Asthma

Overview

Asth­ma is a very com­mon chron­ic dis­ease that caus­es inflam­ma­tion and nar­row­ing of the bronchial tubes which allow air to come in and out of your lungs. If you are diag­nosed with asth­ma, your bronchial tubes are usu­al­ly inflamed, and dur­ing an asth­ma flare up these air­ways will get even more tight and swollen mak­ing it hard to breathe.

Trig­gers

There are many things that can trig­ger an asth­ma flare up, but some of the most com­mon trig­gers include:

• Aller­gies
• Tobac­co smoke
• Exer­cise
• Med­ica­tions
• Anx­i­ety and stress
• Viral bac­te­r­i­al infections
• Expo­sure to cold and/​or dry air
• Acid reflux

Symp­toms

The most com­mon symp­toms of asth­ma include:

• Reg­u­lar cough
• Short­ness of breath
• Whistling or wheez­ing sound when you breathe
• Chest tight­ness

Diag­nos­ing

To diag­nose asth­ma, you can meet with an aller­gist who will dive into your health his­to­ry look­ing for any con­sis­tent trig­gers and symp­toms to deter­mine if you have asth­ma. Your aller­gist may also ask you to take a chal­lenge test to deter­mine if you have asth­ma. For those suf­fer­ing from exer­cise-induced asth­ma, at select loca­tions, we are offer­ing a diag­no­sis exer­cise treadmill.

Man­age­ment and Treat­ment

There is no cure for asth­ma, but an aller­gist can help you devel­op a treat­ment plan to min­i­mize flare-ups and improve your qual­i­ty of life. They will iden­ti­fy trig­gers of your asth­ma and help you build a plan to avoid and man­age those trig­gers. An aller­gist may also pre­scribe med­ica­tion to help alle­vi­ate asth­ma symp­toms such as a neb­u­liz­er treat­ment. There are both quick-relief and long-term con­troller med­ica­tions available.