Have you experience difficulty during breathing? Yes…. Then, be alert it might be Asthma. It is a condition in which the airways of the lungs will get infect. Asthma condition may be either acute or chronic. People who affect with asthma can be called as Asthmatic. Know the available Asthma Treatment in this article and have an idea about how to control asthma.
The typical Bronchial Asthma Symptoms include shortness of breath, wheezing, cough, chest tightness. What cures Asthma? This lung disease has no cure but the main goal is to control asthma.
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Asthma Treatment
What is asthma and how is it treated? Asthma, a chronic long term disease which occurs due to narrowing of airways of the lungs. Is there any cure for Asthma? Of course, there is no permanent cure for Asthma, but you can improve the symptoms. The first thing that one must remember is Asthma is a variable disease. It means the symptoms of Asthma vary from one person to another. Also, even the same person cannot have same symptoms all the time, and his condition may fluctuate for the whole year.
Asthma can be caused due to genital and environmental factors. Also, Certain health problems including stress, acid reflux, obesity & allergens like cold, dust also trigger Asthma symptoms. Effective treatment for Bronchial Asthma lies in identifying the allergens which trigger Asthma and avoiding them.
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However, there are many medications, drug therapies available to prevent Asthma. Wonder, we have many long-term control medicines and quick relief medications that help to ease Asthma Attacks. Hence, know the drugs and medication available for the treatment of Asthma.
Drugs for Asthma Treatment
How to cure Asthma? Medications for treating an Asthma Attacks are categorized into two types namely quick-relief medications and long-term control medicines. Quick relief bronchial asthma medicines open the swollen & blocked airways and help to promote breathing. While long-term Asthma drugs reduce inflammation caused to airways.
Quick Relief medicines
The rescue medications are best for acute asthma treatment. Mainly, these are preferable for short-term relief of Asthma Attack Symptoms. Since these are not meant for reducing inflammation, it should not be replaced with long-term control drugs. The quick-relief medicines for mild asthma attack treatment include the following.
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Short-acting beta agonists
What is the treatment for Asthma Patients? To get instant relief from Asthma, use short-acting beta agonist inhaler to ease symptoms. These quick-relief bronchodilators show the better results in a fraction of minutes. They include levalbuterol(Xopenex), albuterol(ProAir HFA, Ventolin HFA). These are portable and hand-held inhalers or nebulizers. Nebulizer is a machine which converts Asthma medicine into a spray. Hence, you can inhale the spray through mouthpiece or face mask.
Ipratropium
Like all other quick bronchodilators, ipratropium relaxes airways of the lung and helps to breathe normally. Mostly, this type of drug is preferable for Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis. Rarely used for Asthma Attacks.
Oral and intravenous corticosteroids
The well-known oral and intravenous corticosteroids are prednisone and methylprednisolone. For the acute severe asthma treatment, they help to reduce inflammation. But they may cause side effects and hence not used for long term basis and preferable for short term.
Long-term control medicines
Asthma patients can take some of these medications daily to keep Asthma under control. Also, some medicines are meant only for particular time to control the severity of the asthma attacks. In a few situations, you doctor will suggest inhaled corticosteroids along with these long-term control drugs. These drugs for bronchial asthma cure inflammation of airways. Therefore, Look at the list of long-term control medications to cure asthma.
Inhaled corticosteroids
These anti-inflammatory drugs include mometasone (Asmanex), budesonide (Pulmicort Flexhaler, Rhinocort), flunisolide (Aerospan HFA). Also, other drugs for asthma are ciclesonide (Alvesco, Omnaris, Zetonna), beclomethasone (Qnasl, Qvar), and fluticasone furoate (Arnuity Ellipta).
You have to use these medicines either for a week or a month till you asthma will get in control. Unlike oral corticosteroids, these drugs have low side effects and are safe.
Leukotriene modifiers
From the basophils and eosinophils, Leukotrienes will produce in our body. This results in increased mucus production and causes inflammation and swelling of airways of lungs. Then, you will come up with shortness of breath, wheezing. Leukotriene modifiers prevent the production of leukotrienes and their action in the body.
How is asthma treated? Leukotriene modifiers drugs include zafirlukast (Accolate), montelukast (Singulair), zileuton (Zyflo). They will block chemicals which cause inflammation for relieving Asthma symptoms within 24 hours. In some cases, these medications will lead to agitation, hallucinations, depression, and suicidal thinking. Hence, seek doctor’s help to prevent those side effects.
Long-acting beta agonists
These type of drugs relax muscles that promote breathing passages, prevent resistance to exhaled airflow. Also, reduces inflammation but doesn’t show any effect on the underlying cause of an asthma attack. Inhaling these long-acting beta-agonists open breathing passages and helps to breathe easily.
These drugs include formoterol (Foradil, Perforomist), salmeterol (Serevent) which helps to open the airways. These medicines for asthma attack should not be used alone as it may increase severe asthma attack risks. Hence, recommended to use along with inhaled corticosteroid. Side effects of these Asthma Drugs include an increase in heartbeat and shakiness.
Combination inhalers
Combination inhalers are the best medicines for the treatment of bronchial asthma. These medicines include budesonide-formoterol (Symbicort), fluticasone-salmeterol (Advair Diskus), formoterol-mometasone (Dulera). They contain both corticosteroids and long beta agonists. Since they consist long-acting beta agonists, increase the risk of severe asthma attacks.
Theophylline
What is the medical treatment for Asthma? Theophylline is the best medicine to control Asthma. Theophylline is available in the form of a pill which helps to open airways by relaxing muscles.
