Properly Controling Your Asthma And It's Attacks
A proper control of this disease will make your life closer to what you want it to be. The information bellow will help you optimize the control of your asthma. But first, there are some questions in order to determine whether your disease in under proper control:
In the last month:
- - Has your asthma caused you insomnia, because of the symptoms
- - Did the symptoms occur during the day (wheeze, chest tightness, breathlessness or cough)?
- - Has your asthma prevented you to do what you usually do (work, school, etc.)
An affirmative answer indicates an improper control of your disease. Ask you health care professional's help.
Signs that indicate improper control:
- - Walking up at night with an attack of asthma (coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, or chest tightness)
- - The disease prevents you from going to work
- - Breath problems
- - The need for a larger dose of medication
- - The medicines seems to have no effect
- - Increase frequency of the reliever's use
Impossibility to keep up with your normal activities
In case of these signs, a self management plan is absolutely necessary to keep the asthma under control. In case this fails, too, the medical staff will help you find a way to deal with this condition by changing both medication and certain aspects of your life.
How to handle an attack of asthma
There are times in which an episode in impossible to avoid. Take the following steps, in order to manage it. They are both affective for children and adults:
- • The reliever must be grabbed immediately
- • Sit down and loosen the clothes that are too tight. Don't lay down
- • In case the inhaler doesn't seem to work, puff a dose every 5 minutes, until your condition improves
- • If there is still no effect, call 991 or a doctor immediately
- • Take a puff each minute until help arrives.
Signs of asthma attacks:
- • the reliever has no effect
- • the symptoms worsen
- • you cannot breath, speak, eat or sleep
In case of hospital admission or emergency because of your asthma, take with you the details of you medicines. After an emergency:
- • Visit the doctor's office for a review of the disease no later than 48 hours after the attack.
- • Another visit will be necessary one or two weeks later, to check on the control of the symptoms.
Symptoms that worsen mustn't be ignored. The personal plan for there situations should be followed. In case of no effect, the doctor must be seen immediately. Most of the times, the reliever will be enough to improve your condition.