to take a puff and wait for a minute before taking the next puff. This makes it possible to allow the bigger airways to dilate and the drug, when it gets to the smaller airways, does so on the second puff and alleviates the asthmatic condition. However, continuous use makes the airways of the lungs desensitized to the action of such preventers.

Symptom Controllers & Preventers

Symptom controllers are similar to preventers and are used as asthma medication, even though they have much longer sidechains. These controllers include salmeterol, formoterol and bambuterol, which are all long-acting agonists. Another asthma medication is the asthma preventer, which may be some corticosteroids that are inhaled or taken by oral means and work through the alteration of the production of chemicals that result in an asthmatic response.

The number of corticosteroids is many and includes beclomethasone, budesonide, fluticasone, dexamethasone and prednisolone which are mostly brown-colored inhalers that are marketed under names such as Becotide, Flixotide and Pulmicort. However, these products do give the patient side effects such as redistribution of fat, increased appetite, blood glucose problems, as well as putting on extra weight and may also result in thinning of the skin, decreased immunity and slower healing as well as osteoporosis.

Asthma medications such as these preventers, due to their side effects, require that the dose of corticosteroid be reduced greatly and the patient need take only the least amount required. This is reason enough to use inhaled steroids for prevention since they target the lungs more than oral preparations. Such asthma medications should be used with great care, and only the minimum amount should be used and in least frequency, which means that taking four puffs twice daily is better than two puffs four times in a day.