Asthma in Teens and Adults

Living With Asthma

You can control the impact asthma has on your life by following your asthma action plan consistently. A management plan can help you reduce inflammation to decrease the severity, frequency, and duration of asthma attacks. Following your action plan may be hard because of the many different factors involved.

To help yourself remain consistent in following your asthma action plan:

• Educate yourself about asthma. By doing so, you can learn to control symptoms and reduce the risk of asthma attacks. This questionnaire can help you determine what you already know about asthma and what you may need to discuss with your doctor.
• Understand your barriers and solutions. What may prevent you from following your plans? These may be physical barriers, such as living far from your doctor or pharmacy, or emotional barriers, such as having undiscussed fears about the condition or unrealistic expectations. Discuss your barriers with your doctor, and work to find solutions.
• Develop goals that relate to your quality of life. Being able to measure your success gives you greater motivation to follow asthma plans consistently. Decide what you want to be able to do. Have symptom-free nights? Be able to exercise on a regular basis? Feel secure in knowing you can deal with an asthma attack? Work with your doctor to see if your goals are realistic and how to meet them.

Your asthma action plan generally consists of the following:

• Seeing your doctor regularly to monitor your asthma. The frequency of checkups depends on how well your asthma is controlled. Checkups are recommended every 1 to 6 months. Bring your asthma plans to appointments.
• Following your asthma action plan. The plan describes which medicines to take every day to help delay the long-term effects of asthma. The action plan also contains the steps to treat asthma attacks. It helps you better control your asthma attacks by keeping you aware of symptoms and of how to make quick decisions about medicine and treatment. See an example of an asthma action plan (What is a PDF document?). You may also have an asthma diary where you record your peak expiratory flow, symptoms, and triggers of asthma attacks. This tool can help you manage your asthma too.

For more information on how to monitor and treat asthma, see:

Asthma: Taking charge of your asthma.

Asthma: Using an asthma action plan.

To effectively manage your asthma and use your asthma action plan, you will have to know how to monitor your peak airflow, identify asthma triggers, and take your asthma medicine correctly.

Monitoring peak expiratory flow

People often underestimate the severity of their symptoms. They may not notice symptoms until their lungs are functioning at 50% of their personal best measurement. Measuring peak expiratory flow (PEF) is a way to keep track of asthma symptoms at home; it can help you know when your lung function is becoming worse before it drops to a dangerously low level. You can do this with a peak flow meter. For more information, see:

Asthma: Measuring peak flow.

Identifying asthma triggers

A trigger is anything that can lead to an asthma attack. A trigger can be:

• Irritants in the air, such as tobacco smoke or air pollution.
• Substances to which you are allergic (allergens), such as pollen or animal dander.
• Other factors, such as a viral infection, exercise, stress, or dry, cold air.

Avoiding triggers will help decrease the chance of having an asthma attack and, in the case of allergens, will help control inflammation in the bronchial tubes, which carry air to the lungs. For more information, see:

Asthma: Identifying your triggers.

If you have asthma triggered by an allergen, taking antihistamine medicine may help you manage the allergy and thus limit its effect on your asthma.

Taking your asthma medicine

Taking medicines is an important part of asthma treatment. But because you may need to take more than one medicine, it can be difficult to remember to take them. To help yourself remember, understand the reasons people don't take their asthma medicines, and then find ways to overcome those obstacles, such as taping a note to your refrigerator.

Most medicines for asthma are inhaled. Inhaled medicines give a specific dose of the medicine directly to the bronchial tubes, avoiding or decreasing the effects of the medicine on the rest of the body. Delivery systems for inhaled medicines include metered-dose and dry powder inhalers and nebulizers. A metered-dose inhaler is used most often.

Sometimes doctors recommend the use of a spacer with a metered-dose inhaler (MDI). The spacer is attached to the MDI. A spacer may deliver the medicine to your lungs better than an inhaler alone, and for many people it is easier to use than an MDI alone. Using a spacer with inhaled corticosteroids can help reduce their side effects and result in less use of oral corticosteroids.

It is important to keep track of the inhaler doses and discard the inhaler when you have used the number of doses indicated on the package labeling. This not only prevents you from having an empty inhaler when you need medicine, but it also prevents you from inhaling only propellant after the medicine has run out. Some metered-dose inhalers and dry powder inhalers have counters that let you know how much medicine is left. For more information, see:

Asthma: Using a metered-dose inhaler.

Asthma: Using a dry powder inhaler.

Travel

Most people with asthma can travel freely. But if you travel to remote areas and participate in intensive physical activity, such as long hikes, you may be at increased risk for an asthma attack in an area where emergency help may be difficult to find.

When traveling, always bring your medicine with you, carry the prescription for it, and use it as prescribed. Also carry your asthma action plan so you know what medicines to take every day and what to do if you have an asthma attack.

Give teens extra attention

Teens who have asthma may view the disease as cutting into their independence and setting them apart from their peers. Parents and other adults should offer support and encouragement to help teens stick with a treatment program. It's important to:

• Help your teen remember that asthma is only one part of life.
• Allow your teen to meet with the doctor alone. This will encourage your teen to become involved in his or her care.
• Work out a daily management plan that allows a teen to continue daily activities, especially sports. Exercise is important for maintaining strong lungs and overall health.
• Talk to your teen about the dangers of smoking and drug use.
• Encourage your teen to meet others who have asthma so they can support each other.

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Author:	Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS	Last Updated: April 21, 2009
Medical Review:	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine Harold S. Nelson, MD - Allergy and Immunology
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