What are Bronchodilators medicines?

Bronchodilators are probably the most commonly used medicines for asthma. They work by relaxing the muscles around the airways during an asthma attack, shown here:

There are many diffrent bronchodilator medicines. Some common ones are:

• albuterol
• alupent
• atrovent
• Brethine
• ipatroprium
• metaproteronol
• Metaprel
• Proventil
• salbutamol
• terbutaline
• theophylline
• Theodur
• Ventolin

Doctors usually group bronchodilator medicines together by how they cause the muscles around the airways to relax. The three most common groups of bronchodilator medicines are: Liquid and tablet (oral) corticosteroids are used during a bad asthma attack to reduce swelling of the airways and prevent the attacks from getting even worse.

Most of the time, people take oral corticoseroids for three to seven days and then stop taking them. Some people with very bad asthma may have to take oral corticoseroids every day or every other day. Shots of corticoseroids are used only in a doctor's office or emergency room for very bad attacks.No matter which way you take them, when corticosteroids used to treat bad asthma attacks, they take about three hours to start working.

Side effects of cortcosteroids sometimes asthma medicines make poeple feel weird or sick at the same time the medicie is making their asthma better. These weird or sick feelings are called side effects. Some of the side effects that people can get from corticosteroids are

• inhaled corticosteroids may cause a yeast infection in the mouth or bother the upper airways and cause coughing. There are two things to do to keep these things from taking place. Use a spacer device (an attachment on the inhaler) and rinse out your mouth after you take the medicine.
• Useing oral corticosteroids for a short time may
• make you feel hungary all of the time
• make your body hold onto extra water so that you look puffy
• make your face look round or swollen
• make you gain weight
• make you very happy, very sad, or very mad
• make your blood pressure go up

All of these side effects will go away when you stop taking the medicine, but DO NOT stop taking the medicine without talking to your doctor first.

• when oral corticosteroids are used for a very long time (years), they can have some bad effects such as
• high blood pressure
• thinning of the bones
• cataracts
• weakness of the muscles
• slowing how fast children grow because of the side effects doctors may not use corticosteroids for long periods of time.

Corticosteroids are not the same as the steroids used by the same athletes. Inhaled corticoseroids and oral corticosteroids taken for a short time do not damage the liver and they do not cause other long-lasting changes in the body.