What different kinds of asthma medications are used?
There are many different types and brands of asthma drugs on the market. We believe it is helpful to classify the drugs to help understand how they are used. The two main types are bronchodilators and anti-inflammatory medications (steroid/cortisone-type medications and cromolyn-type medications). Two other types of medications – Leukotriene modifiers (e.g., Accolate and Zyflo) and phosphodiesterase inhibitors (e.g. theophylline) – are difficult to classify since they seem to have properties of both bronchodilators and anti-inflammatory medications. What are bronchodilators? Bronchodilators are medications that dilate (open up) the bronchial tubes to permit easier breathing and relieve symptoms. There are short-acting bronchodilators that are used for quick relief of asthma symptoms (e.g., albuterol, metaproterenol, and trade names including Ventolin, Proventil HFA, Primatene, and Alupent). Most doctors instruct patients to use them as needed – the moment that asthma symptoms arise. In
