Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
Bronchial asthma; Exercise-induced asthma
Treatment
The goal of treatment is to avoid the substances that trigger your symptoms and control airway inflammation. You and your doctor should work together as a team to develop and carry out a plan for eliminating asthma triggers and monitoring symptoms.
For information on treating asthma in children, see:
There are two basic kinds of medication for treating asthma:
- Control drugs to prevent attacks
- Quick-relief drugs for use during attacks
Control drugs for asthma control your symptoms if you don't have mild asthma. You must take them every day for them to work. Take them even when you feel okay.
The most common control drugs are:
- Inhaled corticosteroids (such as Asmanex, Alvesco, Qvar AeroBid, Flovent, Pulmicort) prevent symptoms by helping to keep your airways from swelling up.
- Long-acting beta-agonist inhalers also help prevent asthma symptoms. Do not take long-acting beta-agonist inhaler drugs alone. These drugs are almost always used together with an inhaled steroid drug. It may be easier to use an inhaler that contains both drugs.
Other control drugs that may be used are:
- Leukotriene inhibitors (such as Singulair and Accolate)
- Omalizumab (Xolair)
- Cromolyn sodium (Intal) or nedocromil sodium (Tilade)
- Aminophylline or theophylline (rarely used anymore)
Quick-relief drugs work fast to control asthma symptoms:
Images
Review Date: 05/01/2011
Reviewed By: David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc., and Denis
Hadjiliadis, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of
Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
