Do Asthma Inhalers Cause Weight Gain
Latest Update On: September 21, 2021 | Article Write: James Garcia
Asthma inhalers are the first thing that will come to your mind when you look for an effective solution to control asthma. Because it gives you quick relief by delivering the medications directly to your lungs.
The saddest thing about asthma inhalers is that some people confess that inhaling asthma medications increases their body weight. Now, if you have asthma and are going to use asthma inhalers, you might want to know: do asthma inhalers cause weight gain?
The straight answer to this question is yes but its not the asthma inhalers that are responsible for your weight gain. Here in this article, Ill explain this question and show you the exact reason behind your weight gain. Stick to the end of this article to get your desired answer.
Is A Blue Inhaler Always A Reliever
Many types of reliever inhaler are blue but colours can vary.
This type of inhaler offers fast-acting treatment to relieve asthma symptoms at the onset, and also those of an asthma attack. If you are prescribed a reliever inhaler you should keep it with you all the time, in case you need to use it urgently.
The active ingredient in reliever inhalers is a short-acting beta-2 agonist; quite often salbutamol or terbutaline. This treatment quickly relaxes airways so that breathing can return to normal.
NHS guidelines state that if you use your reliever more than three times in one week, your asthma is not well-controlled and you should speak to your GP or asthma specialist. They may need to review your medication or talk to you about ways you can limit your exposure to triggers.
Examples of reliever inhalers include:
Your GP or asthma nurse may suggest trying several different reliever inhalers to find the one that suits you best.
Serevent, containing salmeterol, is a long-lasting reliever as it works for up to 12 hours after use. Long-lasting reliever inhalers may be green in colour, but again this is not a hard and fast rule: colours may vary.
Avoid Your Asthma Inducers
Another great way to control your asthma is to avoid your asthma inducers. Asthma inducers are things that make your airways swollen, red, and filled with mucus. Each person with asthma has their own set of inducers. The inducers that affect one person may not affect another person.Common asthma inducers include:
If you avoid catching viruses, you will have fewer asthma symptoms. Here are some ways to avoid viruses and prevent viral infections:
- Wash your hands properly and follow other germ-fighting tips;
- Get the flu shot
- Ask your doctor if you should get the pneumonia shot
- It also helps to get enough sleep. If you youre well rested, you may be less likely to have symptoms from a virus.
- If you have a viral infection like a cold or the flu, pay attention to your symptoms. If your symptoms are getting worse, follow the directions in your asthma action plan. Your action plan may tell you to take more of your asthma preventer medication when you have a virus
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Different Kinds Of Inhalers
There are three basic types of inhalers that deliver medications. The most common is the metered-dose inhaler which uses pressure to push the medication out of the inhaler. Nebulizers use air or oxygen and deliver a mist of the medication through a tube or mask that fits over your nose and mouth. Dry powder inhalers deliver medication, but they require a strong and fast inhalation.
Short-acting bronchodilators are used as quick-relief, reliever, or rescue inhalers. These bronchodilators open the airways and help stop or relieve acute asthma attacks very quickly. While theyre best known for working on sudden attacks, theyre also great to use before exercise to help stop asthma during your workout.;
While many people use short-acting bronchodilators, the overuse of an inhaler, tablet, or liquid/nebulizer, is a sign of uncontrolled asthma that needs better treatment. If you are using short-acting bronchodilators more than twice a week, call Charleston Allergy & Asthma about improving your asthma control therapy.
Long-acting bronchodilators provide control, not quick relief, of asthma. Your board-certified allergist will prescribe the medication, which is usually taken twice a day along with inhaled steroids for long-term monitoring of symptoms.;
Unlike short-acting inhalers, long-acting inhalers do not work on muscle inflammation directly. Instead, they help the airways relax, allowing more air to pass through.
Asthma Inhaler Type: Metered
Metered-dose inhalers are used for rescue medications and control medications such as long-acting beta-agonists and inhaled corticosteroids .2
Figure 1. Metered dose inhaler
General guidelines for using a metered-dose inhaler are:2,3
Metered-dose inhalers can be difficult to use. It is hard to coordinate releasing the medication and breathing in. This is particularly hard for young children and elderly adults.2 If you use a valved holding chamber, you do not need to coordinate the puffing and breathing.2
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Using An Inhaler For A Cough And Hay Fever
Asthma symptoms include more than just breathlessness. Coughing is one common symptom of asthma, which can exacerbate other conditions such as hay fever and the common cold/flu. On this page, we look at the connection between coughing and asthma. Alternatively, you can order now to receive your preferred inhaler. This includes free UK delivery and you can have your inhaler delivered as early as tomorrow when ordered before 4.30pm Monday-Friday.
