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Sign Up Now ForAdult Asthma: Your guide to breathing easier
Asthma isn’t just for children. Many adults have lived with asthma for years, while others have only recently been diagnosed. Adult Asthma is a Special Health Report prepared specifically for the often-neglected adult asthma community. If you have had asthma since childhood, the advances in medical understanding and treatment of this disorder may surprise you and inspire you to make adjustments in your care. And if you have only recently been diagnosed, or are trying to manage asthma in addition to other medical conditions such as heart disease, this report will provide practical advice and suggestions.
Prepared by the editors of Harvard Health Publications in consultation with Christopher H. Fanta, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Director of the Partners Asthma Center. 50 pages. (2007)
- What is asthma?
- Twitchy airways
- How airways narrow
- Airway remodeling
- What causes asthma?
- Asthma genes
- Environmental factors
- The allergy connection
- Why is asthma so common?
- Diagnosing asthma
- Your medical history
- Physical examination
- Laboratory and imaging tests
- Pulmonary function tests
- Asthma or something else?
- Asthma triggers
- Medications to treat your asthma
- Quick relievers
- Controller medications
- Types of drug-delivery devices
- Managing your asthma
- Monitor symptoms
- Measure peak flow
- Match treatment to severity
- Difficult-to-treat asthma
- Maintain control
- Asthma and heart disease
- Complementary and alternative therapies
- Plan for an asthma attack
- Step 6: Practice
- Practice exercises
- Scenario 1: The head cold
- Scenario 2: The neighbors’ cat
- Scenario 3: A run in the park
- Glossary
- Resources
- Organizations
- Asthma-related products
- Books
It used to be that having asthma often meant choosing between breathing problems or side effects of asthma medicine. But today’s asthma treatments have freed people from that choice. You can now breathe easier thanks to highly effective medications with few or no side effects. For people with more than occasional, mild symptoms, today’s standard of care calls for consistent, daily use of asthma medications even when you feel well. And with the help of new asthma guidelines, described in this report, you and your doctor can choose the most effective drugs and dosages to control your asthma while keeping your medication levels as low as possible.
There is a lot of good news to share. Many newer treatments have become available since the 1990s, including selective and long-acting bronchodilators, leukotriene modifiers, and biological therapies such as monoclonal antibodies. Because of the tremendous progress in understanding and treating asthma, most people with asthma can now expect to achieve good control of this disorder and live fully functional lives. While millions of Americans live with asthma, the death rate from asthma is declining in the United States, an indication that more Americans are managing their disease well.
In this report, you will learn what asthma is, read about developments in treatment, and discover simple steps you can take to reduce exposure to asthma triggers. You will learn how to plan in advance for an asthma attack so that you remain safe and healthy. You’ll also have an opportunity to consider how to control your asthma in different real-life scenarios, so that you feel prepared for almost any situation. Armed with the knowledge and skills outlined in this report, you will become asthma smart — and as healthy as possible.
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