Antiasmatica

ANTIASTHMATICA (from Greek anti- against and asthma- shortness of breath, suffocation), medicinal substances that eliminate or alleviate attacks of suffocation. Corresponding to the causal factors that cause suffocation, many drugs can be used as A.: for dyspeptic asthma - emetics, laxatives, anthelmintics; for cardiac - digitalis, strophanthus, adonis, sea onion and other substances from the group of digitalis, as well as caffeine, camphor, valerian, castoreum, musk. For bronchial asthma, when the attack originates from the small bronchi or lung tissue, the following are recommended: a) narcotics (morphine, chloroform, methyl chloride, ether, chloral hydrate, urethane, amyl nitrite, sodium nitrite), b) those that paralyze the endings of the vagus nerves (atropine, hyoscyamine, lobelia, papaverine), c) those that irritate the sympathetic nerve - adrenaline. Narcotics by their effect on the sensory and motor centers of the brain and spinal cord interrupt the reflex pathway to the vagus nerves ending in the muscles of the bronchi, and thus eliminate the spasm of these muscles. The second group of substances relaxes the bronchial muscles by depressing or paralyzing the nerve endings of the vagus nerves located in them, the irritation of which causes spasm of the musculature. The third group leads to relaxation of the bronchial musculature by stimulating the sympathetic bronchodilating fibers (Dixon, Ransom). All these agents act symptomatically, but adrenaline also reduces hyperemia, swelling, and hypersecretion in the small bronchi, and atropine and hyoscyamine stop the secretion of bronchial mucus, which helps restore normal breathing and eliminates the factors causing suffocation. As a preventive measure against bronchial asthma, calcium chloride is recommended as an astringent, under which inflammatory phenomena either do not occur or are reduced (Leo); calcium chloride also reduces the excitability of the parasympathetic nervous system or increases the activity of the sympathetic system, and in some cases reduces the secretion of the bronchial mucosa by affecting the vascular wall. The successful use of iodine preparations is also noted (Baehr, Pick).