HealthInfo West Coast-Te Tai Poutini
COPD medications
Ngā rongoā COPD
The type of medication that is best for you will depend on how severe your COPD is and any other medical conditions you have.
Inhalers
People with COPD are often given inhalers, which are devices that deliver medication to your lungs. You may need several different inhalers depending on your symptoms and how severe they are.
It is important to use your inhalers correctly for them to work. See Inhalers for information about how to use an inhaler.
Most inhalers for COPD open up your breathing tubes and reduce your breathlessness. There are many different inhalers that last for different lengths of time. Your doctor will usually give you a short-acting reliever such as salbutamol (Ventolin). You should use this if you are breathless or about to do something that will make you breathless.
Your doctor may also give you longer acting inhalers to use once or twice a day to keep your breathing tubes open.
Some people who have frequent flare-ups (exacerbations) may be given an inhaled preventer. This will contain a low dose of a steroid such as fluticasone (Flixotide). But most people with COPD do not need this.
Antibiotics and prednisone
If you have a flare-up, you will normally be given antibiotics and sometimes prednisone (steroid tablets).
If your mucus (sputum or phlegm) has changed colour, you are producing more than usual and you are getting more breathless, antibiotics will help.
Your general practice team may give you a stock of antibiotics to keep at home. They may also give you some prednisone. You should use them according to your agreed plan for flare-ups.
Starting antibiotics early can stop a flare-up getting worse. It can also reduce the time it takes to recover.
Medications that help loosen your mucus
These medications are called mucolytics. They help make your mucus easier to cough up. An example of a mucolytic is a syrup called bromhexine hydrochloride (Bisolvon), which you drink.
Other treatments
Many people think that oxygen is a treatment for breathlessness, but this is incorrect. People get breathless because of the difficulty getting air in and out of lungs that are stiff with narrow breathing tubes. Giving extra oxygen does not help.
But some people have low oxygen levels all the time. These people are given oxygen to protect their hearts from the long-term effects of low oxygen.
If you have very severe COPD, you may be referred to see a chest specialist. There are operations and procedures that may help a small number of people who have very severe COPD but are otherwise well. This includes lung transplants.
Treatments given in hospital
Some people in hospital with a severe flare-up of COPD are treated for a short time with breathing support using a mask. If their oxygen level is very low, they will also be given oxygen.
On the next page: Getting help with COPD
Written by HealthInfo clinical advisers. Last reviewed October 2024.
SourcesReview key: HICOP-16602
