By Priceline Pharmacy, Ulverstone
Asthma causes the muscles in the airways to tighten, and the lining of the airway becomes swollen and inflamed, producing sticky mucous. These changes cause the airways to become narrow, making it difficult to breathe.
Asthma can be triggered by a range of factors such as pollen, house dust mites, cigarette smoke, exercise, or associated with a common cold.
Asthma cannot be cured, but with good management, people with asthma can lead normal, active lives. A range of programs and services are available to support people with asthma.
Typical asthma symptoms include wheezing, shortness of breath, a tight feeling in the chest, and coughing. These symptoms are often worse at night, in the early morning or during exercise. Triggers for asthma symptoms vary for different people. Some common triggers are allergens, cigarette smoke, colds and flu, cold air or changes in the weather, work-related triggers (eg wood dust, chemicals, metal salts), exercise, and some medication.
In addition, asthma can also be triggered by a combination of high grass pollen levels and a certain type of thunderstorm, causing many people to develop asthma symptoms over a short period of time. This is known as thunderstorm asthma.
There is no single test for asthma. Doctors make the diagnosis of asthma when a person has breathing symptoms typical of asthma that come and go, and there is also evidence that sometimes air does not flow in and out of their lungs normally. How well the lungs work (lung function) is tested using a spirometer machine.
Asthma can be well controlled with the appropriate medication in most people. The main types of medications used to control asthma are relievers (that act quickly to relax the muscles around the airways; used during an asthma attack), preventers (slowly make the airways less sensitive to triggers and reduce inflammation inside the airways; taken daily to help keep you well), combination therapies (preventers containing 2 or 3 different medicines), and add-on medications (help manage severe asthma; includes monoclonal antibodies).
Your GP will prescribe the correct medication and explain how to use it. For good asthma management, it is important that you see your GP for regular check-ups and work together to manage your asthma, understand what triggers your asthma, use your medications as instructed by your GP (even when you feel well), make sure you are using your inhaler correctly, including using a spacer and mask where required, and follow your written asthma action plan. Ask your GP for a personal written asthma action plan. As well as being a reminder of your usual treatment, an action plan helps you to recognise worsening asthma and tells you what to do in response.
An asthma attack can come on gradually (for example, if a person gets a cold) or quite quickly (for example, if a person inhales something they are allergic to, such as pollen). The symptoms to look out for include increased wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing, needing to use a reliever again within 3 hours of last taking it, unable to talk in full sentences, and/or waking often at night with asthma symptoms. An asthma attack can become life threatening if not treated properly, even in someone whose asthma is usually mild or well controlled.
In an emergency, always call triple zero (000) and ask for an ambulance. Tell the operator that someone is having an asthma attack. The signs of an asthma emergency include when the person finds it very difficult to breathe, is unable to speak in sentences or only speaks one or 2 words per breath, has lips that are turning blue, has symptoms that get worse very quickly, and/or is getting little or no relief from their reliever inhaler.
While waiting for the ambulance, continue to follow the 4 steps of asthma first aid.
Step 1: Sit the person upright (be calm and reassuring and do not leave them alone).
Step 2: Give 4 separate puffs of blue/grey reliever puffer (by putting 1 puff into the spacer and get the person to take 4 breaths from the spacer). Repeat until 4 puffs have been taken. (If you don’t have a spacer, give 1 puff as they take 1 slow, deep breath and hold breath for as long as comfortable. Repeat until all puffs are taken.) Remember: Shake, 1 puff, 4 breaths.
Step 3: Wait for 4 minutes. If there is no improvement, give 4 more separate puffs of blue/grey reliever, as with Step 2.
Step 4: Keep giving the person 4 separate puffs, taking 4 breaths for each puff, every 4 minutes until emergency assistance arrives.