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Can Urgent Care Diagnose Asthma

Asthma Treatment In Miami

Asthma Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, Nursing care for NCLEX RN & LPN

If you feel like you cant catch your breath or your inhaler does not reduce your asthma symptoms, come to a nearby UHealth Jackson Urgent Care center right away, before your discomfort escalates.

Our urgent care centers are open every day and you can walk in without an appointment to be seen quickly by a doctor.

How Our Urgent Care Can Help

Our doctors and providers are experienced in treating babies, toddlers, children, and adults with asthma. Well see you quickly and find ways to help ease your chest pain, cough and help you begin to breath easy.

While we can help with minor asthma concerns, a severe asthma attack can be life-threatening. If someone is having difficulty breathing, call 911 or visit your nearest emergency room.

First Off What Is An Asthma Attack

During an asthma attack, a couple of things happen. The muscles surrounding the patients airways will tighten. At the same time, the airways lining can also become inflamed and swollen. This means that the airways can feel pressure from both outside and inside.

Additionally, the mucus that your body normally produces becomes thicker. There may be more of it than normal, too.

These three factors can lead to symptoms such as:

  • Shortness of breath

As you can imagine, even just a few of these symptoms can be debilitating to experience.

Urgent Care For Asthma And Copd

Trouble breathing? We can help! If your asthma or COPD is making day-to-day activities difficult, we can help you breathe easier at GoHealth Urgent Care. Just walk into any of our convenient locations, save your spot online or schedule a Virtual Visit with a provider for immediate asthma care.

  • Smoke & Smoking
  • Anxiety and chronic stress

Individual triggers can vary from person to person. Your healthcare provider can help you identify triggers and find ways to avoid or manage them.

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What Are The Risk Factors For Asthma

There are a variety of factors that can increase your risk of developing asthma throughout your life, including:

  • Sex Throughout childhood, its more common for boys to get asthma than girls. From ages 20 to 40, men and women tend to get it evenly, and after age 40, asthma is more common in females.
  • Early Life Events If you had any breathing issues as a newborn or had poor lung function early in life, your risk of asthma is higher.
  • Family History Asthma can be passed down to you and increase your risk of getting it.
  • Allergies Having allergies, particularly those that cause symptoms that affect your breathing, can increase your risk for asthma.
  • Pollution If you live or grew up in a high-polluted region, your risk of asthma increases.
  • Maternal Medication Use Using certain medications during pregnancy increases the babys asthma risk.

Evaluating A Child With Acute Asthma

A Guideline to Understanding Asthma and Its Triggers

When a patient presents with symptoms of acute asthma exacerbation, the clinician must perform a rapid but thorough clinical evaluation. Performing a physical examination expeditiously is necessary to allow the physician to recognize the severity of the asthma episode and to diagnose other conditions that can be confused with asthma. In some cases, this must be done concurrently with the initiation of treatment with B2-agonists. This focused examination should also include:

  • accessory muscle use

Treatment should not be delayed to obtain more history. Further history can be obtained after the patient has been stabilized. however, it must be noted that obtaining an appropriate history is an important component of determining the severity of the asthma, which will help to tailor the treatment, as suggested by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Expert Panel Report 3. Red flags from the history and physical examination which are warning signs of impending respiratory failure that may lead to death are summarized in Table 1.

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Can An Urgent Care Doctor Treat Asthma

People with mild asthma symptoms, such as moderate coughing or wheezing, can generally find the relief they need by visiting a STAT MED Urgent Care center.

In fact, an urgent care center is a more affordable and faster alternative to the emergency room in non-life-threatening scenarios.

In addition to immediate medical care for asthma, STAT MED Urgent Care also provides primary care services to meet the ongoing medical needs of asthma patients. To learn how we can help you or your child effectively manage asthma symptoms, contact us today or simply stop by when its best for your busy schedule. STAT MED Urgent Care is proud to supply first-class medical care to families in Concord, Lafayette, and surrounding communities.

The Role Of Asthma Action Plans

An Asthma Action Plan can help. It has green , yellow , and red zones that help you know how to treat your asthma. You can and fill it out with your doctor.

With my kids, we learned that sometimes it is best to let the hospital take over medical care for our kids. They are fully trained and have all of the equipment to monitor them.

For those of you with small children that have asthma, pay close attention to their symptoms! Have a plan of what to do if your kids have any of the symptoms listed above â whether to call your doctor, call 911 or head to the hospital.

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How To Prevent Wheezing

One of the biggest ways to prevent wheezing is to avoid smoking and to stay away from second-hand smoke.

Breathing exercises can improve your lung capacity, which, in turn, helps asthma symptoms like wheezing. These exercises may include pursed lip breathing and belly breathing.

When practicing pursed lips, you will want to breathe in through your nose, then breathe out for twice as long, all while pursuing your lips.

With belly breathing, you will inhale through your nose, then exhale through your mouth for up to three times as long as you breathed in. The most important thing with exercise is paying attention to how your belly fills with air.

