Asthma Treatment Plan

One of the most common discomforting diseases that people suffer from is asthma. This is an inflammatory condition, wherein, a person has inflammation in the lungs and in the airway passage, which leads to constriction of the bronchioles. This causes narrower pathway for air to pass, which leads to less amount of air reaching the lungs and the alveoli, thus leading to wheezing and breathing problems. There are many trigger factors that cause an asthma attack, like pollen or dust. As asthma has myriad causes, the way to deal with this condition is by using a multi-pronged approach, which is a combination of preventive and treatment measures. Given below are details regarding what goes into chalking out an asthma treatment plan.

Asthma Treatment and Planning

First Line of Treatment
Once the exact cause or trigger factor of asthma is identified, then the treatment plan is formulated. Usually, for a person diagnosed with asthma, the first line of treatment will consist of medications that will provide him with immediate relief when he is actually having the asthma attack. These include:

• Short acting beta agonists: When these drugs are inhaled, they lead to bronchodilation, which helps bring about quick relief for the person. These include well-known asthma medicines, like albuterol, levalbuterol, etc. These are fast acting medicines and their effect lasts for hours.
• Corticosteroids: Although doctors prefer to try to treat patients without making use of corticosteroids in their treatment plan, this class of drugs may eventually be needed to deal with the condition. Corticosteroids, administered either orally or intravenously, help in treatment for asthma attacks by mitigating the symptoms of airway inflammation that may be seen in patients who have very severe and regular attacks of asthma. However, the long term use of steroids to treat asthma is strictly avoided, as steroids tend to have many side effects when used for a long duration of time. This is especially to be kept in mind when formulating asthma treatment guidelines for children.
• Ipratropium: Although this drug is routinely used to treat emphysema and cases of long standing bronchitis, it may sometimes be used to get immediate relief from an attack. It also acts by relaxing the airway.

Second Line of Treatment
The above given list of medications are to be taken when a person is actually having an asthma attack. However, what about the measures taken to prevent the very onset of an asthma attack? Given below is a list of medications that are a part of most asthma treatment plans and which help to prevent the onset of asthma.

• Inhalation corticosteroids: Corticosteroids, including fluticasone, flunisolide and beclomethasone are commonly used as long term medications to curb the frequency of asthma attacks. Since these are inhaled, they have a much lower potential of causing side effects when compared to orally or intravenously administered corticosteroids.
• Long acting beta agonists: These medications include salmeterol and are to be inhaled. These also help to reduce inflammation and bring about bronchodilation. However, they are to be strictly used in combination with steroids, and not solely for treating asthma attack symptoms.
• Leukotriene modifiers: These are oral medicines that include zafirlukast and montelukast. Their action lasts for an entire day.
• Theophylline: This is an oral medication that brings about bronchodilation by bringing about relaxation of the muscles surrounding the airway, thus, making breathing easy and comfortable.

This was all about the various treatment approaches towards asthma. The fact of the matter is that since asthma can occur due to various factors, and every person has a different trigger factor, consequently, the treatment plan is unique for each patient too. But as they say, prevention is better than cure, so it is best, along with taking in maintenance medications, identify they trigger factor of asthma and keep a safe distance from it.