Azmacort

A healthcare provider may prescribe Azmacort to prevent asthma attacks. While the medicine cannot be used to treat or cure asthma, it can be taken two to four times a day to help prevent asthma attacks from occurring. Azmacort is a type of steroid that works by reducing the inflammation in the airways that makes asthma attacks more likely. As with any medication, there are potential side effects of the medication, such as headaches, a sore throat, and sinus infections.

 

What Is Azmacort?

Azmacort® (triamcinolone inhaler) is a prescription medication used to prevent asthma attacks.
 
(Click Azmacort Uses for more information on what Azmacort is used for, including possible off-label uses of the medication.)
 

Who Makes Azmacort?

Azmacort is made by Abbott Laboratories.
 

How Does Azmacort Work?

Normally, air moves easily into and out of the lungs through a network of airways. However, when you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways are inflamed (swollen). This inflammation makes the airways very sensitive, and they tend to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating (see Asthma Triggers). When the airways react, the muscles around these airways tighten, inflammation inside the airways increases, and the cells inside the airways produce more mucus. This narrows the airways and makes it harder to breathe.
 
Azmacort is an asthma medication that belongs to a group of drugs called inhaled corticosteroids, or steroids for short. Inhaled steroids go directly into the lungs and help to decrease the inflammation of the airways that makes asthma attacks more likely. Because Azmacort does not work quickly, it should not be used for treating an asthma attack. Rather, it is used regularly in order to prevent asthma attacks.
 
Because Azmacort is inhaled directly into the lungs, the rest of the body is exposed to lower steroid levels, compared to steroids taken by mouth. This helps reduce or eliminate many of the side effects associated with long-term steroid use.
 
(Click Asthma Treatment for information about other medicines used for treating asthma.)
 
(Azmacort Continued: Page 2)
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Written by/reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD; Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Kristi Monson, PharmD;