About treating asthma with steroids, Dr. Mario Zambrano, Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician with Homestead Hospital, says decades ago, they used to use oral steroids a lot more than they do now. “We have inhaled steroids, a child is getting micrograms that is less than a milligram. The amount you are inhaling only does its job locally.”

He explains when you take local steroids, they have to go through your bloodstream to reach the lungs where they do their job, so you need a higher dose, and that is why inhaled steroids are a lot better.