What should you know about different inhalers for asthma?

A reliever inhaler is used for sudden symptoms such as wheezing, cough or chest tightness. A preventer, often containing an inhaled corticosteroid, works over time to calm airway inflammation and lower the chance of symptoms. Some plans use a combination inhaler containing an anti-inflammatory medicine and a long-acting airway-opening medicine. These devices are not interchangeable, even when they look similar.

Your inhaler may be a metered-dose device, dry-powder device or another format. Technique affects how much medicine reaches the lungs. A spacer can make coordination easier with some pressurised inhalers. Allergic rhinitis, house dust mite allergy and other triggers can make asthma harder to control.

Take a preventer exactly as prescribed and rinse your mouth after a steroid inhaler when advised. Keep the reliever available, but needing it more often than planned can signal poor control. Ask a clinician or pharmacist to watch your technique and check the dose counter. Do not stop a regular preventer suddenly without advice.

Record triggers and symptoms, including night waking and activity limits. Your clinician can adjust the plan and provide written instructions for worsening asthma.

Get emergency help if breathing is severely difficult, you cannot speak comfortably, your lips look blue or grey, you become drowsy, or your reliever is not helping according to your action plan. Sit upright, follow the prescribed emergency steps and do not drive yourself if you are seriously breathless. A nebuliser treatment may be used by healthcare professionals in urgent settings.

Ask which inhaler is your reliever, which is your preventer, how many doses to use, whether a spacer suits you, how to recognise loss of control, and when your plan should be reviewed.