Asthma is a common disease that affects the airways and lungs. Asthma is characterized by difficulty breathing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. Some sufferers also cough at night, experience tightness, pain, or pressure in the chest. Any age can develop asthma. Asthma cannot be cured but can be controlled. Asthma management includes prevention, minimizing exposure to triggers, and taking medication during relapses.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Managing Asthma with Medication
Step 1. Consult your asthma action plan with your doctor
You and your doctor should work together to make a plan regarding the use of asthma medications, their triggers, how to avoid them, and what to do when your asthma flares up.
- The plan of action for each person with asthma is different. For example, if the asthmatic is a student, this action plan includes permission to take medication on campus.
- There should be an emergency phone number on the action plan, including a list of triggers to avoid, symptoms and actions when asthma flares up, plus preparations before exercise so you don't have an attack.
Step 2. Get the recipe
Asthma treatment usually requires medication. Medications prescribed by a doctor can help you control your disease and prevent asthma attacks. There are two types of asthma medications: oral and inhaled. Doctors may prescribe both, and most people take them at the same time:
- Anti-inflammatory drugs reduce swelling and mucus in the airways. This medicine makes it easier for you to breathe.
- Bronchodilators relax the muscles around the airways to increase the rate of breathing and the amount of oxygen in the chest.
Step 3. Use anti-inflammatory drugs
Oral or inhaled medications that control inflammation can be of paramount importance for people with asthma. This medication reduces swelling and mucus in the airways, and helps control or prevent asthma symptoms if taken daily.
- Your doctor may prescribe an inhaled corticosteroid, such as fluticasone, budesonide, ciclesonide, or mometasone. For maximum effect, this drug must sometimes be taken daily or over a longer period of time. There are side effects in its use.
- Doctors may prescribe leukotriene modifiers such as montelukast, zafirlukast, or zileuton to help prevent and relieve symptoms for up to 24 hours. But be careful. This drug is associated with psychological reactions, including agitation and aggression. Fortunately, this reaction is rare.
- Your doctor also sometimes prescribes a stem cell stabilizer, such as cromolyn sodium or nedocromil sodium.
- For severe symptoms that are not controlled by other methods, doctors sometimes prescribe short or long use of oral steroids. The side effects can be more, so use it only if other treatments are ineffective or if you have severe acute symptoms.
Step 4. Use a bronchodilator
Bronchodilators can be used as short-term or long-term drugs. Short-acting bronchodilators, often called rescue inhalers (emergency inhalers), reduce or stop symptoms and can help during attacks. Long-acting bronchodilators help control symptoms and prevent attacks.
- For some people, pre-treatment before exercise can reduce asthma symptoms caused by exercise.
- Your doctor may prescribe a long-acting (long-acting) beta agonist, such as salmeterol or formoterol. This drug can open the airways, but it also increases the risk of a severe asthma attack. This drug is usually taken with corticosteroids.
- You can also use a combination inhaler such as fluticasone-salmeterol, or mometasone-formoterol.
- Ipratropium bromide is an anticholinergic drug that can help control symptoms of acute or new asthma. Theophylline is a long-acting bronchodilator that is rarely used for asthma, except in certain situations.
Step 5. Use allergy medication
Studies show that allergy medications can reduce asthma symptoms, especially asthma caused by allergies. Talk to your doctor about allergy medications for asthma.
- Allergy shots can decrease the body's long-term reaction to allergens.
- Nasal steroids such as fluticasone can reduce allergy symptoms, which means they reduce asthma triggers.
- Oral antihistamines such as diphenhydramine, cetirizine, loratadine, and fexofenadine can reduce or relieve asthma symptoms. Your doctor can prescribe or recommend an antihistamine for you.
Step 6. Use bronchial thermoplasty
This treatment, which uses heat to keep the airways from constricting, is not widely available. Talk to your doctor about bronchial thermoplasty if you have severe asthma and it doesn't improve with other medications.
- Bronchial therapy requires you to have three outpatient visits.
- This treatment heats the inside of the airways, reducing the amount of smooth muscle that can contract and limiting air intake.
- The results of bronchial thermoplasty last up to a year. This means that you will have to do repeated treatments in the following years.
Part 2 of 3: Changing Your Lifestyle
Step 1. Limit your body's exposure to asthma triggers
The following environmental factors can trigger symptoms and worsen asthma. Limiting or avoiding triggers can minimize symptoms or prevent attacks.
- Avoid exposure to very hot or cold weather. Cover your face in cold or windy weather.
