Which Asthma Medication Is Best?

• Inhaled, long-acting bronchodilators (also known as beta agonists). This type of medicine used to be prescribed quite often for people with asthma, until studies found that the risk of death from asthma actually increased when people took these drugs. Eventually, experts concluded that the reason for this was that this type of drug just wasn't adequate in controlling asthma by itself. But in combination with an inhaled steroid in a combination inhaler, long-acting bronchodilators do have a place in asthma treatment. Examples are Serevent and Foradil.

• Oral bronchodilators. In days past, medicines like Theophylline were commonly prescribed for asthma and other lung conditions and could be useful. They may still be used in some cases, but newer asthma medicines are more effective and have fewer and less severe side effects.

• Oral steroids. Prednisone is the most common in this class and is effective in controlling airway inflammation and helping asthmatics to recover from severe asthma attacks. Unfortunately, taking oral steroids for a long time can come with many side effects. So, they are usually only used in an emergency situation to get fast control over asthma symptoms or to prevent relapses after acute attacks.

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). This type of asthma medicine blocks the action of mast cells in the body that release certain chemicals that trigger inflammation in your airways. As a result, they block the airway swelling and tightening and mucus typical of asthma. Examples include cromolyn sodium and nedocromil.

The Newest Hope for Severe Asthmatics

Sometimes, even the combination inhalers aren't enough to fully control asthma in people with extremely severe asthma. For the past few years, there has been another option, which is called an immunomodulator. Immunomodulators are asthma medicines that change how your immune system reacts to the asthma triggers you come into contact with.

This type of medicine blocks the action of Immunoglobulin E, also known as IgE. IgE is one of the major factors in allergic asthma. Your body normally produces small amounts of IgE, but in allergic people, IgE is produced in large amounts that cause asthma symptoms when you come into contact with your asthma triggers.

An example of an immunomodulator is Xolair. Xolair is an injectable medicine that must be given in a doctor's office, so it's not for everyone.

So, which of these asthma medicines are best for you?

Unfortunately, the only really correct answer to this question is, "It depends..." Every pharmaceutical company will try to convince you that their drug is best. And if you talk with other asthmatics, chances are they'll tell you whatever they take is best. But the truth is, we are each of us different, with slightly different things going on in our bodies.

So, how you will react to a specific asthma medication is not entirely predictable. Asthma treatment is very much a case of trial and error. Your doctor will prescribe something for you and wait to see how well it works.