Asthma is a respiratory illness that requires a regimen of medications to control its symptoms. Flovent, or fluticasone propionate, is a medication that is part of a class of drugs called corticosteroids. Corticosteroids are synthetic medications that mimic the steroid hormones that the body creates in the adrenal cortex of the vertebrates. Corticosteroids control inflammation and adverse immune system responses. Additionally, they control electrolyte levels in the body and regulate protein and carbohydrate metabolism. Flovent is a metered inhaler that a doctor may prescribe to an asthmatic patient for long-term asthma attack prevention.
Flovent as Part of a Treatment Regimen
Many asthmatic patients have short-acting bronchodilators that they use in an emergency. Such bronchodilators contain ingredients such as albuterol. Albuterol inhalers have short-term therapeutic effects, whereas Flovent can cause long-term symptom suppression, and it may prevent asthma attacks from occurring in the first place. The best treatment course for an asthmatic person would include a corticosteroid such as Flovent along with a long-acting beta antagonist such as Serevent.
How Flovent Works
An asthmatic response to stimuli includes symptoms such as wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and chronic coughing. Asthmatic reactions may come from a number of stimuli such as dust mites, ragweed, vigorous exercise, infections and viruses. An asthmatic person would have to inhale Flovent on a daily basis for asthma control and maintenance. The ingredients in Flovent would immediately reduce inflammation of the airways, and they would decrease the body’s response to the stimuli.
Flovent works by controlling several cells that aid in the activation of asthmatic responses. Examples of such cells are basophils, lymphocytes and eosinophils, which are white blood cells. Basophils control inflammatory reactions, and lymphocytes create antibodies. Eosinophils protect the body from foreign invaders, and they can worsen the symptoms of asthma. Flovent regulates all three cells along with the body’s macrophages, mast cells and neutrophils.
Doctors normally direct their patients to inhale Flovent one to two times twice per day, regardless of the presence of asthmatic symptoms. A patient should wait five seconds between inhalations. The doctor may decrease the dosage of Flovent once the patient’s symptoms have been dormant for an extended period. Flovent comes in three different inhaler sizes. The sizes are 44 mcg, 110 mcg and 220 mcg. Children as young as four years of age may use the Flovent inhaler for the prevention of asthmatic symptoms.
Sources
http://asthma.about.com/od/treatmentoptions/a/tx_flovent.htm
http://www.webmd.com/asthma/inhaled-corticosteroids-for-long-term-control-of-asthma