Most causes of wheezing will recover quickly however, in order to fully prevent it from happening again, your provider may need to develop a long-term treatment plan for you.

Keeping the air in your home clean and moist can significantly help prevent you from wheezing.

If you notice that your wheezing is happening again or getting worse, its important to let your provider know

Factors That Increase The Risk Of Asthma

Mayo Clinic Minute: When asthma attacks

Summarized from GINA 2020: Table 4-1 pg 113

  • A history of near-fatal asthma exacerbation requiring intubation, mechanical ventilation or extracoroporeal membrane oxygenation
  • Hospitalization or emergency care visit for asthma in the past year
  • Currently using or having recently stopped using oral corticosteroids
  • Not currently using inhaled corticosteroids
  • Overuse of short acting albuterol
  • History of psychiatric disease or psychosocial problems/instability
  • Poor adherence with asthma medications and/or poor adherence to a written asthma action plan
  • Food allergy history

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Asthma Treatment At Garnet Health

For children and adults seeking treatment for mild to moderate asthma symptoms, our team is ready to help. We serve families at our convenient urgent care locations in Middletown, Goshen and Monticello, NY, by providing a faster alternative to receive specialized primary care.

Dealing with persistent asthma symptoms can be uncomfortable, which is why our helpful professionals prioritize prompt service and personalized care. Our goal is to help you or your loved one breathe easier and get back to enjoying life as quickly as possible. Patients, parents and caretakers who visit us for urgent care also have the option to wait in their vehicles instead of our reception area.

What Is Wheezing And When To Visit Urgent Care

  • What is wheezing and when to visit…

Wheezing can be a scary feeling, especially when youre unsure of the cause.

Fortunately, the act of wheezing is rarely serious in and of itself. The underlying cause, however, may be cause for concern.

Having a provider properly diagnose the cause of your wheezing is the first step to treating the issue.

Heres what you need to know about wheezing and when you should visit an urgent care.

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What Can An Urgent Care Physician Do To Diagnose Asthma

The physician will take an accurate history to see if you have the symptoms of asthma, as well as any of the risk factors or triggers described above. They will also listen to your lungs, which will have a certain kind of sound to them, called wheezing, when heard through a stethoscope. There are also things the physician can see in your throat and nose that can be associated with asthma.

The physician will then test how well your lungs are working, which is called pulmonary function testing. These tests can pinpoint specifically if your breathing symptoms are due to asthma or something else, like emphysema or COPD , which can have similar symptoms but are commonly caused by smoking.

There are no laboratory blood tests available that can diagnose asthma, but if the asthma is severe enough, the physician may get blood tests to make sure you do not also have an infection or other disease that might be making your asthma worse.

Similar to blood tests, chest X-rays usually will not confirm asthma but can help the physician see if there is something else going on in the lungs that might be causing your symptoms.

Based on all these tests, your physican will make an evaluation on if you have asthma or not. If they are still not sure, they may refer you to an asthma specialist for further testing.

If You Dont Have An Asthma Action Plan Create One

A Guideline to Understanding Asthma and Its Triggers  Swift Health ...

Since youll be talking to a health care professional about your medications, its also a great time to discuss an asthma action plan. As the CDC explains, an asthma action plan is typically divided into three sections depending on how bad your asthma is flaring with instructions on what to do in each scenario, like how much of which medication you should take. Heres more information on how to create an asthma action plan.

Dr. Chinthrajah adds that its also important to monitor your asthma especially closely right now so you can tell if your symptoms are getting worse. We need patients to become their own asthma detectives, she says. For example, if you know that it normally takes you a couple of minutes to get your breath back after walking up the stairs and are noticing that its taking longer to recover than usual, your asthma symptoms may be getting worse, in which case you should follow your action plan.

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When Should I Go To The Emergency Room

You should visit the ER if you have a severe attack that doesnt get better with a rescue inhaler or nebulizer treatment. In the event of a serious asthma attack, you wont be able to talk normally. You might not be able to walk normally, either. In some cases, youll notice your fingernails or lips are turning blue. All of these are signs of a life-threatening situation that needs immediate emergency care.

When To Seek Medical Help For An Asthmatic Reaction

Asthma attacks range from mild to severe. This is because the body has different responses to different allergens. Depending on how strongly the body reacts to the allergens, you may experience a simple allergic reaction, an asthma attack, or anaphylaxisa very dangerous reaction that can be deadly.

Heres how to tell which youre experiencing, and when to seek medical attention fast:

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When To Take Your Child To Er

It can be upsetting and worrying to see your child struggling to breathe due to asthma.

The key signs that you need to take your child to ER or call an ambulance include:

  • They are coughing and wheezing a lot
  • They are complaining that their chest hurts or feels tight some children may also say their tummy hurts
  • Theyre getting no relief from their reliever inhaler
  • Theyre having difficulty breathing
  • Theyre unable to walk or talk easily.