- Make sure you continue to be vaccinated, especially the annual flu shot to reduce infections that can trigger asthma attacks.
- Avoid smoking and secondhand smoke because smoke is the main trigger of asthma symptoms.
- Use air conditioning to reduce pollen in the air circulating in the room.
- Reduce dust in the house by cleaning it every day or not using carpets.
- Cover mattresses, pillows and box springs with dust-proof covers
- If you are allergic to pets, don't let animals into your home, or at least your room.
- Clean the house regularly to remove dust, pet dander, mold spores and pollen.
- Avoid exposure to pollen or air pollution by limiting time outdoors.
- Reduce stress that has an impact on your psychology.
Step 2. Take care of your overall health
Keep yourself healthy by dieting, exercising, and regular visits to the doctor to help relieve asthma symptoms. Conditions such as obesity and heart disease can worsen or cause asthma.
- Exercise regularly to strengthen your heart and lungs. Exercising can also help maintain your weight.
- Eat a healthy, balanced and regular diet. Consume the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables to help lung function and reduce asthma symptoms.
Step 3. Control heartburn and GERD
There is some evidence that heartburn and GERD (ie gastroesophageal reflux disease) can damage the airways and make asthma worse. Talk to your doctor and treat both of these conditions to help your asthma symptoms.
Step 4. Do deep breathing
There is some evidence that deep breathing exercises associated with medication can help control your symptoms and reduce the dose of medication you need. Deep breathing can also help you relax, thereby easing psychological stress that exacerbates asthma.
- Deep breathing helps distribute oxygen throughout the body, it can also reduce the heart rate, normalize the pulse, and relax you. All of these can help control asthma.
- Inhale and exhale completely through the nose. You can also breathe in for a certain count, for example, inhale for a count of four and then exhale for a count of four.
- To optimize deep breathing, sit up straight with your shoulders back. Breathe slowly and evenly, pulling in your stomach to expand your lungs and ribs.
Step 5. Look at the available herbal medicines
Several studies show that herbal and natural remedies can help control asthma. Talk to your doctor before using this medication.
- Look for products that contain black seed, caffeine, choline, and pycnogenol as these can help relieve asthma symptoms.
- Mix three parts lobelia tincture with one part capsicum tincture. From this mixture, take twenty drops to help with severe asthma attacks.
- Eating ginger and turmeric can help reduce inflammation.
Part 3 of 3: Detecting If You Have Asthma
Step 1. Know all the factors that cause asthma
Doctors don't know what causes your asthma, but they do know certain factors that increase your risk of developing the disease. By knowing the risk of asthma, you can recognize the symptoms and treatment. Asthma risk factors include:
- Have a family history of asthma
- Have an allergic condition such as atopic dermatitis or allergic rhinitis
- Obesity
- Smoking or exposing others or yourself as passive smoking
- (often) exposed to exhaust fumes or other pollutants
Step 2. Recognize the signs and symptoms of asthma
There are various signs and symptoms of asthma, ranging from mild to severe. Recognize the potential symptoms so that you receive appropriate treatment. Some of the symptoms of asthma include:
- Hard to breathe
- Feeling tightness or pain in the chest
- Hard to sleep
- Cough, especially exercise, acute attacks, or at night
- Whistling or wheezing sound when breathing
Step 3. Take an asthma test
If you think you have asthma, see a doctor. If the doctor thinks you have asthma, the doctor will ask you to undergo tests after the examination. The following types of tests may be the only way to confirm asthma:
- Spirometry to check the number of narrowed bronchial tubes and how much air you can exhale after taking a deep breath.
- Peak flow measurement tracking to determine your ability to exhale.
- The methacholine challenge, which uses asthma triggers to tell if you have asthma.
- The nitric oxide test measures the amount of nitric oxide in your breath, which can confirm your asthma.
- Scans, such as X-rays, CT, or MRI, to look at lung tissue and nasal cavities that can make asthma worse.
- Allergy test
- Sputum eosinophils to look for the presence of a certain type of white blood cell, called eosinophils.
Step 4. Get a definite diagnosis
Your doctor will confirm your asthma diagnosis based on test results. Talk to your doctor about the best treatment for your asthma.
Warning
- Consult your doctor before you change your diet or exercise routine, or before you take supplements or herbal remedies.
- Call your doctor if your asthma does not improve with existing medications. Call 118 or 119, or go to the ER if you have a severe asthma attack, especially if you have trouble breathing, or your lips or nails turn blue.