Alternative Treatments for Asthma
In some cases, asthma is also caused due to allergies. Hence, know the alternative treatments for bronchial asthma in order to avoid allergies.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy, as the name suggest it build up an immune system to fight with allergens that cause Asthma. In this therapy, two types of medications are there to treat asthma attacks effectively. One is allergy shot and another one is sublingual tablets. If you eliminate allergens, the Asthma lung disease will get controlled.
Allergy shots
If an allergy is one of the triggers for your Asthma, then allergy shots are the best medication for acute asthma treatment. These allergy shots work well for relieving asthma symptoms and helps to cure allergies. In less time, these shots build immune system reaction against allergens. This happens by injecting a few allergen shots at starting time and gradually increasing amounts. This medicinal course should take once a month for several years. Since these shots provide tolerance to allergen effects, you can relieve symptoms of asthma.
Recent studies prove that children who take these allergy shots are less prone to asthma attacks. But these shots are separate for children, adults, and adolescents. Since, all we know that asthma triggers are allergen if we control them, we can prevent asthma.
Sublingual tablets
These tablets also fall under the category of immunotherapy. Food and drug administration approved sublingual tablets in 2014. You must use these asthma drugs before the starting of allergen season. Also, you have to use this asthma new treatment for three years. But patients having severe and uncontrollable asthma must avoid these tablets. Only a few allergen types can be curable with these tablets.
Bronchial Thermoplasty
Bronchial Thermoplasty, a treatment intended for severe Asthma. During asthma attacks, your muscles present in lungs shrink and make you hard to breathe. Hence, Bronchial Thermoplasty is one of the ways to treat asthma by opening airways. Of course, this treatment doesn’t cure Asthma, but it helps to breathe better compared with before.
This treatment for severe asthma attacks takes three sessions with a difference of 3 weeks between those sessions. Each treatment takes less than 1 hour and at each time separate part of lungs will be treated. With three visits of asthma patients to a hospital, your breath will become better and reduces pediatric asthma attacks.
Emergency Asthma Treatment
It’s important to monitor Asthma frequently to know when you have to seek emergency treatment for Asthma. Checking the reading of peak flow meter helps for good control of asthma. Peak flow meter is a small handheld device which shows your lung function reading. Depending on this reading, the asthma action plans and the course of medication will vary.
When peak flow meter reading is less than 50%, then you must have severe asthma symptoms. In that case, you need emergency treatment of Asthma. The emergency treatments of asthma include providing direct oxygen and high doses of medications. Also, doctor’s will arrange medical ventilation and breathing tube in a throat. Don’t delay if you have emergency asthma condition because it may lead to death. Include the following points in the emergency action plan of asthma.
- Use prescribed emergency air inhaler.
- Keep checking peak flow meter reading.
- Visit emergency room.
- Keep numbers of doctor and hospital.
- Remember doses of drugs and their names.
Asthma Cures and Treatments for special groups
The above treatments are meant for all people who have been suffering from Asthma. However, there are some new asthma treatments which are different for different age group people.
Childhood Asthma Treatment
Diagnosing Asthma in children having age below 5 years is hard. Quick relief medications help to relieve wheezing in children. After assessing the symptoms of a child, doctors will treat them with long-term control medicines after 6 years of age. The best asthma attack treatment for children includes inhaled corticosteroids.
At first, the treatment will be given as a trial for 1 month to 6 weeks. This treatment must stop when you notice the results. Inhaled corticosteroids can decrease the growth of young children. You can see this slowed growth in the first several months of treatment. But didn’t get worse with time.
Treatment for Adult Onset Asthma
Adult asthma care must need adjustments in the treatment for the prevention of interaction between medicines. Some medications including aspirin, pain relievers, anti-inflammatory medicines, beta blockers may worsen adult asthma symptoms.
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Besides, it’s too difficult for adults to hold breath for 10 seconds after inhalation. Therefore, tell a doctor which medicines that you take to avoid interaction with asthma medications. For older adults, usage of inhaled corticosteroids at high doses may cause weak bone. Hence, seek doctor’s help and use calcium and D Vitamin tablets to obtain strong bones.
Asthma Cure for Pregnant Women
During pregnancy, women must need proper Asthma Control to promote the supply of oxygen to their babies. Poor management of asthma during pregnancy increases the risk of preeclampsia. It is a condition in which the patient will get high blood pressure. Also, babies who born for asthma mothers have greater chances for premature births and low birth weight.
Therefore, necessary to contact doctor’s help for controlling asthma during pregnancy. It’s safe to take asthma drugs to lower the risks when you become pregnant.
Asthma Management Guidelines
Medical Management of Asthma includes diagnosis and treatment of chronic asthma, bronchial asthma cure, etc. Also, controls asthma exacerbation symptoms including exercise induced and nocturnal asthmatic symptoms. Pharmacological chronic asthma management involves the use of controllable drugs like inhaled corticosteroids, theophylline, etc. Asthma medications are the primary stones for controlling it. Hence, know all the treatments and management of asthma.
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Remember the following chronic asthma treatment guidelines in mind.
- Use peak flow meter to check if your lungs are properly working or not. Never stop using Asthma Medicines. Maintain the list including drug names and doses.
- Make sure that you are following Asthma Treatment and Action plan or not.
- Clean your hands thoroughly before taking drugs for the treatment of Asthma.
- Check once again the names and dosages of prescribed medicines before taking those Asthma medications.
- Maintain a store to keep all drugs for asthma treatment according to instructions.
- Examine the liquid medications whether they changed color or not. If, yes don’t use those bronchial asthma medicines and use a new one.
- Some drugs will not work and cause side effects. Hence, report to a doctor if you have any such problems and take appropriate medicines.