Inhalers vs. long-term Asthma medication

Transcription:

Luckily we live in an age where we have a whole host of medications to treat asthma and almost every child with asthma we should be able to control their symptoms adequately where they can live a completely normal life. In general, there are two types of medications we use to treat asthma. One type is called a quick relief medication. So if I am having trouble breathing right now, I am not going to want to take a medicine that is going to make me feel better two weeks from now. I want something to relieve my symptoms right now. Those are medicines such as Albuterol is the most common, and they come in inhaled forms, which is the most effective form. The problem with the quick relief medications is that although they make you feel better now, they don´t do anything to keep the asthma from coming back tomorrow or the next day or the next day. There is a whole group of other medications called long term controller medications. These are medications that you take on a daily basis even when you are not sick to prevent the asthma from starting in the first place. So most children are managed by a combination of quick relief medications and controller medications.

Video Categories: ALL PARENTS, Health and Wellness, Diseases and Disorders

Pediatrician Ronald Ferdman, MD Allergy and Immunology, shares advice for parents who have a child with asthma on whether inhalers or long-term medication are best for helping to treat asthma

Transcript

Expert Bio

Ronald Ferdman, MD

Pediatrician, Allergy and Immunology, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Ronald Ferdman received his BA from the University of California at San Diego and his MD from Hahnemann University (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia. He completed both his Pediatric residency and his fellowship in Allergy/Immunology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, then obtained a Masters in Medical Education (MEd) from the University of Southern California (USC) School of Education. He currently is an attending physician in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He is board certified allergy/immunologist, and is a fellow in the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. His current interests include management of allergic and immunologic diseases in high-risk children and education for families and clinicians. He is a California native, where he currently lives with his wife Susan and their three of four children, and spends his spare time wishing for more.

Parenting expert on: Diseases and Disorders, Allergies and Sensitivities, First Foods and Foods to Avoid, Nutrition for 5-7 Year olds

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