Any of you ladies and gentlemen have asthma? What meds do you use to control or alleviate it.
I.e., Advair, albuterol inhaler, etc. What works for you?
I have had asthma (and fairly severe allergies) essentially my entire life. It was much worse as a child (including a few hospitalizations). When I was young, albuterol was not commonly available or used, unfortunately, since that would have changed my life significantly.
As an adult, I have been on half-dose of Montelukast for many years, which is excellent at helping to prevent allergic (and to some degree exercise/temp-related) triggered asthma events. It also helps significantly with chronic sinus congestion, because it also acts as an antihistamine. It is cheap, generic, apparently very safe, has no side-effects (that I can tell), and is only 1 pill a day. I can ramp to a full dose when necessary. So I highly recommend it.
I have albuterol with me at all times, as do most asthmatics. But I rarely have to use it. Perhaps only once every few months. I would say my asthma is "well controlled." Advair (and the like) is usually reserved for more serious cases and when control cannot be maintained by other means. It is extremely expensive, and somewhat dangerous.
As for allergies- I had immunotherapy ("allergy injections") for several years as a child, and started again about 10 years ago as an adult (one injection in each arm, every 4 weeks). Expensive and somewhat painful and inconvenient, but it does seem to help, and is quite safe. When allergies flare, nothing is more safe or effective than Fexofenadine which I use [only] when needed (there probably are very few antihistamines I haven't tried in my life). I also use Flonase regularly (unless the nose bleeds start) and saline nasal washing.