How Can I Prevent Asthma Flare
Asthma flare-ups can be handled, but it’s even better if you can prevent them from happening. To do that:
- Take asthma medicines as directed. If your doctor prescribed a long-term control medicine, take it each day, even when you feel fine. It needs to be taken exactly as your doctor tells you to keep protecting you against flare-ups.
- Get a flu shot each year before flu season starts.
- Avoid triggers. By knowing and avoiding your triggers, you might be able to prevent some flare-ups.
It’s important to plan ahead and know what to do. Work with your doctor to build and update your asthma action plan. That way, you know what to do if a flare-up happens and you’re in control if things get serious.
Common Asthma Triggers And How To Avoid Them
Common asthma triggers
Asthma triggers are materials, conditions, or activities that either worsen asthma symptoms or cause an asthma flare-up. Asthma triggers are common, which is precisely what makes them so troublesome.
In some cases, avoiding all of your asthma triggers can be difficult. However, with a little planning, you can learn to prevent exposure to your triggers and reduce your risk for an asthma flare-up or attack.
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What Are Common Asthma Attack Triggers
You can have an asthma attack if you come in contact with substances that irritate you. Healthcare providers call these substances triggers. Knowing what triggers your asthma makes it easier to avoid asthma attacks.
For some people, a trigger can bring on an attack right away. For other people, or at other times, an attack may start hours or days later.
Triggers can be different for each person. But some common triggers include:
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Benefits Of Exercising With Asthma
Even if you have asthma, you shouldnt avoid exercise altogether.
Regular physical activity is essential for managing health, improving energy, and reducing the risk of chronic disease. If you already have a chronic condition, regular exercise can help you manage it.
This includes asthma. With a doctors guidance, regular exercise could help asthma by:
- promoting blood flow to your lungs and heart
- improving endurance and stamina
Tips To Reduce Exposure To Indoor Pollution
To reduce air pollution in your home:
- avoid all cigarette smoke in your home
- clean mould or damp from all surfaces
- make sure all heaters and gas appliances are vented correctly and inspected every year
- avoid fan-forced ducted heating because it circulates dust choose radiant heating instead
- avoid wood stoves or make sure the doors to the stove fit tightly
- avoid using open fireplaces
- avoid household products that can irritate the airways such as cleaning products, paints, varnishes, pesticides, perfumes and soaps.
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Reducing The Burden Of Asthma
Asthma cannot be cured, but good management with inhaled medications can control the disease and enable people with asthma to enjoy a normal, active life.
There are two main types of inhaler:
- bronchodilators , that open the air passages and relieve symptoms and
- steroids , that reduce inflammation in the air passages. This improves asthma symptoms and reduces the risk of severe asthma attacks and death.
People with asthma may need to use their inhaler every day. Their treatment will depend on the frequency of symptoms and the different types of inhalers available.
It can be difficult to coordinate breathing using an inhaler, especially for children and during emergency situations. Using a spacer device makes it easier to use an aerosol inhaler and helps the medicine to reach the lungs more effectively. A spacer is a plastic container with a mouthpiece or mask at one end and a hole for the inhaler in the other. A homemade spacer, made from a 500ml plastic bottle, can be as effective as a commercially manufactured inhaler.
Access to inhalers is a problem in many countries. In 2021, bronchodilators were available in public primary health care facilities in half of low- and low-middle income countries, and steroid inhalers available in one third.
Asthma Patients Can Benefit From This Helpful Diet:
* Coffee can help to reduce the severity of the attack. Because of its caffeine content, it helps to control the severity of asthma attacks. Asthma patients can breathe easier with caffeine.
* Onions help to reduce inflammation in the airways. Because onions contain anti-inflammatory compounds, this is possible.
For good health, you should regularly consume spices like cumin seeds and long pepper, black peppers, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves.
* Goats milk is the best type of milk. Avoid cows and buffalos milk.
* Take large quantities of Vitamin B supplements, such as green leafy vegetables or pulses.
* Dryed figs are high in magnesium and can help improve the health of patients with asthma.
* Whole-meal bread, whole meal bread, jawar, and millets, which are very helpful for patients with asthma.
* Prefer vegetables such as spinach, bittergourd, pumpkin, and green banana, and fruits such as grapes, raisins, and papaya.
* Consuming hot foods such as chilli and hot mustard can dilate the air passages, opening up the mucus, and allowing for easy breathing.
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How Do I Handle An Asthma Flare
If you feel like a flare-up is about to happen, stay calm. Let people around you know what’s going on. Then remember your asthma action plan. That’s the written plan that tells you what to do next.
