Medication

Sorry if yours medication is not listed here. I have used the UK drug and generic names that I have encountered.

Standard Treatments

There are many different types of treatment for asthma, depending on your symptoms, and how well controlled your asthma is. Most asthma sufferers are given treatment from one the following stages:

• The first stage is a reliever inhaler, this is always coloured blue in the UK, and will either contain salbutamol (Ventolin) or terbutaline(Bricanyl).
• The second stage is a preventer inhaler that is usually though not always steroid based. The steroid based ones contain one of beclomethasone dipropionate (Becloforte, Becotide, Filair, Aerobec), budesonide (Pulmicort), or fluticasone propionate (Flixotide). Alternatively the drug might belong to another anti-inflammatory group, which will either contain nedocromil sodium (Tilade) or sodium cromoglycate (Intal).
• The third stage is a long-acting reliever inhaler that contains salmeterol xinofoate (Serevent), eformoterol fumarate (Oxis) or ipratropium bromide (Atrovent).
• The fourth stage is one of a number of tablets. These are usually from one of the theophylline groups, which is a reliever tablet, although there are other reliever tablets available.

There is a new type of tablet now on the British market that as yet has to find its niche. There are currently two brands available, Montelukast (Singulair) and Zafirlukast (accolate). These are anti-leukotrine drugs, which surpresses the immune system in order to reduce the hyper-allergic response.

Treatments for severe asthma

For people with severe asthma, there are a number of additional treatments that could be used. These include:

• Steroid tablets, which are usually used as a rescue course for a number of weeks until your symptoms are under control. These reduce inflammation in the lungs, but they have a lot of side effects if taken over a long period of time. The side effects include causing glaucoma and osteoporosis. This is why taking steroid tablets is a not a good idea if it can be avoided. DO NOT STOP TAKING PRESCRIBED STEROID TABLETS WITHOUT TALKING TO YOUR DOCTOR. However if your asthma is bad enough your doctor might decide that you require long term low dose steroid tablets.
• Nebulisers, which are usually only ever used in an emergency that requires you to go the nearest casualty department. However there are a number of people that like me, require home nebulisation. A nebuliser is a more effective way of getting a higher dose of reliever medication into your lungs.
• Non-standard asthma treatments, which have too many side effects to give to people unless all of the above treatments have no significant effect. These are treatments like cyclosporin and methotrexate. These are often given to transplant patients as they surpress the immune system.
• Subcutaneous pumps are given to some patients to help control symptoms, which was first discovered to benefit cystic fibrosis sufferers. The pump is like a mini portable drip, with a needle that sits under the skin, rather than in a vein. It can be filled with a liquid form of one of the reliever medications.

My treatment

My asthma is severe and uncontrollable enough to require that I take;

• Ventolin and bricanyl inhalers
• Nebulisers with ventolin and atrovent
• Flixotide MDI inhaler
• Oxis Turbohaler
• Uniphyllin tablets
• Accolate tablets
• Losec tablets
• Bricanyl Syringe Driver continuous subcutaneous pump

You may notice the lack of steroid tablets in this list of my asthma treatment. This is because my asthma does not respond to steroid tablets or injections. The research team at the Royal Brompton Hospital London is currently investigating this.

The flu jab, which in the UK is free on the NHS is useful for asthma sufferers, particularly those whose asthma is worse when they have flu, and are prone to catching those sort of infections.