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By postAsthma Clinic
This weekly clinic is run by Sister Houghton on Tuesday afternoons. It aims to help people with asthma learn more about the condition and recognise personal triggers so that they can maintain the best possible health.
What is asthma?
Asthma is a condition that affects the airways – the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. If you have asthma your airways are almost always sensitive and inflamed. When you come in to contact with something you are allergic to, or something that irritates your airways (a trigger), your airways will become narrower, making it harder to breathe.
What does it feel like?
The usual symptoms of someone with asthma are:
- Coughing
- Wheezing or a whistling noise in the chest
- Getting short of breath
- A tight feeling in the chest
Not everybody will get all these symptoms. Some people experience them from time to time; a few people may experience these symptoms all the time. Many people have these symptoms but do not have asthma!
Diagnosing asthma
It is important that your doctor confirms the diagnosis of asthma before any asthma treatment starts. There are several tests that your doctor can do to make sure the diagnosis is right.
These tests include:
- Peak flow measurements that are taken over a period of time, both when you have symptoms and when you are symptom-free (see more about peak flow measurements)
- Reversibility tests that measure peak flow recordings before and after a dose of reliever to see if it has improved your lung capacity, or before and after two to three weeks' treatment with inhaled steroids or steroid tablets
- Exercise tests to see if exercise makes your symptoms worse
Your doctor will also ask you how long you have had asthma symptoms, how often you have them and how they affect your life. S/he will then be able to provide the most appropriate advice and treatment about how to control your symptoms.
Asthma treatments
A key element in controlling the condition is becoming familiar with your personal triggers so that you can avoid them as far as possible (see 'Why did I get asthma?'). There are some very safe and effective asthma treatments available that can help to control your symptoms. The two main kinds of asthma treatment your doctor may prescribe for you are called 'relievers' and 'preventers'.
Relievers
Everyone with asthma should have a reliever inhaler. Relievers are treatments taken to relieve asthma symptoms. They quickly relax the muscles surrounding the narrowed airways (within 5-10 minutes), making it easier to breathe again. Reliever inhalers are usually blue.
If you need to use your reliever inhaler more than once in any day, or more than 3-4 times a week, you will need an additional preventer treatment to keep your asthma symptoms under control. This is because relievers do not reduce the inflammation and swelling in the airways.
Preventers
Preventers help to control swelling and inflammation in the airways. They also stop the airways from being so sensitive to asthma triggers. The protective effect of preventer treatments builds up over a period of time, so it is important that you take them every day, even if you are feeling well. Preventer inhalers are usually brown, red or orange.
If you take your preventer treatment regularly (as prescribed by your doctor), you will improve your long-term chances of controlling your asthma and reduce the likelihood of permanently damaging your airways.
Steroid Tablets
Sometimes, when your asthma is first diagnosed, or if you have had a bad asthma attack, your doctor may give you a short course of a tablet form of preventer treatment (steroids). These tablets will help you to gain control of your symptoms quickly.
Why did I get asthma?
Asthma can start at any age. Some people get symptoms during childhood which then disappear in later life. Others develop 'late-onset' asthma in adulthood, without ever having had symptoms as a child. It is difficult to say for sure what causes asthma, but so far we know that:
- asthma can be inherited (like the related allergic conditions eczema
and hay fever).
- many aspects of modern lifestyles – such as changes in housing and diet and a more hygienic environment – may have contributed to the rise in asthma over the last few decades.
- smoking during pregnancy increases the chance of a child developing asthma.
- environmental pollution can make asthma symptoms worse but has not been proven to actually cause asthma.
- late-onset asthma may develop after a viral infection.
- irritants found in the workplace may lead to a person developing asthma.
