Is It Safe to Step Down Your Asthma Medication?

If your asthma has been stable for 1 year you may want to consider stepping down you daily medication.

If you have asthma, getting appropriate treatment—including effective medications—is obviously extremely important. And while you’re no doubt happy to have an inhaler on hand for emergency use, you may be getting tired of taking a daily asthma medication, especially if a long time has passed since you last experienced any asthma symptoms.

You might find yourself joining many other asthma patients wondering:

Do I really need to take a daily asthma medication? Or could I reduce or stop my medication without putting my health at risk?

Of course, the answer to these questions in your specific case will require a consultation with your allergy doctor. However, if you have successfully controlled your asthma for at least one year, you may be an excellent candidate for stepping down your daily asthma medication.

Thiswas confirmed by an analysis recently published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. After studying the records of over 4,000 patients taking daily asthma medications, the researchers focused on those patients who had had stable asthma for at least one year. These patients were then split into two groups according to whether or not they chose to step down their medications.

Comparing the two groups and controlling for key variables, the researchers found that stepping down or continuing the medication appeared equally safe. In the four to five months following their decision to step down their medication, only 11 percent of patients had any problems with their asthma.

Now you may wonder…

…What’s So Great About Stepping Down My Medication?

Assuming that stepping down or continuing asthma medication are roughly equally safe in terms of symptom management for patients with stable asthma, you may wonder why you would want to risk changing a medication that is working.

The answer is twofold.

First of all, medications are costly. The study referenced above found that patients saved an average of $34 per month by stepping down.

Secondly, no one likes to be overmedicated. It is a generally accepted principle that patients should use the least possible amount of medicine to effectively control their symptoms and prevent attacks.

Come to Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology Medical Group for an Evaluation

If you have successfully controlled your asthma for a year, it may be time to consider stepping down your medication. We invite you to make an appointment with one of our skilled allergy doctors to help you make this decision of when and how much to step down.