How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled? Asthma is a long-term disease that has no cure. The goal of asthma treatment is to control the disease. To control asthma, you need to partner with your doctor to manage your asthma or your childs asthma. Children aged 10 or older—and younger children who are able—should take an active role in their asthma care. This involves; • Working with your doctor to treat other conditions that can interfere with asthma management. • Avoiding things that worsen your asthma (asthma triggers as seen in the previous discussion). However, one trigger you should not avoid is physical activity which is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. • Working with your doctor and other health care providers to create and follow an asthma action plan. An asthma action plan gives guidance on taking your medicines properly, avoiding asthma triggers, tracking your level of asthma control, responding to worsening symptoms, and seeking emergency care when needed. • Medicines. Your doctor will consider many things when deciding which asthma medicines are best for you. He or she will check to see how well a medicine works for you. Then, he or she will adjust the dose or medicine as needed. Asthma medicines can be taken in pill form, but most are taken using a device called an inhaler. An inhaler allows the medicine to go directly to your lungs. Long-Term Control Medicines Most people who have asthma need to take long-term control medicines daily to help prevent symptoms. The most effective long-term medicines reduce airway inflammation, which helps prevent symptoms from starting. These medicines dont give you quick relief from symptoms. Inhaled corticosteroids. Inhaled corticosteroids are the preferred medicine for long-term control of asthma. Your doctor may have you add another long-term asthma control medicine so he or she can lower your dose of corticosteroids. Or, your doctor may suggest you take calcium and vitamin D pills to protect your bones. Quick relief medicines. All people who have asthma need quick-relief medicines to help relieve asthma symptoms that may flare up. Inhaled short-acting beta2 agonists are the first choice for quick relief. These medicines act quickly to relax tight muscles around your airways when youre having a flareup. This allows the airways to open up so air can flow through them. Track Your Asthma To track your asthma, keep records of your symptoms, check your peak flow number using a peak flow meter, and get regular asthma checkups. You can record your asthma symptoms in a diary to see how well your treatments are controlling your asthma. You can dial 0417747000 at normal call rates to consult our doctors and pharmacists
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 07:12:06 +0000
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