Stay calm and focus on what your asthma action plan says. Your doctor probably told you to use your quick-relief medicine, so do that first.
If you can figure out what triggered your symptoms , remove the trigger or yourself from the area. Sometimes that’s all you need to get your asthma under control again.
If a flare-up is more severe, you might need to get help.
How Do I Open My Airways
If you have asthma, the best way to keep your airways open is to use your asthma medications as directed by your doctor. These medications can open your airways using a variety of mechanisms, including relaxing airway muscles or reducing inflammation.
Long-term control medications can help prevent the airways from narrowing and leading to asthma symptoms. When asthma symptoms do occur, quick-relief medications like your rescue inhaler can help to quickly open your airways.
In addition to using your asthma medications as directed, some other things that may help to open your airways include practicing breathing exercises or trying steam inhalation.
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Asthma Signs And Symptoms
Even if you know how to treat asthma, recognizing signs and symptoms can be beneficial. Asthma attacks happen as a response to an external trigger such as exercise or allergies. As a result, the airway becomes swollen and narrow, making it hard to breathe.
For some people, asthma is nothing more than a minor inconvenience. For others, it is a life-threatening concern that needs to be managed daily.
Symptoms of asthma include:
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Asthma is a common chronic lung disease in which the lungs bronchial tubes, or airways, become inflamed.
Want to know more about asthma? Read on to learn what experts know about this breathing disorder, why some people develop it and others dont, lifestyle changes that can help you manage asthma, and how to avoid complications linked to the condition.
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Comparison Between Ics And Leukotriene Receptor Antagonists
National and international guidelines have generally recommended that ICS should be the initial antiinflammatory treatment in asthma and that leukotriene receptor antagonists should be reserved for those who will not or cannot take ICS. A recent systematic review has shown that, compared with LTRAs, ICS are associated with a lower rate of asthma exacerbations.20 This review, which comprised 13 studies in which patients with mild asthma treated with LTRAs were compared with those treated with low dose ICS , found that patients on LTRAs were 60% more likely to suffer an asthma exacerbation .20 A further systematic review has shown that the addition of montelukast compared with placebo to maintenance ICS was associated with some improvement in asthma control parameters but had no effect on exacerbations. In contrast, when leukotriene modifiers were compared with placebo, there was a significant reduction in asthma exacerbations .14
How To Relax The Airways
Dr. Thiruchelvam says the primary goal is to ensure that you dont avoid exercise. Here are some practical things you can do if you have exercise-induced asthma:
Gaining and maintaining good control over exercise-induced asthma often requires teamwork. A primary care sports medicine physician can help you keep your asthma well-controlled, so that exercise is less likely to trigger symptoms.
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What Asthma Treatment Options Are There
You have options to help manage your asthma. Your healthcare provider may prescribe medications to control symptoms. These include:
- Bronchodilators: These medicines relax the muscles around your airways. The relaxed muscles let the airways move air. They also let mucus move more easily through the airways. These medicines relieve your symptoms when they happen and are used for intermittent and chronic asthma.
- Anti-inflammatory medicines: These medicines reduce swelling and mucus production in your airways. They make it easier for air to enter and exit your lungs. Your healthcare provider may prescribe them to take every day to control or prevent your symptoms of chronic asthma.
- Biologic therapies for asthma: These are used for severe asthma when symptoms persist despite proper inhaler therapy.
You can take asthma medicines in several different ways. You may breathe in the medicines using a metered-dose inhaler, nebulizer or another type of asthma inhaler. Your healthcare provider may prescribe oral medications that you swallow.
Controlling Common Asthma Triggers Found In Schools
Many factors found in the indoor and outdoor environment can cause, trigger, or exacerbate asthma symptoms. Some common environmental asthma triggers found in schools are listed below, along with suggestions for managing each common trigger:
| Asthma Triggers Found in Schools | Asthma Management Tips for Schools |
|---|---|
|
Environmental Tobacco Smoke Environmental tobacco smoke is a mixture of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar and the smoke exhaled by the smoker. |
|
| Control Animal Allergens
Remove classroom animals from the school, if possible. If not, locate animals away from sensitive students and ventilation systems. |
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Reducing Asthma Triggers At Home
An asthma attack can occur when someone with asthma is exposed to things in the environment that trigger their asthma. One persons triggers can be very different from those of another person with asthma. Do what you can to decrease these triggers in the environment. more Triggers may include:
- Secondhand smoke
- Breathing in cold, dry air
Tips To Prevent Asthma Attacks
More than half of the global population is worried about Asthma and getting a sure shot cure for the health issue is really tough. Severe and continuous coughing and wheezing are the primary asthma symptoms and the main causes that trigger the problem include pollution, an unbearable cold environment, allergies from chemicals or specific fragrances, flu virus, etc. Asthma has been a vital topic for medical researchers for a long while but the medical experts are still not able to discover a cure that is 100% efficient for Asthma treatment. There is no specific trigger of Asthma that incite the sudden asthma attack for every Asthma patient. The triggers may vary for different Asthma patients. The first thing is to identify the causes due to which a patient faces frequent Asthma attacks and keep the patient away from those triggers as much as possible. Depending on the years of Asthma treatments, the highly effective and reliable tips that can help an Asthma patient avoid a sudden attack are mentioned below.
