How do medications help control asthma?
Long and short-acting asthma medications help control symptoms by lowering inflammation and decreasing constriction in the lungs. Watch family medicine physician Jennifer Caudle, DO, explain different types of asthma medications and how they work.
Transcript
People take long-acting medications, usually on a daily basis, to prevent asthma symptoms from coming on in the first place.
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There are many medications out there that can really help asthma symptoms. Many of these medications are in the form of an inhaler
or an inhaled solution. But there are some medications that do come in pill form as well. We often think about these medications sort
of in two categories. We have the long-acting medications, and then we have the short or quick-acting medications.
One of the big goals-- actually, two of the big goals with dealing with asthma symptoms is we want to lower the inflammation that's
in the lungs and also decrease the amount of constriction that the lungs do-- the tightness, in other words, that
can happen with asthma attacks and flare-ups. So I want you to think of the long-acting medications. These are really-- are really our preventative medications.
People take long-acting medications, usually on a daily basis, to prevent asthma symptoms from coming on in the first place, to keep you healthy,
to keep you able to do the things you love to do, and live your life asthma-free. We then also have the short-acting medications.
These are often called rescue medications because they do just that. They will rescue you from asthma flare-up symptoms.
So if there is an onset of wheezing, or coughing, or tightness, you can take your quick acting medication to help resolve the symptoms.
That's usually an as needed medication. So for many people with asthma, there's often a combination of one or both of these medications
asthma
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