Asthma Medication

There are several types of asthma medication that can be used to help a patient that is struggling with asthma. Usually, a doctor will prescribe medications from the start of the episodes that seem to be that of asthma. If the medication helps to relive symptoms, the patient is considered to have asthma. In other cases, medications can be given after the diagnosis has been made that the patient has asthma.

The most common medications for the treatment of asthma are called bronchodilators. These medications are well known as simply inhalers. They are small sized inhaler units that offer a measured dose of the correct medication to the patient, allowing him to receive almost instant help from asthma symptoms. The medications within the asthma inhalers can range. Short acting medications such as salbutamol, terbutaline and bitolterol are some options here. There are older medications that some asthma suffers take. These are adrenergic agonists such as ephedrine tablets and epinephrine in an inhaled form. Ipratropium bromide is another medication that is provided to asthma suffers. This medication, unlike others, does not have as many potentially drastic health risks.

All of these medications have some type of side effect or can cause potentially life threatening conditions if the medications are used in the wrong way or over used for asthma treatment. Some will cause heart reactions such as high blood pressure and should be monitored closely.

To help a child or an adult to get relief from the asthma that they suffer from, a wide range of medications are available. Usually, these medications will be administered through an inhaler that will allow the medications to instantly enter the airways, opening them up and allowing the asthma symptoms of restriction to vanish. The right medication is something that can take a bit of working out to find the right one for the specific asthma reaction the individual has.

By: Roger Thompson