Methods of Asthma Intervention & Rehabilitation

Asthma is a medical situation in which the airways become narrowed due to inflammation. This tightens the muscles around the airways, causing difficulty breathing. The exact causes of asthma are not known, but it is known to affect children, younger and older adults alike. After getting used to the condition, you can learn what your triggers are to help control it. Treatments also consist of drugs that keep the symptoms under check. These are offered in two types: inhalations and ingested medicines, such as pills and syrups.

Rescue Medication

• Rescue medications are medications that act to suppress an imminent asthma attack. When you sense an attack coming on, a rescue medication should be taken immediately to prevents a full-blown attack. Almost invariably, these quick-acting drugs are inhalers. When you inhale the medication through the inhaler, it immediately clears the airways, allowing the respiratory process to function normally. If the attack is severe, the inhaler may cause it to subside for a while, only to return later. In more serious cases, a corticosteroid injection is more effective then an inhaler and can also be administered in response to an impending asthma attack. However, corticosteroid injections may be more difficult to use as not all patients will have access to a medical center at the time of the attack.

Controller Medication

• Controller medication is given as preventative medication to help reduce the frequency of asthma attacks. These medications act over a period of time, and hence have to be taken regularly over long durations. The dosage for these medications is fixed by the doctor, and the medicines are taken even when there is no sign of an impending asthma attack. These medications can also help build resistance to allergens that cause or trigger the condition.

  Asthma control methods can also take the form of natural remedies such as yoga, breathing exercises and acupuncture.

  Avoiding triggers is another important method of controlling asthma on a long term basis. Triggers vary from one person to another, but the most common ones are pollen, smoke, mold, dust and animal dander.

Treatment Protocol

• The appropriate treatment method depends upon the severity of the asthma and the patients reaction to drugs. Some prefer controller medications, however, there may be instances when a patient who is on controller medication still needs to take rescue drugs when an asthma attack begins despite the controllers.