The safest and most effective pediatric asthma medication from a doctor

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disorder that is common in adults and can occur in children. Do you know that this condition cannot be cured? However, you can help control the disease by giving the right asthma medication for children.

Choice of effective and safe children's asthma medications

Asthma is a condition that occurs due to inflammation in the respiratory tract. Quoted from the Mayo Clinic, you can manage and control asthma by avoiding triggers. In addition, what can be done is to use drugs when an asthma attack in children occurs.

There are several types or forms of asthma medication available to you and your child. Including metered dose inhalers, dry powder inhalers, liquids that can be used in nebulizers, pills, to injectable drugs.

Inhaled asthma medications are more commonly prescribed because they can target drugs directly into the airways with minimal risk of side effects. However, the choice of drug must be adjusted according to age, body weight, and how severe the child's asthma is.

Therefore, only a doctor can determine which type of asthma medication is most appropriate for your child.

In general, there are two types of asthma medications that are safe and effective in relieving symptoms, namely:

Long-term control medication

Long-term asthma medication is needed to prevent asthma attacks from recurring. This drug works effectively to reduce inflammation in the airways. That way the risk of recurrence of asthma symptoms can also be minimized.

In general, this one asthma drug is given to a child who experiences:

• Asthma attack more than 2 times a week.
• Asthma symptoms appear at night more than 2 times a month.
• Often hospitalized for asthma.
• Requires more than two courses of oral steroids per year.

Some types of asthma medication for long-term children include:

1. Inhaled corticosteroids

Inhaled corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory drugs that come in the form of sprays or powders to help children breathe easier. Apart from being an asthma medication, inhaled corticosteroids are also often used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

This medicine is only available by prescription and is usually given to children under 5 years of age. Examples of this type of pediatric asthma medication are budesonide (Pulmicort®), fluticasone (Flovent®), and beclomethasone (Qvar®).

In infants and young children, inhaled corticosteroids may be given through a nebulizer with a face mask. Compared to inhalers, the vapor produced by the nebulizer is very small, so the drug will penetrate more quickly into the targeted parts of the lungs.

2. Leukotriene modifiers

This asthma drug for children works to fight leukotriene or white blood cells that block air flow in the lungs.

An example of a leukotriene modifier drug is montelukast (Singulair®). The drug is available in chewable tablet form for children aged 2-6 years, as well as in powder form for children under 1 year old.

This drug option should only be considered if the use of inhaled corticosteroids does not control asthma symptoms. In addition, this drug cannot be given monotherapy, it must be combined with inhaled corticosteroids.

3. Long-acting beta 2 agonists

Long-acting beta 2 agonists are asthma medications for children that are included in the corticosteroid treatment chain. It is said to be long-acting because of its effects which can last for at least 12 hours. Salmeterol (Advair®) and formoterol are some of the long-acting beta 2 agonist asthma medications most often prescribed by doctors.

This drug only works to clear the airways, does not treat inflammation in the airways. To relieve inflammation, this drug will usually be combined with inhaled corticosteroid drugs.

Doctors can combine the drug fluticasone with salmeterol, budesonide with formeterol, and fluticasone with fomoterol to treat asthma.

Various long-term children's asthma medications above must be taken every day to prevent asthma attacks from coming on.

Short-term control drugs

Apart from long-term medication, children with asthma also need short-term medication. This treatment aims to immediately relieve the symptoms of acute asthma once the attack recurs.

The following types of asthma drugs for short-term children include:

1. Bronchodilators

Asthma symptoms in children who come and go can improve if they are given bronchodilator drugs. Bronchodilators are a type of medicine that functions to open the bronchial tubes (tubes that lead to the lungs) so that the child can breathe more freely.

Bronchodilators are often referred to as asthma medications for the short term. This means that this drug is given as first aid when a child's asthma recurs at any time.

Examples of bronchodilator drugs include albuterol and levalbuterol. These drugs work effectively to relieve asthma symptoms for 4-6 hours.

Ask your little one to take this medicine first before starting to exercise, so that asthma does not recur and interfere with their activities. To make the medicine easier to inhale, you can also put the medication in a more practical inhaler or nebulizer.

2. Oral or liquid corticosteroids

Apart from being inhaled, corticosteroid drugs are also available in the form of tablets that are taken directly or as a liquid injected into a vein.

Prednisone and methylprednisolone are the most commonly prescribed oral corticosteroid drugs. Usually doctors will prescribe oral steroid asthma medication for only 1-2 weeks.

This is because this asthma drug for children has the potential to cause serious side effects when used long-term. Risks of side effects include weight gain, high blood pressure, easy bruising, muscle weakness, and many more.

How to use asthma medication for children

Asthma medication for children who are inhaled requires special tools so that the benefits can be immediately felt optimally.

The most common breathing aids used by people with asthma are inhalers and nebulizers. Both have the same benefits, but are different in how they are used.

In order not to take the wrong steps, here are the guidelines for using inhalers and nebulizers to deliver asthma medications directly to the respiratory tract.

Nebulizer

This one breathing apparatus is highly recommended for use in children who are still babies or toddlers. Compared to inhalers, the steam produced by the nebulizer is very small so that the asthma medication can penetrate the lungs of the child more quickly.

It's a good idea to wash your hands thoroughly first to prevent germs from entering your lungs through your hands when you touch the nebulizer. After that, look carefully at the guidelines for using a nebulizer that need to be understood:

1. Prepare asthma medication that will be used. If the medicine has been mixed, pour it directly into the nebulizer medicine container. If not, enter one by one using a dropper or syringe to keep it clean.
2. If needed, add saline.
3. Connect the medicine container to the machine and also the mask to the top of the container.
4. Put the mask on the child's face so that it covers the nose and mouth. Make sure the edges of the mask fit snugly against your face, so that no medicinal steam escapes from the sides of the mask.
5. Turn on the machine then ask the child to inhale with the nose and gently exhale through the mouth.
6. Wait a few moments until there is no more steam coming out of the mask.

Inhaler

1. Ask the child to sit or stand straight.
2. Shake the inhaler first before inhaling the child so that the medicine contained in it can be evenly mixed.
3. Open the lid and put the inhaler funnel into the mouth. Make sure the child's lips are tightly closed so that no medicine gets out of the sides of the lips.
4. Press the inhaler once and ask the child to immediately inhale through the mouth.
5. After a successful inhalation, ask the child to hold their breath for at least 10 seconds.
6. Hold the breath for at least 10 seconds after inhaling. Do the same thing if the child needs more than one spray. However, give it a break of about 1 minute before the next spray.

As long as they are used as instructed by the doctor, inhalers really help control asthma and have minimal side effects. Inhalers should not be used interchangeably because everyone has different types and doses of drugs.