Try to keep your child as calm as possible and get them to sit up lying down will make things worse. If you are waiting for an ambulance to take you to hospital, get your child to use their reliever inhaler with their spacer. Take one puff every 30 to 60 seconds, up to a total of 10 puffs.

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First See If You Can Get A Prescription For Asthma Medication

Asthma Treatment, Symptoms, Pathophysiology, Nursing Interventions NCLEX Review Lecture

The most effective way for people with asthma to avoid the emergency room is by managing the condition with medication so it doesnt escalate to emergency status. Experts are even recommending stocking up on a three-month supply if you can. Even if its hard for you to get affordable asthma medication in normal times, it may be somewhat more accessible during the pandemic.

Health care professionals are doing their best right now to help make essential medications more accessible so we can keep people out of the E.R., Dr. Chinthrajah says. As Dr. Chinthrajah points out, in early April, the Food and Drug Administration approved a generic form of an inhaler to help make this in-demand medication easier for people to get.

So the first thing you need is a prescription for asthma medication. You may be able to get one online. The telemedicine service Galileo has waived its fees for people who need prescriptions in hard-hit COVID-19 areas like California, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington State.

You could also try calling a local pharmacy. Dr. Cohn explains that many pharmacists are more likely to refill a past prescription for asthma medication during the pandemic, or at least coordinate with a doctors office to make it happen. Everything is very different right now, she says.

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How Is Asthma Diagnosed

A full history, including family history and environmental history is advised. A full physical exam including lung auscultation is necessary. Lung function tests to see how air passes in and out of the lungs can give important information about your breathing and potential asthma diagnosis to your doctor.

Your testing results before and after administration of a bronchodilator medication can provide valuable information, as can a trial of an inhaler to see how you respond. Some of the names of lung tests include: spirometry, peak airflow, exhaled nitric oxide FeNO test or provocation test. X-Rays, allergy tests or a visit to a pulmonologist can also be necessary.

Asthma is often differentiated into 4 categories. These include:

  • Intermittent asthma: symptoms < 2 days/week and < 2 nights/month
  • Mild persistent asthma: symptoms 2 or more days/week and 3-4 nights/month
  • Moderate persistent asthma: symptoms occur daily and 1 or more nights/week
  • Severe persistent asthma: symptoms occur daily and nightly

When Do Asthma Attacks Require Medical Attention

There are some instances in which an asthma attack will not resolve on its own, with or without medication. One is called silent chest. Thats when there isnt even enough air moving through your lungs to cause wheezing.

In another very serious situation known as cyanosis, the patients lips can begin to turn a bluish shade. This is due to a lack of oxygen in the blood because of impaired breathing. This requires immediate care in the emergency room or from paramedics.

Do not hesitate to call 911 if an asthma patient shows either of these signs.

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What Are Symptoms Of Seasonal Allergies

If you have hay fever, seasonal allergy symptoms can feel a lot like symptoms of a cold. A tip for telling the difference is to note if you have a fever or body aches. Since allergies dont cause either of these symptoms, you probably have a cold.

Seasonal allergy symptoms can range from mild to severe. The most common seasonal allergy symptoms include:

  • Tight chest or pressure in the chest
  • Difficulty talking

Since seasonal allergies are typically inhaled, they can be particularly problematic for people with asthma. If you have asthma, its a good idea to have a rescue inhaler ready to use during allergy season.

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Ascertainment Of Asthma Cases

Asthma symptoms in children, adults, and more

We ascertained asthma status by using predetermined criteria for asthma listed in the publication by Molis et al.2 Therefore, ascertainment of asthma status was independent of the physician diagnosis of asthma. The details of how the criteria were applied were previously described by Molis et al.2 Previous asthma epidemiology research has also used these same criteria to define asthma and found this to be reliable.10,11

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Are You Suffering From Asthma Visit A Convenientmd Location In Nh Me Or Ma Today

Asthma can be extremely disruptive to daily life, and many people who experience regularly asthma attacks simply dont know where to turn. At ConvenientMD, we can help assess and treat acute asthma examinations. Were open seven days a week, so just stop into one of our clinics in Maine, New Hampshire or Massachusetts without ever needing an appointment.

Dont let asthma control your lifestop into any ConvenientMD location today to get treated.

How Is Asthma Treated

Treatment depends on the severity of your condition as well as what triggers your asthma. For instance, if you have allergy-induced asthma, the doctor will usually recommend an allergy medication along with a rescue inhaler.

On the other hand, some patients only require a rescue inhaler when attacks occur. You may be prescribed a nebulizer, which is usually used as needed.

If you have frequent symptoms or attacks, your physician may prescribe a long-term control medication, such as a corticosteroid, leukotriene modifier, or combination inhaler, in addition to a rescue inhaler.

Your doctor will also help you create an asthma action plan thatll help you evaluate your condition and determine the appropriate course of action when you have an attack.

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