Long-term and Quick Relief Treatment Options
Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammation of someone’s bronchial tubes (Szefler, Holguin, & Wechsler, 2017). Inflammation of respiratory airways leads to narrowing and swelling of the bronchi resulting in difficult breathing. Some of the symptoms of asthma are coughing and wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest pain/tightness (Szefler, Holguin, & Wechsler, 2017). There are various treatments for bronchial inflammation. Some are long-term, and some are quick-acting.
Long-term options are inhaled corticosteroids. Such a prescription is often the most common option in the form of Budesonide, beclomethasone, fluticasone, and flunisolide that act on chronic inflammation. Another option is a long-acting beta agonist like salmeterol and formoterol. Quick relief medications can be oral/intravenous corticosteroids like Prednisone that immediately reduce inflammation and relax the airways. Another option are short-acting beta antagonists like albuterol and levalbuterol.
Impact of Asthma Drugs
Corticosteroids have a list of side effects that can affect asthma patients. For example, inhaled corticosteroids can increase the likelihood of oral candidiasis and dysphonia (Chanez, 2012). Asthma patients may also experience a broncospasm or reflex cough making exhalation noisy and hard. Long-term use of corticosteroids can also lead to easy bruising,...
References
Chanez, P. (2012). Asthma: An issue of clinics in chest medicine. Place of publication not identified: Elsevier Saunders.
Lewis, S. M., Dirksen, S. R., Heitkemper, M. M., Bucher, L., & In Harding, M. (2015). Medical-surgical nursing: Assessment and management of clinical problems.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2007). Section 4, Stepwise Approach for Managing Asthma in Youths ?12 Years of Age and Adults. National Asthma Education and Prevention Program. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK7222/
Parthasarathy, A., Bhave, S. Y., Borker, A. S., & Nair, M. K. (2013). Partha's Fundamentals of Pediatrics. JP Medical Ltd.
Szefler, S. J., Holguin, F., & Wechsler, M. E. (2017). Personalizing asthma management for the clinician. Elsevier Health Sciences.
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