Travel Blog


Develop an Asthma Action Plan

Asthma Action PlanConsumers suffering from asthma must develop an action plan that leads to controlling your exposure to whatever is causing your asthma to flare up. This is the only way you can lead a normal active life. The best way to do this is to first of all see your doctor and then possibly a specialist. They will assess you for the best treatment and ongoing maintenance treatment you require.  Developing an asthma action plan is not that hard. Provided that you have good input from your doctor as well as your pharmacist and yourself.  Ultimately it is up to you to manage your asthma. Staying away from those things that trigger an attack, taking your medication as prescribed and paying attention to your body. all of these things will help you to lead a regular life and manage your asthma.

What is an Asthma Action Plan

The short version is that it is a series of steps that can help you manage your asthma when your symptoms get worse. The objective is to get it under control and keep it there so that you can avoid sudden flairs ups. These flare ups ruin your life and cause unneeded concern for your family and friends. Even your friends and family should know what to look for to assess when you are in distress and then what to do about it.

The following are a series of steps that you can consider that will lead to a personalized action plan for you:

  • Visit your doctor for an assessment
  • Discuss your medication with your pharmacist
  • Take advantage of web sites like these and other asthma education centers
  • Make a note of the possible triggers for your asthma attack
  • Based on all of the input, formulate a plan that is tailored to your personal situation
  • Review your plan often and customize it as you become familiar with all medications
  • Once you reach your maintenance plan, leave a copy pinned to the fridge.  Your family can remind you of the treatment you need to take.

 

Asthma Action Plan – Treatment

An example of an asthma treatment plan for an asthma sufferer, based on recommendations from Symbicort is as follows (always confirm with your doctor):

  • Take Symbicort every day, __ inhalations in the morning and __ in the evening
  • Consider an extra inhalation if necessary for relief
  • Take no more than 6 inhalations on any single occasion and take no more than 8 per day
  • Always carry your Symbicort with you for relief
  • Contact your health care provider if your asthma is getting worse, even after taking your inhalations.
  • If you are unable to obtain relief from inhalations, find it hard to speak or are breathless, or have a sudden unexplained severe attack of asthma go to your local emergency room immediately.

Whether you use Symbicort or some other drug, this is a good plan. However always review this plan with your doctor and pharmacist to ensure that it is customized for your personal situation and condition. We all have different triggers and we all react differently to various drugs. It is vitally important to develop a treatment plan, adhere to the plan and notify the doctor if something significant changes. Your doctor should of course approve the plan in the first place to make sure that it is tailored to you situation.

Note: we are not recommending Symbicort in this post, instead we are using it is an example only . Talk to your doctor to ensure that you are prescribed the correct treatment plan.

Comments are welcome and we will even approve your link to if you provide a constructive comment that is useful to our readers. For more information about asthma related issues, click here.

Save

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

One Response to “Develop an Asthma Action Plan”

  1. I stopped taking my medication in order to participate in an asthma trial. Turns out that 20% of people actually do not have asthma and have been diagnosed incorrectly. Well I have it for sure and had a really bad attack of asthma, which took me a week to get over. don’t stop taking your medication!

Leave a Reply

?>


Web Content Development