Asthma Treatment
As we all now know what is the cause of asthma and what actually happens when you come across an asthma attack. You need to take proper medicine to keep the asthma attack away from you. Inhalers is the medication given to asthma patients. By using such inhalers, small amount of medicine is passed into the body directly into the lungs. This medicine helps the muscles to relax. There are two main types of asthma medicine available: Reliever inhaler & Preventer inhalers.
Reliever Inhalers:
Reliever Inhalers are available in blue color. Reliever Inhalers need to be used only you come across any asthma symptom. Reliever Inhaler is the type of medicine which is passed into the lungs and helps the muscles to relax. Reliever Inhalers are not to be used on regular basis, they are sort of mild type of medicine given to patients who complaint about breathing problem and show some symptoms of asthma. If at all you have to take this medicine for around a month then you need to consult your doctor and get the medicine changed. In this case you may have to go for higher dose like preventer inhalers.
Preventer Inhalers:
Preventer Inhalers are the medicine containing corticosteroids. These steroids helps to calm the inflammation present in the breathing pipe. This also helps in blocking the blood vessels from leaking. This medicine is available in multiple colors. This medicine needs to be taken everyday. If at all you missed taking it some day please take your daily dose at the very same moment you get remind off. This medicine needs to be continued till you find that all the asthma symptoms are gone. Some people wash their mouth with water after taking the dose of asthma medicine, this helps to reduce the side-effects of the medicine.
Please note that you should not select the medicine on your own. It needs to be prescribed by the doctor, and while taking consulting from the doctor, don’t forget to discuss your allergies with your doctor. Mainly if you have any allergy from medicine or food.
Asthma Inhalers
Metered dose inhaler: The medicine with this inhaler is mixed with an organic solvent and sealed in canister. The medicine needs to be sprayed in the plastic case. Then breath the medicine from the plastic case and hold your breath for around 10 seconds, then exhale. Wait for few seconds and then take another deep breath with the medicine.
Autohaler: Autohaler comes with the lever on the top of the case. This inhaler contains pressurized aerosol in the case. So when the person starts breathing through the case the lever automatically shifts and the medicine is passed while breathing. The person needs to keep on breathing otherwise the medicine would be vaporized / lost instead of passing it to the lungs.
Spacer devices: This device is mainly used for children, who are unable to manage the inhalers. In spacer devices the medicine remains in the spacer device and once the 1 cycle of breathing is done, one can wait for few seconds and continue with second breathing cycle. The advantage with spacer device is the medicine is not wasted, which actually happens with metered dose inhalers and autohalers. Need to take care that the spacer device is cleaned every time before use.
Dry powder inhaler: Dry powder inhaler works quite differently then other inhalers. You need to put the medicine capsule in the inhaler and the person can start breathing. Once the person starts breathing, the inhaler punctures the capsule and the powder from the capsule gets filled in the capsule, this powder is then inhaled and passed it to the lungs when you breath.
Nebulizer: In case of asthma attack if the medicine needs to be given to asthma patient in emergency the best way to give asthma medicine is through nebulizer. The reason why this method is used during emergency is because it is easy to give medicine to the asthma patient and easy for the patient to consume it. The drug comes in a liquid form which gets converted into fine powder. The breathing can be done through mouth piece.
