Tell your patient to monitor her symptoms and peak flow values at home and teach her what action to take depending on peak flow values. Drug therapy is a mainstay of asthma treatment. Many new asthma medications have been developed in the last 10 years and more are in the works, including genetically engineered drugs. Here's a closer look, starting with maintenance therapy. Maintenance medications for the long haul Maintenance medications include long-acting bronchodilators, corticosteroids, mast cell stabilizers, leukotriene modifiers, and methylxanthines.
Bronchodilators cause smooth muscle relaxation of the airways.
Because these drugs take up to 30 minutes to work and last 12 hours or longer, they're maintenance medications only and can't be used to treat acute episodes. Adverse effects of beta 2 -agonists include nausea, headache, tachycardia, tremors, hypertension, nervousness, and dizziness. Overusing these medications can reduce their efficacy. Theophylline, a methylxanthine, is another long-acting bronchodilator and was once the only medication available to treat asthma. As newer medications were developed, theophylline fell out of favor, but it's recently had a resurgence in popularity.