Quick – Relief Asthma Medicine

Albuterol (Proventil, Ventolin) Pirbuterol (Maxair) Levalbuterol (Xopenex)

· These medicine works by opening your air pipes while you are having asthma symptoms such as coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, or wheezing.

· Take this medicine at the first sign of a cold or for coughing.

· You may take 2 puffs of inhaler medicine or 1 ampule of nebulizer solution (1/2 ampule for infants) in the nebulizer. Repeat every 4-6 hours until you stop coughing or wheezing. Once you feel better, you may take it less frequently.

· Do not take quick-relief medicine every day while you are not having asthma symptoms.

· If you have to use more than 1 inhaler canister of this medicine a month or use albuterol neb more than twice a week, your asthma is not well controlled. Discuss with your doctor about adjusting long-term controller medicine.

· Take this medicine 15-30 minutes before exercising to prevent exercise-induced asthma symptoms.

· Side effects include nervousness, shakiness, or fast heart beat. These effects may make you feel uncomfortable, but they should go away within 15 minutes after your last puff.

Long-Term Control Asthma Medicine

Inhaled steroids (Flovent, Pulmicort, Asmanex, QVAR, Azmacort, Aerobid,)

Salmeterol (Serevent), Formoterol (Foradil)

Combination Medicine (Advair, Symbicort)

Leukotriene modifiers (Singulair, Accolate, Zyflo)

Theophylline (Theo-24, SloBid, Theodur, Quibron etc.)

Cromolyn sodium (Intal), Nedocromil (Tilade)

· These medications will help you control your asthma symptoms by reducing inflammation in the airways and make the airway less sensitive to the asthma triggers.

· You will feel improvement only after taking these medications every day for several weeks.

· You should take long term control asthma medicine every day if you have any of the following symptoms or signs: if you feel asthma symptoms more than 2 times a week, wake up at night due to asthma symptoms more than 2 times a month, cannot run far due to asthma symptoms, or have been hospitalized for treatment of severe asthma attacks.

· DO NOT TAKE THESE MEDICINES TO CLEAR CURRENT ASTHMA SYMPTOMS. These medicines do not clear asthma symptoms quickly.

The severity of asthma can change from time to time and your need for asthma medication will change.

See your doctor regularly in order to adjust medication even while you are not having asthma symptoms.

When your asthma is well-controlled

· You should be able to exercise as much as you want, including running hard.

· You should NOT have wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, or chest tightness anytime.

· You should NOT wake up at night or early in the morning with coughing or wheezing.

· You should NOT be very sensitive to weather changes or other asthma triggers.

Pediatric Allergy and Asthma Center, University of Illiniois at Chicago

TEL: (312) 996-6714

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