Asthma is a disease that is long term and cannot be cured.
Millions of Americans including young children suffer from this condition.
It can affect people differently though.
While some people may have flare ups every few years others will have to deal with it on a much more severe basis.
The good thing is there are treatments that help to control the symptoms and to keep it at bay.
These medications will help to prevent mild to severe symptoms, help your body to maintain proper lung function, allow you to do normal activities and sleep through the whole night, and will help to prevent asthma attacks that could send you to the hospital.
Asthma can be treated with two types of medicines; long term and quick relief.
These medicines will help to reduce the inflammation in the airways and to prevent symptoms.
The Quick relief medicines will work to relieve asthma symptoms that can flare up when you least expect it.
Whichever treatment you are being put on will help to determine how severe the disease can be for you.
It is important that you have follow up asthma treatments because it will depend how you should live your life and what precautions - if any - you will need to take.
Your doctor will consider several things when deciding what asthma medicines would be best for you.
Most doctors will use a stepwise plan when prescribing medicines.
They will give you something and look to see how well it works to control attacks and your symptoms.
If needed they will give you different medicine or will change the dose.
You can take asthma medication in pill form or through an inhaler.
The inhaler is built to send the medicine straight to your lungs and is used more often during attacks.
It is important to know that not all inhalers will work the same way.
That is why you need to make sure that you receive proper instructions and understand everything that your doctor tells you before using it.