Recommended Treatments For Asthma

Prevention and long-term control are key to stopping asthma attacks before they start. Treatment usually involves learning to recognize your triggers, taking steps to avoid triggers and tracking your breathing to make sure your medications are keeping symptoms under control. In case of an asthma flare-up, you may need to use a quick-relief inhaler.

Medications

The right medications for you depend on a number of things — your age, symptoms, asthma triggers and what works best to keep your asthma under control.

Preventive, long-term control medications reduce the swelling (inflammation) in your airways that leads to symptoms. Quick-relief inhalers (bronchodilators) quickly open swollen airways that are limiting breathing. In some cases, allergy medications are necessary.

Long-term asthma control medications, generally taken daily, are the cornerstone of asthma treatment. These medications keep asthma under control on a day-to-day basis and make it less likely you'll have an asthma attack. Types of long-term control medications include:

Inhaled corticosteroids These medications include fluticasone propionate (Flovent HFA, Flovent Diskus, Xhance), budesonide (Pulmicort Flexhaler, Pulmicort Respules, Rhinocort), ciclesonide (Alvesco), beclomethasone (Qvar Redihaler), mometasone (Asmanex HFA, Asmanex Twisthaler) and fluticasone furoate (Arnuity Ellipta).

You may need to use these medications for several days to weeks before they reach their maximum benefit. Unlike oral corticosteroids, inhaled corticosteroids have a relatively low risk of serious side effects.

Leukotriene modifiers: These oral medications — including montelukast (Singulair), zafirlukast (Accolate) and zileuton (Zyflo) — help relieve asthma symptoms.

Montelukast has been linked to psychological reactions, such as agitation, aggression, hallucinations, depression and suicidal thinking. Seek medical advice right away if you experience any of these reactions.

Combination inhalers : These medications — such as fluticasone-salmeterol (Advair HFA, Airduo Digihaler, others), budesonide-formoterol (Symbicort), formoterol-mometasone (Dulera) and fluticasone furoate-vilanterol (Breo Ellipta) — contain a long-acting beta agonist along with a corticosteroid.

Theophylline. Theophylline (Theo-24, Elixophyllin, Theochron) is a daily pill that helps keep the airways open by relaxing the muscles around the airways. It's not used as often as other asthma medications and requires regular blood tests.

Quick-relief (rescue) medications are used as needed for rapid, short-term symptom relief during an asthma attack. They may also be used before exercise if your doctor recommends it. Types of quick-relief medications include:

Short-acting beta agonists: These inhaled, quick-relief bronchodilators act within minutes to rapidly ease symptoms during an asthma attack. They include albuterol (ProAir HFA, Ventolin HFA, others) and levalbuterol (Xopenex, Xopenex HFA).

Short-acting beta agonists can be taken using a portable, hand-held inhaler or a nebulizer, a machine that converts asthma medications to a fine mist. They're inhaled through a face mask or mouthpiece.

Anticholinergic agents: Like other bronchodilators, ipratropium (Atrovent HFA) and tiotropium (Spiriva, Spiriva Respimat) act quickly to immediately relax your airways, making it easier to breathe. They're mostly used for emphysema and chronic bronchitis, but can be used to treat asthma.

Oral and intravenous corticosteroids: These medications — which include prednisone (Prednisone Intensol, Rayos) and methylprednisolone (Medrol, Depo-Medrol, Solu-Medrol) — relieve airway inflammation caused by severe asthma. They can cause serious side effects when used long term, so these drugs are used only on a short-term basis to treat severe asthma symptoms.

If you have an asthma flare-up, a quick-relief inhaler can ease your symptoms right away. But you shouldn't need to use your quick-relief inhaler very often if your long-term control medications are working properly.

Keep a record of how many puffs you use each week. If you need to use your quick-relief inhaler more often than your doctor recommends, see your doctor. You probably need to adjust your long-term control medication.

Allergy medications may help if your asthma is triggered or worsened by allergies. These include:

Allergy shots (immunotherapy): Over time, allergy shots gradually reduce your immune system reaction to specific allergens. You generally receive shots once a week for a few months, then once a month for a period of three to five years.

