Health Insurance

Effective Way of Treating Asthma

Generally, if you experience wheezing, coughing, or difficulty breathing most of the time, you might have asthma. In that case, you should seek immediate medical attention for prompt diagnosis so your care provider can develop the best treatment plan. Not only do the care providers focus on treating asthma, but they also deal with seasonal and chronic allergies. Therefore, if you are experiencing symptoms like coughing, wheezing, or difficulty breathing, asthma El Centro may be on its way and thus you need to seek treatment options to help provide symptomatic relief by enabling your breathing effectively. Some of the effective ways of treating asthma you should be aware of are as follows:

Long-term corticosteroids

In most cases, long-term corticosteroids are usually taken daily to help control persistent asthma. They can also be used seasonally, especially if certain symptoms persist during particular times of the year. Examples of long-term corticosteroids are:

Leukotriene modifiers

They include zileuton, montelukast, and zafirlukast and are mainly used alone or with other treatments, especially inhaled corticosteroids. It is also rare that zileuton and montelukast, commonly used in children, have been associated with psychological reactions such as aggression, agitation, depression, hallucination, and suicidal thoughts. In this case, you are advised to seek medical help immediately if your child begins experiencing any of the above psychological reactions.

Inhaled corticosteroids

They are the most long-term corticosteroids that are commonly used to treat asthma. They are mainly anti-inflammatory drugs, including beclomethasone, fluticasone, mometasone, budesonide, and ciclesonide.

Combination inhalers

Combination inhalers contain medications like an inhaled corticosteroid and a long-acting beta agonist. They include combinations of budesonide-formoterol, fluticasone-salmeterol, mometasone-formoterol, and fluticasone-vilanterol. In most cases, combination inhalers are used in serious asthmatic attacks. Of importance to note is that when treating children, long-acting beta agonist medications should only be given to children when combined with corticosteroids in an inhaler.

Quick-relief rescue medications

Quick relief medications are commonly referred to as short-acting bronchodilators that focus on providing immediate symptomatic relief and are said to last for about four to six hours. Usually, Albuterol or salbutamol are commonly used as short-short acting bronchodilators for asthma. Even though these medications are quick acting, they can prevent recurring symptoms. Still, you must take long-term medications if you experience severe or frequent symptoms.

Immunotherapy or injectable medication

Immunotherapy may also help provide symptomatic relief in other situations, especially if you have allergy-induced asthma. During this treatment, your care provider begins with performing a skin test to help determine which allergens are causing or triggering your symptoms. Once the allergen has been identified, you receive small doses of the same allergen, and you or your child might receive injections once a week for months or once a month for years.

Another effective way of preventing asthma is by controlling asthma triggers, especially if you have allergy-induced asthma. Examples of common triggers that you can avoid include cigarette smoke, pet dander, cold weather, respiratory infections, severe heartburn, exercise, allergens like pollen, and mold. Doing so prevents you from experiencing asthma symptoms. However, if you are suffering from other types of asthma, you can receive the best treatment by consulting Prabhdeep Singh, M.D., F.A.C.P. today and inquiring which treatment option works best for you.