Q: I have asthma. How do bronchodilators and steroids help me breathe easier?

A: To understand how asthma medications work, you need to understand how asthma affects your lungs.


Some people with asthma have only occasional, mild symptoms - wheezing, difficulty breathing or a persistent cough. Others have nearly constant symptoms with severe, life-threatening flare-ups. Symptoms of a severe attack can include extreme shortness of breath, chest tightness, and bluish lips and fingernails.




Bronchodilators can be inhaled in an inhaler or with a nebulizer, a device that mixes medications with a mist for inhalation.

-âAnti-inflammatory medications prevent asthma attacks from happening. They are usually taken regularly, regardless of whether you are having symptoms. They reduce inflammation, which decreases mucus production and reduces tightening of airway muscles.

Anyone with symptoms that occur more than a couple of times per week should consider an anti-inflammatory medication. The first choice is usually an inhaled corticosteroid.

-âOther medications: Methylxanthines are older controllers that relax the muscles of the airways; leukotriene inhibitors are newer anti-inflammatory controllers; ipratropium sometimes is used in the emergency room during severe attacks to relax the airways; omalizumab is an anti-inflammatory controller that can reduce the number of serious attacks in some people.
