Asthma Treatment and Management
Asthma
Though Asthma cannot be cured, it can be controlled and understanding the effective control treatment is important for patients. The most effective asthma treatment needs routine tracking of the symptoms and frequent measuring of how the patient’s lungs are working (Castro & Kraft, 2008). Good management of asthma treatment is important in helping to maintain long-term asthma control, helps ensure prevention of asthma attacks and avoids long-term problems for the patient. It is important to understand that every type of asthma is dissimilar, the patient and the physician therefore need to construct an asthma management strategy that best works with the patient’s asthma (Castro & Kraft, 2008). This strategy should have details on the asthma triggers and the directions on how medications should be taken.
Two kinds of medicines for asthma exist; there are the long term regulators and the quick relievers (Stewart, 2016). It is important to understand the differences between these two types of medications and the role that they play in helping manage asthma because they can be confusing.
The long-term controllers
These are the medicines that help to prevent and control asthma symptoms. The medications can be taken every day or not depending on the intensity of the asthma. They include;
- Inhaled corticosteroids
This type of medicine helps prevent and also reduce the swelling of the airway, by reducing mucus in the lungs (Stewart, 2016). The medicine is normally given through an inhaler or a nebulizer. They are so far the most operative long term control asthma drugs available. Some of the possible side effects include; cough, oral thrush, skin thinning, and growth delay in pre-pubertal children (Stewart, 2016).
- Oral corticosteroids
This are regularly used to help achieve control of poorly managed tenacious asthma or when an individual is initiating long term treatment. The prescription is used for a few days, roughly 3 to 10 days (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 2015). The drug helps to hinder late reaction to allergen and it decreases lung sensitivity. It helps to hinder manufacture of cytokine, the bond protein stimulation as well as stirring cell relocation and stimulation at the cellular level (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 2015).
Some of the side effects include; the short terms one that are reversible are; irregularities in sugar breakdown, augmented need to eat, fluid retaining, weight gain, high blood pressure (Stewart, 2016). The long term side effects comprise; growth subdual, dermal weakening, diabetes, muscle faintness and weakened human function. It is always important for doctors to consider co-existing conditions which could be worsened by the systemic corticosteroids for example tuberculosis, hypertension, varicella and peptic ulcers among others (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 2015).
- Leukotriene modifiers
This type of medicine can be reflected as a substitute treatment to low amounts of inhaled corticosteroids for kids who have a minor but tenacious asthma (Stewart, 2016). The medicine blocks synthesis of all leukotrienes at the cellular level. The medication is available in pill form that ought to be taken an hour afore or two hours after mealtimes for optimum effects (Stewart, 2016). One of the possible side effects to this medicine is the elevation of liver enzymes.
Long acting beta2 agonists
This is normally taken collectively with anti-inflammatory medicines for long-term regulation of the asthma attacks. It is not advisable to use it on its own and also must never be used to treat acute attacks. The medication is used to improve the asthma attacks and lessen the necessity for using quick relief drugs (Stewart, 2016). Some of the possible side effects include; augmented heart rates, tremor and hypokalaemia
Quick-Relief medicines
These sorts of drugs are taken to help relieve the asthma symptoms like wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath within minutes when they occur (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 2015). The medicines act very fast in helping to diminish the tight muscles round the airways allowing air to flow over them. These drugs are only used when one has asthma attacks and should not be used more than 3 days a week because they do not have a long-term effect (Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, 2015). They include;
- Short acting beta agonists, they are breathed in and work swiftly to release the asthma attacks. They are the major choice for speedy release of an asthma attack (Stewart, 2016).
- Anticholinergics, they are inhaled and act much slower as compared to short acting beta agonists. They help open the lungs by soothing the muscles round the lungs and they also help lessen the production of mucus (Stewart, 2016).
- Combination quick relief medicines, they comprise equally an anticholinergic and a short acting beta agonist. The mixture is presented either as an inhaler or a nebulizer (Stewart, 2016).
Step wise approach treatment for asthma patients
This is a therapy approach where the dose, number and frequency of medication administration for the asthma patients, is augmented as essential and reduced when conceivable to help attain as well as uphold control of the asthma (Khalid, 2015). The approach has 6 steps where every step has its recommended therapy as well as an alternative therapy that is normally used when the patient cannot tolerate the recommended therapy. The dosage of treatment starts from the lowest dosage to the highest (Khalid, 2015). There are two general approaches to this therapy; there is step up of step down therapy. Step up basically comprises beginning treatment at a short dose and evaluating symptom control every two to four weeks and aggregating the concentration of therapy as desirable if regulation is not attained. Step down therapy begins with the patients getting the maximum dose regimen and the concentration is condensed as regulation is attained (Khalid, 2015).
The stepwise method is an important therapy to help manage asthma for the health care providers. Once a patient has been started on the appropriate step and has received education on the triggers, the environment controls and the symptoms; it becomes very easy to manage asthma and prevent recurrent attacks. This approach has greatly improved therapy for asthma.
References
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. (2015). Retrieved from
https://www.aafa.org/asthma-treatment/
Castro, M., & Kraft, M. (2008). Clinical asthma. Philadelphia: Mosby / Elsevier.
Khalid, A. N. (2015, September). Stepwise management of asthma. Retrieved from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26335836
Stewart, K. (2016). Asthma: management and treatment. Chemist & Druggist, 285(6980),
14–16. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=118538506&site=ehost-live
