If you suffer from asthma, you know that this chronic condition can limit your freedom and happiness. Medication and coping strategies can help you manage your asthma symptoms effectively. Read on to learn some coping strategies for asthmatics.
Do you know what type of asthma you have? Learning about your type of asthma will help you to deal with it. For example, if your asthma is brought on by bronchitis, you should keep your rescue inhaler with you during times when you are sick. If you are familiar with your symptoms and their patterns, you will be better able to avoid emergencies.
Second hand smoke can cause asthma to develop in children, and can trigger an asthma attack if they already suffer from asthma. There’s a long list of environmental asthma triggers, and secondhand smoke is at the top of it. Try to keep your children out of environments that are smokey to ensure the health of their lungs.
If you have an asthmatic child, do not allow anyone to smoke around him. One of the primary causes of asthma is secondhand smoke. You should never put your children in a situation where they are exposed to people who are smoking.
Be aware of certain medications that can lead to asthma problems. Some of these include aspirin and NSAIDs. Common medications used for controlling high blood pressure often times contain beta blockers, which asthmatics may be more sensitive to. If you suffer from asthma, be sure that your medical professional is aware of this.
If you are prone to asthma attacks, avoid any cigarette or other tobacco smoke. Do not smoke yourself, either! Air pollution and fumes from harsh chemicals also increase asthma symptoms. Inhaling these substances may trigger an unstoppable asthma attack. If people are smoking around you, remove yourself from that area quickly.
If you are suffering from a mild or moderate asthma attack, expel all the air from your lungs. Breathe out aggressively, as hard as you can. Really force that air out of your lungs! After that, take in three shallow breaths and one deep breath. Once your lungs are full again, do another forceful exhale. This gives your breathing a rhythm, which makes you aware of how many breaths you take. This technique also forces the air from your lungs to enable more air to come in. You might start coughing, and some sputum may come up, but this is no problem and your focus is to get back into a relaxed, rythmic breathing pattern again.
Make sure if you have an inhaler that you are using it the right way. Get to a place out of the way, and read the directions before starting. The inhaler will only work if the medicine reaches your lungs. You need to inhale air while spraying the requisite dosage in your mouth. Then hold it and try not to breathe for a minimum of 10 seconds. This will give enough time for the medication to properly fill out your lungs.
Like this article has said, if you don’t keep up with your symptoms, asthma can become life threatening. To always protect yourself, make sure you have an emergency inhaler on you at all times, and watch for allergens or excessive air pollution. Use what you’ve learned in this article to control your asthma, and stop it from keeping you from living life to it’s fullest!
If you have asthma and do not have health insurance, you should consider seeing a social worker. You must have the ability to afford your medication, so a social worker might be able to locate a hospital or clinic that can offer them at little cost or free.