Best asthma relief medication?

[ErimusValidus]

I would like to pick everyone's brains as to what the best medication is for the relief of asthma symptoms. I am finding zero benefit in my Ventolin so I want to suggest to my GP that I try something new in case the breathlessness I have been suffering is asthma related after all.

Basically I want to know the names (brand and/or medical) of any kind of medication that really gives the sensation of opening the airways. Thank you

John.

[quincy]

Hi,

One question.....are you at least on a preventative as well (pulmicort, flovent, etc)?

I use Berotec....the reason is that it doesn't speed my heart up too much. I haven't used Ventolin for a long time. I initially switched to Alupent inhaler, which worked really well for me with even much less heart "flutters" than the Berotec..but of course, it was discontinued.

Anyway, I use Berotec. I also use Pulmicort as a preventative.

quincy

[jerrie97]

Originally Posted by jhart999

I would like to pick everyone's brains as to what the best medication is for the relief of asthma symptoms. I am finding zero benefit in my Ventolin so I want to suggest to my GP that I try something new in case the breathlessness I have been suffering is asthma related after all.

Basically I want to know the names (brand and/or medical) of any kind of medication that really gives the sensation of opening the airways. Thank you

John.

I think you should have further testing done to determine whether or not you really have asthma. Most asthmatics respond well to Ventolin, but there have been instances where Ventolin doesn't help, but another beta-2 agonist such as pirbuterol (Maxair, I believe) will. Talk about this with your doctor, and see if he will order a chest x-ray or another imaging study .

[ErimusValidus]

quincy, good detective work I *am* on Becotide 200mg at either end of the day. I think it's slowly contributed to giving me a large lung capacity over the years through its steroid properties. It's just a shame I can't fill those lungs!!

swimfast [I wish *I* could ], my GP did suggest that I may no longer be asthmatic but he said I should continue treatment anyway (despite it not helping). Thanks for the suggestion of Pirbuterol - I shall check it out. I have had an x-ray and it apparently indicated that my lungs were very clear. However, the lungs aren't my problem, it's my bronchial passage that seems to be the source of the blockage. Should I ask for another x-ray more specific to the throat?

[reader1]

A lot of this depends on triggers and nature of asthmatic responses. At any rate, after years of suffering with very severe, hard to treat allergic asthma, I am finally experiencing relief from Xolair.