I have asthma and I'm wondering what other asthma patients feel works the best?

Question

I currently just use the albuterol inhaler and advair. I am also a smoker ( i know I know) I cough up brown lougies too which im sure my smoking plays a part in. Any advice?

Answer 1

You combination of meds in not odd. I see it all the time. The underlying cause of asthma is airway inflammation. Airway inflammation is prevented and treated with inhaled steroids or pills (steroids or singulair).

If you have more then two day time episodes per week and or more then two night time episodes per month, you need a controller medication like the steroid or singulair. The albuterol should be a rescue drug used only when you have an attack.

The first thing to know in asthma management is your triggers. Know what your triggers are and avoid them. Then know what your medications are for and when to use them. Controller medications every day for prevention and rescue medications for relief. Third, monitor your breathing with a peak flow meter and record the results, daily, in a diary. Have an asthma action plan that tells you what to do when signs and symptoms arise.

If you still have asthma attacks, see a doctor and ask him to refer you to an certified asthma educator (AE-C)

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

I have asthma too, and before advair, i would suck down albuterol at least 1 an hour, if not more. I am not a smoker, never have been. But advair is the only thing that works. I still keep albuterol in my purse...just in case.

Answer 4

I have asthma and smoke too....yes this is bad...but it isn't easy to quit smoking....the advair, and albuterol is what I take too, my since mine is an allergy asthma I have to take an antihistamine also...I take benadryl atleast once a day, and this helps a lot...the brown stuff is probably just by products from the cigs...It's probably best to try and quit smoking...but if not just get some allergy tests done..they can give you something that will control your symptoms more.

Answer 5

I have asthma, but I don't smoke so I cannot really compare my disease/ treatment with yours. I can tell you though that the medication your taking now will barely make a dent in your symptoms if you keep filling your lungs up with tar. And maybe because of the smoking, you are no longer dealing with asthma but with COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) which is a whole other kettle of fish (in other words you never really recover near to normal lung function). Bronchodilators, corticosteroids, beta-agonists are still used in COPD but need to be adjusted, increased to be more effective. I recommend that you get a second opinion from a respirologist (COPD is often misdiagnosed as asthma). And it goes without saying (but I'll state the obvious anyway) kick the habit - it will only make things better.

Answer 6

Other than not smoking?
Actually, your combination of medications is slightly odd. The albuterol is the standard beta-agonist that almost all asthmatics use. The Advair is not normally a second-line treatment. It contains a steroid, which is good, and a long-acting beta-agonist, which is a two-way sword. Normally I would have thought your doctor might have prescribed an anti-muscarinic like ipratropium or tiotropium after the steroid but before the long-acting beta agonist. It might be a good discussion point at your next doctor's visit.

Answer 7

The brown clams maybe blood or cigarette tar

These meds don't help a lot if you still smoke


I do Spiriva and Asmenx once a day with albuterol as a rescue unit