Managing Asthma
Asthma cannot be cured but it can be controlled with proper medications and most asthmatics lead normal full lives.
How do you know if you are managing your asthma well?
Answer these four simple questions to find out.
How did you answer?
All 'no'
Great news! Your asthma is well controlled.
1 or 2 'Yes'
Partly controlled asthma.
Make sure you are using your preventer inhaler as prescribed and with the right technique.
3 or 4 'Yes'
Asthma not controlled.
You may be at risk of a severe asthma attack. Please make sure you are using the preventer inhaler correctly and speak to your doctor about how to improve your symptoms.
When your asthma is not well controlled, you may suffer from
Most asthma symptoms can be controlled with a preventer inhaler ( inhaled corticosteroids (ICS)), reducing symptoms significantly.
It takes a few weeks for preventer inhalers to reduce inflammation and symptoms. Because of this, some patients feel like they are not improving which leads them to stop using the inhaler and just rely on the blue inhaler as a "quick relief" when they experience symptoms.
Using a blue inhaler alone will not control asthma as it does not treat the underlying airway inflammation. If you are still experiencing significant asthma symptoms despite regular preventer inhaler use, please check whether:
- You are using your preventer inhaler regularly with the proper technique
- your spacer is more than one year old, which may mean it is not working properly and needs to be replaced
- your medication has expired
- there is a change in your environment ( e.g. new pets, cleaning agents, chemicals, dust or other allergens).
- you are taking new medications that can worsen your asthma symptoms, such as aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, painkillers or beta-blockers.
If you are concerned that your asthma is not well-controlled, please see your doctor.