When setting the diagnosis of “allergic bronchial asthma,” the patient needs to develop a treatment regimen consisting of several consecutive steps. The main goal of treating this type of allergy is to achieve a complete cessation of seizures or to make them rare and not so heavy. In order to achieve this, the doctor selects basic therapy – these are medications that the patient will need to constantly use. Also need drugs that are used to relieve attacks in emergency situations. Often it is medication in aerosols for inhalation, which greatly accelerates the onset of the effect. With the right treatment, you can fully live with your diagnosis.
Bronchial asthma is not a sentence!
Naturally, such a diagnosis as atopic bronchial asthma – This is a serious situation, a rather severe form of allergy. But if you determine the spectrum of allergens that provoke attacks, and also choose the right basic therapy, you can take allergy attacks of bronchial asthma under control and make them rare, not so heavy, without danger to life and hospitalization. The basic principle in treatment is an individual and stepwise approach that depends on the severity of the disease and the frequency of exacerbations, age and many related factors. The main goal will be to achieve, if not stable remission, then at least reduce the frequency of attacks to a minimum, normalize the general condition and return to the usual way of life. With all this, doctors are trying to apply for the stabilization of the state of the minimum possible number of drugs.
Bronchial asthma in each patient has the features of the course, and not always an allergy. It may be non-allergic in origin. But if it is a question of an atopic form, seizures can occur with varying frequency due to the time of year, the duration of contact with the allergen, general health or acute infections (influenza, ARVI, microbial pathologies). Therefore, doses of drugs vary – sometimes you need to increase the dosage or frequency of administration, it is possible to replace the drug.
Allergy treatment: what is special about atopic asthma?
If for many types of allergy, therapy is meant only in the acute period with non-drug preventive measures during remission, then for this form of asthma the situation is much more complicated. As the patient’s condition improves, therapy is selected, well-being is maintained for three or more months, the dosage of drugs is reduced in order to reach the minimum possible supportive therapy. But asthma of this type involves taking certain medications (basic therapy) in a continuous mode. If you cancel these medications, allergies can immediately return, and in an even more complicated form – the attacks can become more frequent and become more severe, life-threatening.
If the allergen in asthma is well known and the course of the disease is controlled, it is possible to use ASIT (allergen-specific immunotherapy). This is the introduction of a course of injection of the allergen extract, which gradually forms in the body tolerance to the dangerous compound. But not all variants of the course of the disease allow the use of this technique, and if the allergen is not exactly identified or it is non-allergic asthma, it cannot be treated with this method.
What does the doctor designate?
For each patient, the doctor develops a strictly individual treatment regimen, depending on the severity of the pathology, the frequency of attacks and concomitant diseases. Drugs can be tablets, if it is part of the basic therapy. For removal of acute attacks in the hospital, injection forms can be used – intravenous and intramuscular. The leading role in the treatment of doctors inhaled drugs. They most quickly deliver the active substances in the bronchi, as well as help to quickly and actively relieve asthma attack outside the hospital and in the hospital. In addition, this method of use reduces the risk of side effects for some groups of drugs, especially if it is corticosteroid drugs.
When prescribing any treatment regimen, the physician should explain in detail and to the patient why they are used, how they should be taken, follow side effects and evaluate effectiveness. Selection of therapy for allergic asthma is a joint work of a doctor with a patient, which allows to achieve the maximum improvement of the condition.
Inhalations and inhalers for asthmatics
The most convenient and fastest way to deliver drugs to the bronchi is inhalation drug. Today, asthmatics use individual inhalers that are compact in size and can always be carried around. If the patient feels the lack of air, the beginning of the attack, he can immediately use the spray to deliver a dose of the drug to the bronchi. Initially, inhalation of such a device is difficult, it is important to learn how to simultaneously press and breathe. However, asthmatics quickly adapt to this procedure. Spray can be powder and liquid, they are arranged in such a way that when pressed, a strictly metered dose is released per inhalation. There are also convenient spray cans that activate the release of the medicine through inhalation.
Also used for inhalation of drugs nebulizers, creating the smallest aerosol particles from the drug solution, which allows them to reach even the smallest narrowed bronchi. In some patients, spacers are used – additional devices between the medicine inhaler and the patient’s airway. They are used by those people who have difficulty with the technique of inhalation.
Groups of drugs used in asthmatics
Naturally, with atopic asthma, all medicines are prescribed only by the doctor who leads the patient. But it is important to know what medications used in therapy. Two large groups are distinguished – these are means for expanding the bronchi, which improves the delivery of oxygen to the lungs and reduces tissue hypoxia. The second group is drugs that suppress the processes of inflammation in the bronchi, triggered by exposure to allergens. They may have different mechanisms of action, forms of reception and duration of effect. Drugs are being selected for both continuous intake and emergency situations in order to stop the onset of an attack. If necessary, supplement treatment with other groups, depending on the characteristics of the course. The combination of such medicines allows the majority of patients to lead quite a normal lifestyle.