Biologics: These medications — which include omalizumab (Xolair), mepolizumab (Nucala), dupilumab (Dupixent), reslizumab (Cinqair) and benralizumab (Fasenra) — are specifically for people who have severe asthma.

Bronchial thermoplasty

This treatment is used for severe asthma that doesn't improve with inhaled corticosteroids or other long-term asthma medications. It isn't widely available nor right for everyone.

During bronchial thermoplasty, your doctor heats the insides of the airways in the lungs with an electrode. The heat reduces the smooth muscle inside the airways. This limits the ability of the airways to tighten, making breathing easier and possibly reducing asthma attacks. The therapy is generally done over three outpatient visits.

Treat by severity for better control: A stepwise approach

Your treatment should be flexible and based on changes in your symptoms. Your doctor should ask about your symptoms at each visit. Based on your signs and symptoms, your doctor can adjust your treatment accordingly.

For example, if your asthma is well controlled, your doctor may prescribe less medication. If your asthma isn't well controlled or is getting worse, your doctor may increase your medication and recommend more-frequent visits.

Asthma action plan

Work with your doctor to create an asthma action plan that outlines in writing when to take certain medications or when to increase or decrease the dose of your medications based on your symptoms. Also include a list of your triggers and the steps you need to take to avoid them.

Your doctor may also recommend tracking your asthma symptoms or using a peak flow meter on a regular basis to monitor how well your treatment is controlling your asthma.

Lifestyle and home remedies

Although many people with asthma rely on medications to prevent and relieve symptoms, you can do several things on your own to maintain your health and lessen the possibility of asthma attacks.

Avoid your triggers

Taking steps to reduce your exposure to asthma triggers is a key part of asthma control. To reduce your exposure, you should:

Use your air conditioner: Air conditioning reduces the amount of airborne pollen from trees, grasses and weeds that finds its way indoors. Air conditioning also lowers indoor humidity and can reduce your exposure to dust mites. If you don't have air conditioning, try to keep your windows closed during pollen season.

Decontaminate your decor: Minimize dust that may worsen nighttime symptoms by replacing certain items in your bedroom. For example, encase pillows, mattresses and box springs in dustproof covers. Avoid using down-filled pillows and blankets. Throughout the house, remove carpeting and install hardwood or linoleum flooring. Use washable curtains and blinds.

Maintain optimal humidity: If you live in a damp climate, talk to your doctor about using a dehumidifier.

Prevent mold spores: Clean damp areas in the bathroom, kitchen and around the house to keep mold spores from developing. Get rid of moldy leaves or damp firewood in the yard.

Reduce pet dander: If you're allergic to dander, avoid pets with fur or feathers. Having pets regularly bathed or groomed may also reduce the amount of dander in your surroundings.

Clean regularly: Clean your home at least once a week. If you're likely to stir up dust, wear a mask or have someone else do the cleaning. Wash your bedding regularly.

Cover your nose and mouth if it's cold out: If your asthma is worsened by cold or dry air, wearing a face mask can help.

Stay healthy

Taking care of yourself can help keep your symptoms under control, including:

Get regular exercise: Having asthma doesn't mean you have to be less active. Treatment can prevent asthma attacks and control symptoms during activity.

Regular exercise can strengthen your heart and lungs, which helps relieve asthma symptoms. If you exercise in cold temperatures, wear a face mask to warm the air you breathe.

Maintain a healthy weight: Being overweight can worsen asthma symptoms, and it puts you at higher risk of other health problems.

Control heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD): It's possible that the acid reflux that causes heartburn may damage lung airways and worsen asthma symptoms. If you have frequent or constant heartburn, talk to your doctor about treatment options. You may need treatment for GERD before your asthma symptoms improve.

Alternative medicine

Certain alternative treatments may help with asthma symptoms. However, keep in mind that these treatments are not a replacement for medical treatment, especially if you have severe asthma. Talk to your doctor before taking any herbs or supplements, as some may interact with the medications you take.

In most cases, more research is needed to see how well alternative remedies work and to measure the extent of possible side effects. Alternative asthma treatments include:

Breathing exercises: These exercises may reduce the amount of medication you need to keep your asthma symptoms under control.

Herbal and natural remedies: A few herbal and natural remedies that may help improve asthma symptoms include black seed, caffeine, choline and pycnogenol.