Preventing An Asthma Attack
If youve already received a diagnosis of asthma before this asthma attack, your asthma doctor should have prescribed you a quick-relief inhaler, allergy medication, and long-term asthma medications that may include beta-agonists, corticosteroids, and leukotriene modifiers. These, if taken properly , are great at preventing the need for emergency care. However, if you still had a bad flare-up, that means you were either exposed to your asthma trigger or arent taking your medications correctly.
If you have had an asthma attack but have never been diagnosed previously, be sure to partner with an experienced pulmonologist or asthma doctor as soon as possible to avoid future attacks. The asthma doctor will make a detailed treatment plan and give you some instructions on how to avoid future attacks. You will also be informed of the triggers you must avoid in order to prevent future asthma attacks.
What Are The Signs Of An Asthma Flare
Asthma flare-ups can vary in strength and length. They can happen without warning, causing sudden coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing.
Flare-ups should be treated right away. So it’s important to know their early warning signs, including:
- restless sleep or coughing that prevents sleep
- mild chest tightness or wheezing
- shortness of breath
If the flare-up is severe, a kid might:
- struggle to breathe or have fast breathing even when sitting still
- be unable to speak more than a few words at a time without pausing
- have retractions while breathing in
Because they can be life-threatening, flare-ups demand attention. Your child might need to take quick-relief medicine , visit the doctor, or even go to the hospital.
Following the instructions in your child’s asthma action plan can help you know what to do when a flare-up happens.
How Do Healthcare Providers Diagnose Asthma
Your healthcare provider will review your medical history, including information about your parents and siblings. Your provider will also ask you about your symptoms. Your provider will need to know any history of allergies, eczema and other lung diseases.
Your healthcare provider may order a chest X-ray, blood test or skin test. Your provider may order spirometry. This test measures airflow through your lungs.
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Planning Your Eczema Diet
An eczema diet does not consist of any particular food groups, and no single diet plan is known to be a cure. The purpose of an eczema diet is to replace foods that cause irritation with foods that fight inflammation and reduce eczema symptoms.
Some studies show that certain food groups are more likely to relieve eczema than others. In one study, people with eczema were asked which foods, drinks, or supplements improved their eczema symptoms most. They said:
- Drinking more water
What You Can Do For An Asthma Attack
If you, your child, or someone around you has trouble breathing, chest tightness, or other severe asthma-like symptoms, call 911 immediately. The emergency responders will provide the person with breathing assistance, and they will bring the person to the emergency room where their condition will be evaluated and treated.
While you wait for the ambulance to arrive, follow the following steps to manage the asthma attack:
- Try to remain calm, and sit up straight .
- Shake the puffer, put one puff in the spacer, and take 4 breaths from the spacer. Make sure to take one puff every 30 to 60 seconds. Take a total of 10 puffs, and wait for symptoms to disappear.
- If after 15 minutes the symptoms get worse or do not improve with the first 10 puffs, and emergency help has not arrived yet, take another 10 puffs in the same way.
After receiving emergency care, its important to see a pulmonary specialist.
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What To Do When You Have An Asthma Flare
Keeping your asthma under control and knowing what to do when you have a flare-up of symptoms are essential to avoiding lasting effects. You need to know the signs that your condition is worsening, and you need to know how to treat your asthma if the situation does get worse. Using preventive measures works best for calming your symptoms. Heres how to know when youre experiencing increasing symptoms and what to do when you have an asthma flare-up.
Whats An Asthma Flare
An asthma flare-up is when asthma symptoms get worse, making someone wheeze, cough, or be short of breath. An asthma flare-up can happen even when asthma is controlled.
Asthma flare-ups are also called asthma attacks or exacerbations.
Triggers like allergies, respiratory infections , cigarette smoke, exercise, or even cold air can cause a flare-up and make asthma symptoms worse.
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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.
