Asthma Management

Asthma can be managed and controlled in most people with a combination of a healthy lifestyle, medications and a good relationship with your doctor. The main components of Asthma Management are:

Medications and monitoring devices -including:

• Relievers - Short-acting reliever medications relax the smooth muscle in the airways, which open up the airways and assists breathing. Frequent use may indicate uncontrolled asthma.
  
• Preventers - Inhaled corticosteroid medications reduce asthma attacks by reducing swelling and irritation in the airways.
  
• Symptom Controllers - These long-acting relievers also relax the muscles of the airways. They take longer to take effect. But last about 12 hours - twice as long as the short-acting relievers.
  
• Devices - The aim is to get the medication quickly in the lungs. These include Puffers or metered dose inhalers, Spacers, Dry powder inhalers and Nebulisers.

Exercise - on a regular basis can help you keep healthy and may help with your asthma control. Swimming and walking are less likely to cause exercise-induced asthma. As obesity is linked to poor asthma management, exercise is also important for weight control.

Avoiding triggers - it is important to recognise what triggers your asthma symptoms. If you are not sure what triggers your symptoms, spend some time thinking about where you were and what you ate and try to identify possible causes. Some triggers, such as food allergies in people will be very obvious. Others may require further investigation by your doctor or specialist. Be aware of your environment. Is there excess dust, pollen, animals, chemicals, smoke?

An asthma management plan and regular asthma check-ups - To assist with managing your asthma, it is useful to have an asthma management plan so that information about your asthma is recorded, monitored and reviewed. This is created between you and your doctor. It helps you determine what to do to stay healthy and what to do when your asthma is unstable and you need assistance. In order to understand your condition and treatment, good asthma management education by doctors and others in asthma care is important to successfully manage your asthma between doctor visits.

The Asthma management plan should include:

• How to care for day-to-day asthma (listing your regular medications and how many times each day you should take them).
  
• Key identifiers of an impending asthma attack and the steps you need to take to manage it.
  
• What to do if your symptoms increase.
  
• When and how to increase medications.
  
• Emergency information on what to do if you have an asthma attack.
  
• When to seek urgent medical help.

As there is no 'standard' Asthma Management Plan, your plan needs to be written to deal with your individual triggers, signs and symptoms, and medications. Your plan might be based on symptoms, peak flow readings or both.

Have your management plan reviewed every six months or after a severe asthma attack.