There are few things in life that are as horrifying as not being able to breathe during an asthma attack. Learning the following tips will help you to lessen the number of occurrences of attacks that you or your loved one suffers from. Read through each tip and piece of advice carefully.
A good tip that can help you if your child has asthma is to do everything you can to educate your child about asthma. Young children have no idea what asthma is or how it affects them, so it’s your job to inform them and to help them work through it.
Bronchodilators are a common treatment for asthma that is prescribed by a doctor. It is usually in the form of an inhaler, and there are short and long-acting treatments. The short-term will help with an immediate symptom, while the long-acting dose will be for ongoing problems.
If you are having trouble dealing with asthma, a leukotriene inhibitor might be of good use. There are modern medicines that are highly effective at blocking leukotrienes. Leukotriene is a substance that may cause inflammation. This can make a person have an asthma attack. If you get a leukotriene inhibitor, it can get rid of them in the air and help you with asthma symptoms.
If you feel that your asthma symptoms are getting worse, try drinking a cup of hot coffee. Not only will the warmth relieve some of your symptoms, the caffeine can open up your airways and reduce the urge to cough. If you don’t like coffee, try tea, hot chocolate, or a chocolate bar.
If you find yourself using your emergency inhalers more than two times a week, you might want to consider changing asthma medication. Certain medications work better or worse for different people, so you shouldn’t just stick with the first one you try. If you feel that your symptoms aren’t getting better, ask your doctor about trying another medication.
If you suffer asthma and you are overweight or obese, you may want to consider losing weight. Being overweight decreases lung function and increases the chance of you developing asthma symptoms. Also, be sure that you drink plenty of water, since keeping hydrated is very important for controlling asthma symptoms and attacks.
Think about buying a dehumidifier if your asthma symptoms are bad. Lowering humidity will reduce the amount of dust mites in your home, and help your asthma improve. A dehumidifier makes the air in your home dry by keeping humidity to a minimum.
Pay attention to your attack triggers. If you know what is likely to trigger your attacks, such as smoke, animals, or pollen, then you can make a better effort to avoid them. Asthma triggers are different for everyone. Unfortunately, the only real way to know what will trigger an attack is to have one, and then remember what happened.
Now that you have learned some great ways to deal with asthma, you are sure to find a little peace of mind in knowing that you have information that will help the situation. Utilize these tips in your everyday life and you are on your way to a sigh of relief instead of a gasp for air.