Diseases affecting the lungs—such as asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)—share many of the same medicines. These medicines are often delivered through a metered-dose inhaler (MDI).
Key points
Using an MDI:
- Delivers most of a measured dose of medicine directly to your lungs.
- Can help keep your symptoms under control and may help prevent long-term damage to your lungs.
- May prevent or decrease side effects of the medicine.
- May let you use less medicine than is found in a pill but get the same effect.
- May result in the medicine working faster than a pill form.
