Specific Asthma Treatments

Specific asthma treatments do what their name suggests: help with specific forms of asthma. Healthcare providers tend to reserve the use of some of these alternate asthma therapies for certain candidates, such as those with allergic asthma. Consult with your healthcare provider to determine if specific asthma treatments can help control your asthma.

Biologics

Biologics ¹ is a specific asthma treatment that your healthcare provider likely will not recommend as a first- or second-line therapy. They are an alternate therapy for uncontrolled or severe asthma. Biologics are an injectable treatment that addresses the specific cause of your asthma by using antibodies to protect you against the trigger. For instance, if pollen triggers your asthma symptoms, your Biologic therapy would match that allergen source.

Biologics can decrease your risk for worsening asthma symptoms and your need for asthma therapies. There are a few things, however, that you should know about Biologics before inquiring about them:

• Biologics are expensive.
• They only treat specific types of asthma.
• You can have possible pain at the injection site or allergic reactions.

Immunomodulators

Immunomodulators are another injectable alternative asthma treatment. Healthcare providers often prescribe Immunomodulators to treat autoimmune conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. However, they also treat airway inflammation in asthma. Immunomodulators ² work by altering your body’s immune responses. They do this by suppressing (when they are hyperreactive) or activating them. Unlike Biologics, Immunomodulators do not have limited use. Therefore, you may consider using them similarly to your add-on asthma therapies. However, there are a few risk factors associated with using Immunomodulators.

• You should not use Immunomodulators if you are prone to infections.
• Immunomodulators can cause serious interactions with certain medications.
• Immunomodulators can cause gastric irritation, dizziness, or hepatitis.