<s>[INST] Why do I have to take medicines every day? [/INST] Knowing what happens in your lungs when you have asthma may help you to understand why you need to keep using medicines every day, even when you aren’t having trouble with your asthma. The lining of the airways gets inflamed, or swells, when you have asthma if you come in contact with an asthma trigger – something that makes your asthma worse. The swelling makes the airways smaller which makes it difficult for air to move through the narrowed air passageways.When inflammation happens, extra mucus is made in the lining of the airways. This mucus can be very thick and sticky, and may form into plugs that may completely block some of the airways. In addition, smooth muscle bands surround the airways. When the airways swell, these muscle bands often constrict or clamp down, further narrowing or squeezing the airways. Together, airway swelling, excess mucus, and tightened muscle bands cause airway narrowing and make it hard to breathe.Your long-term controller medicine is the one that works over an extended period of time to help keep the inflammation (swelling) in your airways down. It also helps stops them from being so twitchy or sensitive. This means they are less likely to react when you have a cold or when you are around one of your triggers.You need to take your controller every day for it to be effective, usually first thing in the morning and last thing at night. If you do not take your long-term controller medicine every day, it will not work as well to help prevent asthma trouble. Source: AIM. Link: https://getasthmahelp.org/adult-faq.aspx. Field: Lung Disease. Disease: Asthma </s>