There Are Ways To Prevent Asthma Flare
If you have asthma, your doctor can help you identify and avoid the triggers that cause your flare-ups. Apart from avoiding these triggers and taking your medication as your doctor instructs, there are other ways to prevent flare-ups from happening, which include:
- Get vaccinated.Diseases such as pneumonia and the flu can trigger asthma. Getting vaccinated can lower your odds of contracting one of them. In addition, the coronavirus vaccine is considered safe for people with asthma and is currently recommended to protect asthmatics from exacerbations due to the disease.
- Learn to monitor your breathing. Using a peak airflow meter at home can help you spot signs of an attack before it starts. This can give you time to take your medication or calm yourself down before a full-blown asthma attack
- Spot warning signs. A slight cough, problems breathing at night, and increased need to use an inhaler are all warning signs of an impending asthma attack. Keep an eye out for these, and let your doctor know if you think an attack is imminent.
- Practice mindful breathing. Stress and anxiety can be asthma triggers. Learning to manage these mental states with calming breathing techniques can help you avoid an attack.
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What To Do When Your Asthma Flares Up
When it comes to asthma, you might have a lot of questions on your mind including What are asthma flare ups?, What causes asthma flare ups?, What to do when your asthma flares up?, Can asthma flare up during pregnancy? and Can stress cause asthma flare ups.
In this article, we provide you with some practical tips on what to do if your asthma is acting up as well as some questions that we get asked frequently about asthma flare ups.
Pulmonary Specialist In Weatherford Tx
The best way to prevent an asthma flare-up is to take preventive medications. So, if you or your loved one is sometimes wheezing, having trouble breathing, or experiencing other asthma-like symptoms, visit our pulmonary specialists at the Lung & Sleep Specialists of North Texas.
Our lung doctors are highly experienced and skilled at treating pulmonary conditions, including asthma. We will guide you on how to prevent an asthma attack from happening, and how to manage an attack before it gets worse.
If you would like to make an appointment with a pulmonary specialist, call our friendly staff today at or request an appointment via our online form now. We look forward to helping you keep your asthma symptoms at bay!
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How Do I Know If My Asthma Is Severe
The symptoms of a severe asthma attack can include:
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Asthma Symptoms In A Severe Allergic Reaction
People having a severe allergic reaction can also have asthma-like symptoms. If the person has an anaphylaxis action plan, follow the instructions.
Always give adrenaline injector first, then asthma reliever if someone with known asthma and allergy to food, insects or medication has sudden breathing difficulty even if there are no skin symptoms. In case of an emergency, call triple zero and ask for an ambulance.
Asthma: 10 Common Questions Answered
For most parents and kids, spring means sunny warm weather, outdoor sports and more outside playtime. For many others, spring also means more asthma flare-ups more time outside means more exposure to asthma triggers, and more sports means more exercise-induced asthma.
Although childhood asthma is common, many people really dont know much about it. So we thought wed answer some common questions about what asthma is and how its treated.
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How Long Does Asthma Flare Up Last
When a person has asthma, the goal is to help control their attacks so that they are infrequent or do not occur at all. Or it becomes less severe over time. In life-threatening cases, the patient may need a breathing tube placed in the large how long does asthma flare up last and artificial ventilation. Dont get me wrong, Im grateful for the medical care I receive when Im in the hospital, but if you think about it, all they really do for you in the hospital, is stabilize you enough so that hopefully you wont die. A variety of environmental asthma triggers have been identified. Mayo Clinic Healthy Living, and the triple-shield Mayo Clinic logo are trademarks of Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Ipratropium causes smooth muscle or airway relaxation to help a person breathe more easily.
Can You Predict A Flare
You can predict some flare-ups, but it might take a bit of detective work.
Some flare-ups happen suddenly, after a person is exposed to a trigger like being around someone who is smoking. Flare-ups also happen when problems in the airways build up over time. That can happen when a persons asthma is not well controlled.
Flare-ups need to be treated at their earliest stages. So its important to know early warning signs .
Clues that a flare-up might happen are different for everyone. They might even be different with each asthma flare-up.
