Asthma Treatment: Asthma Management

 

Asthma is an incurable disease, but it can be controlled with proper medication and management.

Controlling your environment is the first step in asthma management. Cleaning the house would be one way of controlling our environment, always remember to wear a mask if you’re cleaning by yourself. We can also avoid pets that have fur and feathers. Another means would be washing the sheets, pillow cases, and mattress pads every week using hot water. Another way to minimize asthma attacks is by avoiding the use of carpets on your floors. And in addition to the use of air conditioning, keeping the house’s humidity level low can be a very big help.

Monitoring lung function using a peak flow meter to gauge your lung capacity is the second step for asthma management. Lung function decreases usually about two to three days before an attack actually occurs. Asthma attack can be detected by using the peak flow meter if the meter indicates that peak flow is down by 20% or more from your normal efforts.

Medication is the third step in managing asthma. For asthma control, bronchodilators and corticosteroids are the two major groups of medications.

Anti inflammatory drugs minimizes the number of inflammatory cells in the airways and stop blood vessels from excreting fluid into the airway tissues. It reduces the spontaneous spasm of the airway muscle by subsiding the inflammation. It is also used as a preventive measure to lessen the risk of heightened asthma attacks.

A class of anti-inflammatory drugs called leukotriene inhibitors such as zafirlukast (Accolate) and zileuton (Zyflo) are taken orally and work by inhibiting fatty acids that mediate inflammation (leukotriene) from binding to smooth muscle cells in the lining of the airways. These drugs are intended for long-term use, because they prevent rather than reduce the symptoms of asthma.

Anti-inflammatory drugs are also available such as cromolyn sodium (Intal) and neudocromil (Tilade) for inhalation. However Corticosteroids for asthma medications can be taken either inhaled via metered dose inhaler (MDI) or orally.

Bronchodilators work by easing the flow of gasses to and from the lungs by increasing the diameter of the air passages. There are basically two types of bronchodilators – short-acting and long-acting. Short-acting bronchodilators are inhaled and used to relieve symptoms during heightened asthma attacks. While long-acting bronchodilators are sometimes used to control symptoms in special circumstances, such as during sleep or when intensive exposure to a particular trigger can be predicted.

These are just a few of the many ways and steps you can take in order to minimize, prevent and eventually have better control over asthma. Though, it always be advisable to ask your doctor for appropriate measures to take.

Johnson Star was an asthma sufferer for the past 20 years. For more detailed instructions and help on asthma treatment, be sure to visit http://www.17minasthmaandallergysecrets.com/, and get your FREE 10-day mini-ecourse right now.

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