My doctor told me that Ventolin nowadays is used for Asthma attacks, because of the immediate effect. However the effect is temporally limited.
Because of this, my doctor, too, prescribed Symbicort (which by the way is a combination of an anti-inflammatory agent and a beta-blocker and free of cortisone) and Zyrtec/Cetallerg.
Allergies were also discussed
here and
here.