Asthma Initiative

Kick Astma: Take Charge and control it

What is Asthma?

Asthma is a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe. Asthma symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness.

During an asthma episode, the airways in your lungs get swollen. Your chest feels tight. You may cough, wheeze, or have trouble breathing. This happens when your lungs are exposed to something - a trigger- to which your lungs react. The swelling in your lungs can be occurring slowly, even if you don't realize it is happening.

The best way to take charge of asthma is to work with a doctor over many months to find the right long-term control medicine for you or your child so that your asthma is under control.

If you or your child keep having asthma episodes, then your asthma is not under control. People can die of asthma if they do not take it seriously and work with a doctor to control it.

Have a regular doctor

If you have asthma, see your doctor regularly, even if you’re feeling well.

• • Let the doctor know if asthma interferes with sleep, work, school, play or exercise.
• • Tell your doctor how often you or your child have symptoms such as coughing or wheezing, and how often you use your quick-relief inhaler.
• • Keeps all asthma appointments, even if you feel fine and are breathing well.
• • Ask the doctor for a written Asthma Action Plan to use at home to help you control your asthma.
• • Your doctor can send you to a specialist in asthma care if you or your child has special problems getting asthma under control.
• • Ask about a peak flow meter or a spacer to help you take charge of your asthma.

The New York City Childhood Asthma Initiative is a city-wide effort to reduce illness and death from childhood asthma in New York City by working to strengthen the ability of families, schools, communities, health care institutions and city government to control and prevent asthma. The Initiative will:

• • promote improved family management of asthma
• • promote the practice of state-of-the-art medical care
• • help families to reduce exposure to asthma triggers in both homes and communities
• • monitor and track the number of people with asthma
• • increase community awareness of asthma

People with persistent asthma should use controller medicines.

Use the right medicines

Use controller medicines to prevent attacks:

• • People with persistent asthma should use controller medicines
• • You have persistent asthma if you have: Daytime symptoms more than 2 times a week or night time symptoms more than two times a month.
• • Controllers must be taken every day, even when you feel well.
• • Inhaled corticosteroids are NOT the same as anabolic steroids that some people use unsafely to build muscles.

Use quick-relief medicines to relieve symptoms:

• • Carry your quick-relief medicine all the time in case of an emergency.
• • Unlike controllers, quick relief medicines don’t prevent attacks.

Spacers are important:

Many asthma medicines are inhaled. If you use a metered dose inhaler or pump, be sure to use a spacer. This helps to get the right amount of medicine directly to your lungs.

Danger! Many People Use Their Quick Relief Medicine Too Much.

Do you use your quick relief medicine every single day to stop an asthma episode?
Do you need it more than four times in one day to stop asthma episodes?

If you said "yes" to either question, then you are having too many asthma episodes. Your quick relief medicine may make you feel better for a little while, but you can be fooled into thinking that you are getting better. In fact, the airways in your lungs are getting more and more swollen, and you are in danger of having a very bad asthma episode.

Ask your doctor for a preventive medicine that will help stop the swelling in your airways so that an asthma episode does not even start.

Allergy Control:

Your doctor may also recommend medicine for hay fever and other allergies that can trigger asthma.

Lead a healthy, active life!

With asthma under control, you can:

• • Participate fully in sports and other physical activiti
• • Not miss school or work because of asthma
• • Sleep through the night
• • Not have severe asthma symptoms
• • Not need to go to the emergency room or be hospitalized because of asthma.

Watch our for triggers

• • Different people have different triggers. Learning with triggers your asthma is important for control.
• • Tobacco smoke is a serious asthma trigger
• • Colds and upper respiratory infections are major triggers for children
• • Other triggers can include furry pets (especially cats), cockroaches, mice, dust mites, cold weather, strong fumes, mold and mildew, and pollen.

Checklist For Visits To The Doctor

Ask the doctor or nurse to write the instructions for taking your medicines on an Asthma Action Plan.

Questions to ask the doctor or nurse:

• • Which medicines are preventive medicines and which are quick relief medicines?
• • For each medicine, ask:
  • How much to take and when to take it.
  • How long to take it.
  • What are the possible side effects and how to avoid them?
  • Is it an inhaled medicine, a pill, or a syrup?
  • About how much will it cost?
  • Can I get two prescriptions so that I can keep one at school?
• • Ask for a spacer if any medicines are in a pump.
• • Ask for a peak flow meter.
• • Ask what to do and who to call if your breathing gets worse and your medicine is not helping.
• • Ask to talk with a social worker if you have trouble paying for medicines or doctors visits, or need help with housing or other issues that affect your asthma.

  At each visit, the doctor should:

• • take a peak flow reading
• • ask you about recent symptoms
• • show you how to use a pump
• • discuss your triggers and how to prevent asthma episodes
• • tell you what to do if you have asthma at school or work
• • tell you how to get in touch if you are having asthma symptoms after the office is closed
• • review your Asthma Action Plan

  When you go to the doctor, always:

• • bring all of your medicines, including home remedies or non-prescription medicines
• • bring your peak flow meter and diary
• • bring your spacer
• • demonstrate how you use your medicines and peak flow meter to make sure you are doing it right

Tell your doctor right away if, because of asthma, you have:

• • missed school or work
• • had symptoms, including waking at night due to coughing
• • gone to the emergency room
• • been hospitalized

Remember...

• • Take your medicine exactly as the doctor says.
• • Get the prescriptions filled right away.
• • Take the right amount of medicine at the right times.
• • Keep taking the medicine as long as the doctor says to even if you feel fine and you are breathing well.
• • See your doctor within 2 days of any emergency room visit or hospitalization, EVEN IF YOU FEEL BETTER.

For more information call 311.