What Types Of Asthma Preventer Are There
There are several different types of preventer inhaler. Clenil is the most common preventer, and others include Qvar, Flixotide and Pulmicort. There are also combination inhalers available, such as Seretide and Symbicort, which contain a preventer and a symptom reliever. These are usually prescribed in cases where a preventer inhaler has proved insufficient.
The specific medicines used in each product are similar, as is their function, but they differ in design and medicine strength. Your online doctor or GP will judge which one is best for you.
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What Are The Different Types Of Asthma Medicines And Treatments
There are four types of asthma medicines and treatments:;
The difference between these asthma treatments can be confusing. It is important to understand what each treatment does and how they help your asthma. Learning how to use each correctly can you help keep your asthma well-controlled. Always take your medicines as directed by your doctor and follow your Asthma Action Plan.;
Knowing Your Asthma Action Plan Is Step One
For most people with asthma, managing the chronic condition involves a multi-pronged approach tailored to your symptoms and lifestyle.
Step one for everyone, however, is having a firm grasp of your asthma action plan.
Work with your doctor to create an asthma action plan that covers how to:
- Take your medication properly
- Quit smoking, if you do
In addition, monitor your symptoms carefully. Keep track of what they are, when they occur, and their severity.
Journal of Asthma and Allergy,
- In cold, dry air
- In environments with airborne irritants, such as cigarette smoke
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Asthma Inhaler Dry Mouth
How exactly do your asthma inhalers cause Dry Mouth? In two ways. Prolonged use of a rescue inhaler, or a beta-2 agonist, has been shown to repress salivary glands, reducing saliva production by around 30%. Corticosteroid inhalers, commonly used to prevent asthma attacks, have a more topical effect on your mouth, as only around 15% of each dose reaches the lungs. Unfortunately, this means the rest lingers on your oral tissues and can interfere with your sense of taste and the way saliva moves around your mouth.
We know that using an asthma inhaler can lead to a dry mouth, but what does that really mean? Dry Mouth, also known as Xerostomia, doesnt just mean you need to drink more water . It happens when your mouth doesnt produce as much saliva as it should. This leads to uncomfortable symptoms such as difficulty in speaking or swallowing, changes in the way you taste, bad breath and soreness in your mouth. In extreme cases, it can cause mouth ulcers and oral fissures.
How Does Asthma Affect The Airways
There is a special kind of muscle in the airways known as the airway smooth muscle. Airway smooth muscle is an important tissue that exists in the trachea and is involved in the regulation of the bronchomotor tone.
Airway smooth muscle of an asthma patient.
The ASM helps to shrink your airways in the event of an irritant or unwanted foreign particle entering the airways. This is a good thing, provided that you have no lung-related conditions, as the ASM shields your lungs from irritants.
However, if you have asthma, the ASM becomes too sensitive. As such, it can constrict the airways, even when it encounters stuff that isnt dangerous,;such as cold, dry air. The smooth muscle constricts the airways, which makes it very difficult for one to breathe.
This is where inhalers come in to help.
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How Vocal Cord Dysfunction Is Treated
With VCD, medications do not help. Only a specific relaxation regimen and breathing techniques can heal it.
Bettinas typical treatment plan for VCD patients begins with an evaluation, where she asks questions to understand a patients anxiety and stress level. I try to see what situations might have led to the VCD symptom flareup, she says. I also watch them as theyre talking to me to see their posture and I feel their upper-body muscles.
During subsequent sessions, Bettina teaches stretches and massages to help with relaxation, and shows proper breathing techniques where breathing is focused from the diaphragm. For athletes, she might even take them for a run outside or on a treadmill to put these techniques to practice.
Typically VCD can be treated in two to six weeks, depending on the patient.
Signs Of Poor Asthma Control
- You have frequent breathing difficulties and find yourself coughing or wheezing most days
- Your asthma impacts your sleep; if your asthma symptoms wake you up or keep you up at night your asthma isnt controlled
- You cant exercise or exert yourself physically without experiencing breathing difficulties
- You frequently miss work or school due to asthma
- You use your reliever medication more than 3 times per week
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Tips For When You Dont Have An Inhaler
Mild to moderate asthma attacks can occur at inopportune times. You may be able to manage your asthma more effectively with these tips. If these dont work CALL AN AMBULANCE.
