Asthma Treatment Tips: Beyond Medication
by Julia Gregory
If you struggle with asthma, it is very important for you to meet with a doctor who can prescribe you medication to better manage your symptoms and ensure you have a way to stop an attack. But medication is only one element of asthma treatment. Here are some other tips you'll want to follow for effective treatment and management of your asthma.
Explore your triggers.
Your doctor will likely prescribe you a rescue inhaler to use when you have an asthma attack. But even better would be to avoid attacks in the first place. If you can figure out what causes your asthma attacks and avoid that trigger, then you should have far fewer attacks. For some people, asthma attacks are triggered by allergies, such as allergies to pollen or mold. If you think this may be the case, you may want to consider seeing an allergist. They can figure out exactly what you're allergic to in order to help you avoid that allergen. Or, they may give you allergy medications, which can further help treat your asthma. Other common triggers include exercise, stress, and certain foods. Try keeping a diary to see if there is something you often do or experience before an attack that triggers it.
Use your inhaler at the first sign of an attack.
Sometimes, people start to feel an asthma attack coming on, question it, hope it may go away on its own, and then don't use their inhaler right away as they should. Try to avoid this. The sooner you use your inhaler, the more effective it will be. If you have any inkling an attack is coming, don't wait — use the inhaler. It's better to use it occasionally when it may not have been needed than to not use it when you should have.
Follow up with your doctor.
Make sure you keep your doctor up to date as to how your treatment is working, how frequently you are having attacks, and how bad the attacks are. In some cases, your doctor may make changes to your medications or the schedule on which you take them based on this feedback. There are medications they can prescribe beyond a rescue inhaler, but they have to know how you're doing to know whether they need to prescribe them.
Asthma treatment is multi-faceted, and every patient is different. Follow the tips above to get your symptoms under better control.
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About Me
The decision to move one of my parents into assisted living was one of the most difficult I have ever made. I had extreme feelings of guilt that led to me being at the facility with my parent practically around the clock. It took a few months before I realized that I could not let my own life fall apart from the guilt I was feeling. I also learned that my parent was fine without me constantly hovering around. Since that time, I have had several friends express similar feelings of guilt. I started this blog to help others in the same situation understand not only their feelings about assisted living, but those of their parents.