Definition – What is an emergency spray for asthma?
Bronchial asthma is a disease of the airways. During an asthma attack, various possible triggers cause a sudden narrowing of the airways, which leads to acute shortness of breath. Emergency sprays used to treat bronchial asthma contain active ingredients that dilate the airways and thus effectively combat shortness of breath. In the event of a severe asthma attack, such an emergency spray can be life-saving.
What active ingredients does an emergency spray contain?
In the therapy of bronchial asthma, a distinction is made between substances that dilate the airways and substances that have a long effect. The short-acting substances have an almost immediate onset of action and are therefore used in acute shortness of breath during an asthma attack. Typical active ingredients in bronchial asthma are mainly substances from the group of short-acting beta-2 sympathomimetics.
These include, for example, salbutamol and fenoterol, whereby salbutamol is the most common active ingredient for asthma emergency sprays. Beside the beta-2-Sympathomimetika in addition active substances from the group of the Parasympatholytika play a role, for this counts for example the active substance Ipratropiumbromide. However, these active ingredients are only used if beta-2 sympathomimetics do not show sufficient effect.
How often may I use the emergency spray?
In adolescents and adults, the total daily dose of the active substance salbutamol should not exceed 10 sprays. This is particularly because no additional benefit is to be expected when using a higher dose. The emergency spray is not – as the name suggests – only used in emergencies but should – depending on the stage of asthma – also be used regularly if necessary.
In addition, it should then be used as an actual emergency spray in case of sudden asthma attacks. In this case one spray is usually sufficient. If not, a further spray can be applied.
The shortness of breath will in most cases improve significantly after 5 to 10 minutes at most. How often the emergency spray should be used depends on the severity of the illness. As a rule, intake is determined individually for each patient by the treating pulmonologist or family doctor. In the case of foreseeable events that are likely to trigger an asthma attack, the spray should be applied about 10-15 minutes before.
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