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NightDragon
6th Grade UsernameRegistered User regular
6th Grade UsernameRegistered User regular
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Since you've apparently never talked to a doctor about it, I'll just give you a quick run-down.
Primarily, there are two types of asthma medication:
There's the rescue, for when asthma suddenly happens, like when you're exercising or if you're allergic to something and it blows across your nose. Taking a rescue inhaler gives you immediate relief, but does nothing in the long term. You have some experience with the rescue inhalers when you were younger.
Then there's the control medication, which you take less frequently to keep your asthma controlled. Taking any of these medications during an asthma attack are worthless, as they take a lot more time to kick in.
The powdery drug you're talking about is, I think, called Advair, and it's a control drug. I take it. You need a prescription for it, and need to see your doctor regularly because IT CAN KILL YOU if you don't keep your asthma under control.
That's about as far as I'm going to go, as you really need to see a doctor. All medications do different things to different people, and any side effects I might have will probably not be like any you would encounter, if this is the drug you're talking about.
I only ask because generally a proper diagnosis will be accompanied with general advice for dealing with your asthma and a prescription for an inhaler.
Your general symptoms are possibly just consistent with shying away from regular and intense cardio exercise.
The physical form of the drug (powder vs. whatever) has nothing to do with the side effects. There are a number of asthma drugs out there including ones that have come to market in the past couple of years. If you are willing to try a few out, it is likely that you can find a medication that treats your asthma symptoms without giving you the side effects that you remember from the medication you tried as a kid.
My wife and I have been able to manage asthma by using food as medicine, we basically consume two cups of coffee everyday, Camomile tea and vitamin C (no more than 500 mg daily).
Might I ask what you use? I have reasonably bad asthma, but despite asking various doctors, I am still largely using the same regime of a controller (Flixotide) twice a day, then a reliever, Ventolin, 5-6 times a week as needed, that I have been for about 7 years. Then prior to that, similar regime but different medication
1. No additional therapy, just ventolin as needed
2. Inhaled steroids (not many doctors use this now, most just go to step 3)
3. Inhaled steroids + beta agonist (basically steroids + a longer acting ventolin). Two common combinations are Seretide and Flixotide
4. Increased doses of step 3
5. Oral steroids
The rationale for the above ladder is roughly as follows: steroids have been found to be the most important thing in controlling asthma, because they act on the asthma pathway in a few different ways. Beta agonists on the other hand, are more mechanical: they only open up your airways without helping control the inflammation or the allergic reaction. This is why steroids are the first step up from just occasonal Ventolin use.
I would definitely recommend working with an experienced doctor to possibly add the preventative powder inhaler or something similar.
I also recommend making strenuous daily exercise a consistent part of your life. Push yourself until it hurts, then slow down until the burning starts to subside, but make sure you challenge yourself with consistent workouts.
I have a pretty debilitatingly severe case of exercise-induced asthma, and oddly enough the only thing that helps at all is lots of painful burning exercise almost every day.
If I'm consistent and if I push myself, I can get into good enough shape that my lungs more or less overpower the asthma and then I kind of almost have a normal set of lungs, but even just a few days of laziness can practically cripple me again.
Granted, I have no idea if my particular case is at all typical. That in mind...
Be careful and work with a doctor to make sure you don't hurt yourself if you decide to prioritize rigorous daily exercise.
I'd definitely go talk to your doctor about it.
I feel you on ibuterol inhalers. The after effects suck and make it hard to focus your mind.
Albuterol primarily is the only thing needed for exercise-induced asthma for most people, 1-2 puffs 15-30 minutes before exercise. (It's a beta agonist by the way, not a beta antagonist aka beta blocker... you don't want that if you have asthma) Your lungs have one type of beta receptor and your heart has a different type. Albuterol doesn't distinguish from the two so that's why you get the increased heart rate along with bronchial relaxation.
I would not start with a long-acting beta agonist/steroid combo at first like Advair, you should probably start with a low dose inhaled steroid like flovent or pulmicort. Flovent is more like a normal inhaler where it's aerosolized and Pulmicort is the dry powder. Someone mentioned allergy medicine and that was great advice. Asthma is an inflammatory disease and the more you can do to limit your exposure to allergens the better.
I'm not a doctor but I am a 3rd year pharmacy student so if you have any questions send me a PM.