• Question: How do inhalers work?

    Asked by meganlancaster13 to Jen, Jill, Mel, Phil, Stef on 15 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Stefan Piatek

      Stefan Piatek answered on 15 Mar 2013:

      The classic inhalers are steroids (the blue ones). They are a really effective drug which relaxes the muscles that tighten up because of asthma. Taking this one is a quick fix and lets you breathe normally

      Then there’s a preventer inhaler – they’re usually brown. They stop the “angry environment” (or inflammatory environment), your lungs are sort of like people after a big argument, they’re still quite angry and pumped up. This preventer is like a sit down and a cup of tea, it slowly calms your lungs down over a long time. In the long run this one does a lot more for you, but you won’t feel it’s effects like you do with the reliever.

      Let me know if anything isn’t clear 🙂

    • Photo: Phil Rice

      Phil Rice answered on 19 Mar 2013:

      In the spirit of maintaining accuracy, the blue ones contains beta-2 agonists, which means they contain a drug which relaxes the smooth muscle fibres of the airways whilst the brown ones are steroids which are anti-inflammatory.

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