During An Asthma Attack
In a sudden asthma attack you can use your inhaler more and take up to 10 puffs. Wait 30 seconds and always shake the inhaler between doses. You can repeat this dose 10 minutes later.
Immediate action required: Call 999 or go to A&E now if you or your child:
- are struggling to breathe
- have asthma symptoms that are not getting better
Asthma attacks can get worse very quickly.
For treating severe asthma attacks, salbutamol can be given through a nebuliser. A nebuliser is a machine that delivers the medicine as a mist inhaled through a face mask. This will probably be given to you by your doctor.
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What Drugs Are In The Inhaler
As there are different types of inhalers, they contain different types of drugs. Some inhalers contain steroids type medication such as prednisone to reduce inflammation. And, some other inhalers contain bronchodilators that help to open up the narrow airways. Besides, some of the inhalers contain both of these drugs or medications. They are known as combination inhalers.
Lets find out what types of inhalers contain what types of drugs.
Anti-Inflammatory Asthma Inhalers: This type of inhaler is used for preventing asthma attacks and reducing the mucus and swelling in your airways. The drugs they include:
- Steroids
- Mast Cell Stabilizers
Bronchodilator Asthma Inhalers: This type of inhaler is used to widening your airways to reduce the symptoms of wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, etc. The drugs they include:
- Short-acting beta-agonists
- Long-acting beta-agonists. . Moreover, the combination inhalers contain both a steroid that included Symbicort, dulera, advair, and a long-acting beta-agonist.
- Duoneb and Combivent inhalers contain both ipratropium and albuterol.
Aim For A Healthy Body Weight
People with obesity tend to have more severe asthma and more frequent symptoms.
People who are overweight and obese are also more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea . This is a condition that causes a person to stop breathing for short periods during sleep. People with OSA get very tired during the day. If they also have asthma, their asthma symptoms get worse, too.
Studies show that when people with obesity lose weight, their asthma symptoms improve. Treating OSA also improves asthma symptoms.
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The Right Inhaler Technique
If your inhaler technique isn’t good, you may not be getting much of the medicine into your lungs at all. Problems often arise with the metered dose inhalers, where you have to co-ordinate pressing down to get the dose at the same time as you breathe it in.
If you press before you breathe, most of the dose ends up on the back of your throat rather than in your lungs. Press after you breathe in and you’ll leave it all in your mouth where it will promptly get breathed out again!
If you’ve been given a spacer to use with your metered dose inhaler and don’t use it, you’ll get up to 30% less medicine going into your lungs but more going into your body because it’s deposited in your mouth and throat. That makes you more prone to side effects, such as trembling and palpitations from large doses of reliever medication.
If you’re in any doubt, take your inhaler with you when you get your next check-up with the doctor or nurse and get them to look at how you take it. Alternatively, many pharmacists now have training in checking inhaler technique.
Misuse Of Asthma Inhalers Signs Symptoms And Treatment
Misuse of asthma medication can be classified in two ways- improper dosage and administration of the medication, or use by an individual other than the whom the medication has been prescribed to. The focus here will be on the latter; as intentional misuse of asthma inhalers has not been extensively examined.
Use of someone elses prescription asthma medication may not necessarily take place with the intention of getting high; a survey of Detroit middle school students reported using someone elses inhaler for reasons such as help with breathing, increased lung capacity during exercise, or increased concentration and alertness.
Misuse may occur by students with or without asthma, with the second group being of particular concern. Use of someone elses inhaler medication to relieve acute asthmatic symptoms may not be problematic, but use of inhaler medication in the absence of asthma may be related to future substance use.
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Aerosol Inhalers/metered Dose Inhalers
These are likely the one you are most familiar with: Also known as a puffer, this inhaler, or pressurized metered dose inhaler , is a canister filled with asthma medication suspended in a propellant. When the canister is pushed down, a measured dose of the medication is pushed out as you breathe it in. Examples of MDIs are: Ventolin, Flovent, Advair, Alvesco, Airomir, and QVar.
This medication should be used with a spacer for increased delivery to the airways. When your inhaler is used alone, medicine often ends up in your mouth, throat, stomach and lungs. Medicine left in your mouth, throat and stomach may cause unpleasant taste and side effects. When you use a drug delivery system with your inhaler, more medicine is delivered to your lungs.