subject: Your Asthma Can Be Controlled: Expect Nothing Less [print this page] This pamphlet was originally designed as a workbook, with checklists and sections to be filled out. To this end, we have created worksheets for various sections that can be printed out individually, filled out, brought to the doctor's office, and used in your daily activities to help you understand and control your asthma. This document can also be read straight through just for information.
"Almost all asthma patients can become free of symptoms with proper treatment. Patients and their families should expect nothing less."
This is a common and true statement made by many who treat asthma patients.
This booklet will help you work with your doctor to become free of symptoms. How? By helping you learn what questions to ask and what information to share with your doctor. This is basic information all people with asthma can use. Read on to learn:
What to expect from asthma treatment
How you and your doctor can control your asthma
How to work with your doctor
Patients and their families can control asthma.
What to Expect From Your Asthma Treatment--The Goals
No symptoms or minor symptoms of asthma (symptoms include wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness)
Sleeping through the night without asthma symptoms
No time off from school or work due to asthma
Full participation in physical activities
No emergency room visits or stays in the hospital
Little or no side effects from asthma medicine
Do not accept having symptoms as normal.
Goal: Full participation in physical activities.
Are You Meeting the Asthma Treatment Goals?
Go to the worksheet, print it out, and put a check mark next to each goal that you are meeting. Tell your doctor which goals you are meeting and which you are not. Do this at every visit.
All these goals can be met with long-term treatment. You need to work with your doctor to achieve every goal.
If you are not meeting a goal, your treatment may simply need to be changed. Your doctor may ask for help from a specialist to achieve your goals. Ask about this.
Goal: No time off from work or school due to asthma.
How Your Asthma Can Be Controlled
Asthma is a chronic disease. It can be controlled with proper, long-term treatment. But it cannot be cured. People with asthma have --
Airways that react to certain things called triggers -- things like smoke or dust
Airways that sometimes become narrow and blocked. This causes wheezing, coughing, or trouble breathing
Airways that become inflamed and swollen.
Each of these features of asthma can be prevented or treated by: Staying away from your triggers or controlling them Taking medicine that opens your airways Getting treatment for the inflammation Treating inflammation is very important in the control of moderate to severe asthma. This may mean the daily use of such medicines as cromolyn sodium or inhaled steroids. Both of these medicines are safe to take. by: umar
