Caring for Adult Asthma
What is asthma?
In people with asthma, the airways that carry air in and out of the lungs can become swollen and irritated, making it harder to breathe. This is called an asthma attack. An asthma attack can happen when there are certain things in the air, such as dust or tobacco smoke. This can also happen during or after exercise. Sometimes it's not clear what causes an asthma attack.
How do I know if I have asthma?
Asthma usually begins in childhood, and most adults who have it grew up with it. But it also is possible for adults to develop asthma too. If you and your doctor think you may have asthma, a lung function test can be done to see how well air moves in and out of your lungs.
Some of the signs of asthma include:
- Coughing a lot, especially in the early mornings and at night
- A whistling or squeaking sound (called wheezing) when you breathe
- Pain in your chest, like it is being squeezed too tight
- Trouble breathing, also called shortness of breath
How do I know if I am getting quality asthma care?
High quality asthma care is when you and your doctor work together to manage your asthma. You and your doctor can do several things to manage your asthma, including:
- Find out what usually triggers your asthma attacks. Your doctor can perform tests to help with this, and you can keep notes and tell the doctor about the things you notice about your attacks.
- Use the right asthma medicines, including medicine that you take only when attacks happen and long-term medicine to help keep attacks from happening. The quality measures on this website look at if people with asthma fill their asthma medicine prescription.
- Make sure you take all asthma medicines in the right way and at the right times, and that you take your long-term medicine even when you feel well.
- Meet with your doctor regularly.
- Create an adult asthma action plan (see below) to help manage your asthma.
What is an asthma action plan?
An asthma action plan is something you and your doctor create together. The plan lists your asthma medicines and gives directions about how and when to take them, and tells you and others around you how to seek emergency care, if needed.
Here are some questions to ask your doctor if you are concerned about asthma:
- How do I know if I have asthma?
- What tests can we do to find out if I have asthma?
- What tests can we do to find out what triggers my asthma?
- What medicine should I take when I have an asthma attack?
- What medicine should I take to keep asthma attacks from happening?
- How, when, and how long should I take each of these medicines?
- Can we create an asthma action plan?
- What other things can I do to stay healthy?
- When and how often should I see you about my asthma?