Life as a Medical Anomaly Part 8

Asthma has many different causes, these causes maybe harmless to a few, but could be a major inflammation in others.  Asthmatics can deal with little to no identifiable causes to a variety of causes. Handling asthma attacks by lessening the amount one experiences, depends mostly on avoiding the specific causes of asthma that have been identified.  It is important to keep a record of what triggers your asthma as this will help give you an overall cause for the asthma.

            Handling asthma is no easy feat.  It is important no matter the circumstance to find a way to handle your asthma, along with the medication for it, to write down as a journal everything that seems to cause it, and be sure to talk about all these things to your primary care doctor or lung specialist.  It is important that even if you don’t feel you have allergies or allergy induced asthma that it is good to get an allergy testing done, you never know when those things might trigger an asthma attack at a later date.  There are many different types of asthma, some are related to the triggers that can cause asthma, and these types are:  allergy induced, exercise induced cough variant, occupational asthma, bronchil, and nocturnal asthma. 

            There are many different treatments that you can look into when you are dealing with asthma, or know someone with asthma including:  steroids, inhalers, nebulizers, bronchodilators, and prednisone.  There are other non-medical ways that you can use to help treat your asthma including:  drinking tea, using herbs, air purifiers, and humidifiers to name a few.  Asthma has become a common disease, but it is still a very serious breathing problem that requires a person to get a proper medical diagnoses, and a treatment that works for that individual person. 

            Steroids, which can be in the use of a pill or in an inhaler, is used for preventative measures to lessen the amount of asthma attacks from your personal triggers.  Albuterol, the common term for broncholiators, is a fast action inhaler used when you are having an asthma attack.  Albuterol lasts only for a few hours and it is important to note how much you are using in a period of time.  If you are having to use the albuterol more than a few times a week your asthma isn’t controlled and it is important to contact your doctor. 

Inhalers, which can be everything from Qvar, Symbicort, Flovent, and others, are used to get the drugs through your system into your lungs.  These are used as a preventative to help lessen the amount of asthma attacks and to help strengthen your lungs.  Nebulizers are normally used for emergency situations, but they can be used on a normal basis to get the medication into your lungs.  People are usually given at home nebulizers if they have moderate to severe asthma, and been to urgent care several times due to bronchitis and upper respiratory infections.   Prednisone, which is used for bronchitis and upper respiratory infections, are used very rarely for it can have negative effects for the long term, but great to be used for the short term to clear out your lungs. 

When you are having problems controlling your asthma and the current treatment is not working for you than you should seek out your primary doctor or lung specialist.  Primary doctors will commonly refer you to a lung specialist if your asthma has been difficult to control.  It is important to have good communication with the doctor that is treating your asthma, having a doctor that will listen to you, and pay attention to the concerns you have with asthma.  Treatment for asthma is something that you must be invested in personally and it is important to know the different treatment options when communicating with doctors on what has and hasn’t worked.