Grab our best-selling pharmacology coloring book!

🧠Memory tips for inhaled corticosteroid combinations!⁠

🌬️Inhaled corticosteroids are first-line options for treating patients with asthma. But many of these inhalers are brand-name only and some come in combination with long-acting beta 2 agonists or inhaled anticholinergics. ⁠

🫁Inhaled corticosteroids work by reducing inflammation and swelling in the airways. Reducing inflammation makes it easier to breathe, which minimizes asthma attacks. But these medications have to be taken daily, and it may take several weeks before they’re fully effective.⁠

🧠Some of these brands are often used on exams and it is helpful to know what their combinations are: ⁠

TIP – we would never put two corticosteroids together so for example if the question asks about Symbicort – the answer should be ✅️budesonide with formoterol (ICS + LABA) NOT ❌️budesonide with fluticasone (ICS + ICS). ⁠


⁠👉🏻Quiz yourself on how well you know the combinations and some of my memory tips on remembering them!