Early warning signs include:
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What To Do If Youre Having An Attack
Weve previously discussed what to do if youre having an asthma attack without your inhaler. Now lets talk about what to do if youre experiencing an asthma attack and do have your inhaler.
If youre having an asthma attack, take the following steps:
Its also important to see your doctor after an asthma attack, even if you feel better. Its possible that your asthma medications or asthma action plan may need to be adjusted. This can help to reduce your chances of having another asthma attack in the future.
Case : When You Are Unable To Keep Your Typical Exercise Routine
With your asthma getting worse, if you do need to use your inhaler more frequently and you chest feels tight more often when you are doing physical exercise such as walking around the block or climbing the stairs, have a discussion about this with your doctor. There is a chance that your existing medications need a change so you are in a better position to control your asthma flare ups.
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How Centric Healthcare Can Help
Asthma attacks can be particularly worrisome for seniors who have a variety of medical conditions. Frequent attacks can exacerbate some conditions and diminish the overall quality of life. Among the services we offer is medication therapy management. As an essential component of home health care medication therapy management can ensure that you or your loved one will have the proper dosage of medication to control asthma episodes. Our trained staff can recognize changes in health that require a doctors evaluation. These services can bring you peace of mind, knowing that your needs are being thoroughly monitored. We can also customize home senior care services that will meet your needs.
Contact Central Healthcare today to learn more about how we can help manage asthma or provide you with other home health services.
If You Dont Have Asthma You May Be Able To Lower Your Risk For Developing It In The Future
Obesity is a major risk factor for adult-onset asthma, which is a type that develops after childhood. Maintaining a healthy weight by eating a nutritious diet and regularly exercising could lower your risk for developing asthma later on.
Breathing in irritants or allergens like tobacco smoke, mold, chemicals, pesticides, or other types of air pollution could also trigger asthma. Avoid these whenever possible.
Asthma has been on the rise for a number of years, and air pollution is one hypothesis as to why, says Emily Pennington, MD, a pulmonologist and asthma specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. But the precise underlying drivers of asthma formation remain mysterious.
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The Sun Sweat And Sunscreen
You can be out in the sun, but your skin may not like getting hot and sweaty. If so, stay cool and seek out shade. Always wear sunscreen. Sunburns inflame your skin and can lead to an eczema flare. If youre sensitive to sunscreens, block out burning rays with mineral versions, like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Sunscreens made for the face may also give you gentle protection.
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What Happens During A Flare
Children with asthma have severe episodes or flare-ups when the air passages in their lungs become narrower. This makes it harder to breathe. Sensitive airways react to certain things called triggers. Triggers can cause:
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The lining of the airways to become more inflamed and swollen
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Tightening of the muscles that surround the airways
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More mucus production
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Less air movement through the lungs
Your child may have the following symptoms of a flare-up:
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It may become harder to breathe. Your child may start breathing faster than normal. They may use muscles that they normally don’t use to breathe. This will make it look like the area under or between the ribs is sucking in or the belly is sticking out.
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Chest tightness
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Wheezing or whistling when breathing out. Wheezing may not happen with very severe flare-ups.
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Symptoms that wake your child or keep them from sleeping
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Trouble walking or talking
Make sure you know what to do if your child’s symptoms get worse. Always have his or her asthma medicines and asthma action plan available to use in case of a flare-up. If your child does not get treatment right away during a flare-up, they could stop breathing, or even die.
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What Is An Asthma Flare
During an asthma flare-up, asthma symptoms get worse. You may have only one or two symptoms, or you might have several. Circadian rhythms can also alter hormone secretion, which is why some healthcare experts theorize that asthma gets worse at night in some people.
Another sign that youre experiencing an asthma flare-up is that your inhaler isnt working as well as it usually does. You might notice that you need to take more quick-relief asthma medication than usual.
Peak expiratory flow is the best way to assess the seriousness of asthma flare-up. With a peak flow meter, you can measure how well your lungs are functioning and monitor your asthma symptoms. In order for a peak flow meter to be useful during an asthma flare, you need to know what your recommended normal range is. Talk with your healthcare provider about how to determine this.