The medications you are prescribed depend somewhat on how advanced your COPD is. May of us diagnosed in our 50s are often at the moderate to severe point, and are usually prescribed a combination of a Long-Acting Beta Agonist (LABA) and inhaled corticosteroid (IGC) like Advair or Symbicort and a cholinergic live Spiriva or Tudorza (LAMA), along with a rescue inhaler which is usually albuterol or one of its cousins. All these classes of medicines are available in inhaler form or for a nebulizer. The specific names of meds your doc prescribes isn't very important; what's important is the class of medicine they fall in. So knowing which medicines people are prescribed doesn't help very much unless you know their medical history, their history of COPD, how many exacerbations they've had, etc.

As for how they work, you need to talk with your doc about that when they are prescribed. You need to know what class they're in, are they a combination med or just a single med, what are they supposed to do, how long you must take them to make sure they work, what to do if they don't seem to be working after the appropriate time, and what to do if you have a bad reaction and what those reactions might be. Sometimes with the maintenance meds (which is most of them), you won't notice anything for several days and then things will get noticeably better. Some people can tell the difference in hours, in others, it takes days.

And make sure you know all the side effects
Of all your meds
They can be deadly
Slow and steady we go
Never alone

i only use a Nebulizer and a Flutter when I have an attack as it helps me breathe easier for my heart other wise I breathe too heavy which makes it hard on my heart.

I've been on Advair and Spiriva for many years . Both in the morning and advair in the evening I'm on the top dosage of Advair. I can not function with out them, in the morning I am like a fish out of water till I get them in to my lungs! I take the genaric of both! I have been on them go about 16 yrs.

@A MyCOPDTeam Member what is LAMA....Long Acting ?? Thanks for your very informative post.

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