As it is said prevention is better than cure, one must take care of the triggers or possible triggers to avoid a huge medical expense for Asthma treatment. Visit your nearest healthcare center at least once a month and let your doc know about your present Asthma status.
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Management Of Exacerbations On Combination Therapy
With the emergence of combination therapy for maintenance of patients with moderate to severe asthma, the appropriate response to worsening of asthma while on these treatments is important. Although budesonide and fluticasone share similar antiinflammatory characteristics, there is an important differentiating feature between salmeterol and formoterol which affects how they can be used in the presence of worsening asthma. In general, salmeterol should only be given twice daily at a total dose of 100g. In contrast, formoterol can be prescribed on a more frequent basis, and has the potential for quadrupling the lowest recommended daily dose.
A further study evaluated this strategy in comparison with a combination of salmeterol and fluticasone.40 In this randomised but nonblinded study, investigators could adjust the levels of maintenance treatment in both arms, with the main difference being the use of a combination of budesonide and formoterol compared with a short acting agonist. A total of 2143 patients were randomised and both regimens were associated with improved asthma control, but use of the single inhaler was associated with a significant reduction in the time to the first exacerbation and the total number of exacerbations was also reduced .
Will Medicine Help Me Breathe Better When I Exercise
Yes. Exercising, particularly in cold air, may cause airway swelling or exercise-induced bronchoconstriction . Quick-relief asthma medicines, taken before exercise, usually control this. If you need repeated doses of quick-relief medicine during and after exercise talk with your doctor. Your medicines may need to be adjusted. Thanks to these medicines, many Olympic and professional athletes have successful sports careers even with their asthma.
It is important for everyone, including people with asthma, to be as active as possible for good health. Talk with your doctor about how you can be physically active while keeping your asthma well-controlled.
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Treating Thrush Without Losing The Asthma Inhaler
If you get thrush, it doesnt mean you have to quit taking inhaled corticosteroids. It does not mean you have to switch to a different product.2 However, these are all options you can discuss with your doctor. I do know of some people who keep getting thrush from one type of asthma inhaler, and so they switch to another and theyre fine.
If you want to take that route, thats fine. But Advair works so great for me, Id hate to stop taking it due to a little thrush. So, what I do is call my doctor. Ive had thrush enough that I know when I have it. So, its possible he will just call me in a prescription for Diflucan. Its a pill taken once a day for 3-4 days. It also comes as a swish. Some people prefer that. Theres also a swish called Nistatin. Which medicinal option you use is up to you and your doctor.
Now, theres one other option Id like to mention. This is the one I opt for most of the time. I basically mix a teaspoon or two of Nistatin in a cup of water and rinse my mouth out with that. You can also use baking soda. The idea here is that the fungus hates salty environments. I usually do this 2-3 times a day for 3-4 days. It usually does the trick, avoiding a need to call my doctor.
Tips To Keep Your Asthma Under Control
Almost three million Canadians and more than 300 million people worldwide have asthma, including many top athletes. Asthma is a common chronic lung disease that can make it difficult to breathe. Although there is no cure for asthma, those with the condition can live healthy, active lives if their asthma is under control.
For World Asthma Day , the Canadian Lung Association has some helpful tips for people with asthma.
1. Know your triggers and avoid themTriggers like allergens and irritants can make your asthma symptoms worse by irritating your airways. The best way to control your asthma is to know what your asthma triggers are and how to avoid them.
2. Take your asthma medication as prescribed by your doctorMany people think they can skip their asthma preventer medications when they don’t feel any symptoms that’s not true. Asthma is a chronic disease. If you have asthma, you have it all the time, even when you don’t feel symptoms. You have to manage your asthma every day, not just on days when you feel symptoms. Read more about asthma medications and how to use them.
3. Learn how to use your inhaler properlyYour health-care provider can show you how to use your inhaler properly so that your medicine reaches the airways. Ask him or her to watch you useyour inhaler. Your health-care provider may offer suggestions on how to improve your technique so that the medication gets to your airways. Watch our videos on how to properly use your inhalers.
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