Teens who have asthma often feel that their condition sets them apart from the crowd, especially when they have to puff on a rescue inhaler in front of others. Let’s face it: if you’re in the middle of class or at a party, it’s hard to be suave about puffing medicine out of a piece of plastic.

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How many people are in your homeroom? 25? 30? Next time you’re sitting in class, take a good look around. Chances are, you’re not the only student with an inhaler. According to some estimates, about one in ten teens in the United States has asthma, just like you.

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The mysterious healer lurks in the dark, cluttered back room of the herbal shop, watching you through a curtain of beads. She calls to you when you’re just about to leave, and mutters something about you no one else could possibly know. You leave the store with a small glass jar filled with a strange-smelling concoction — an exotic remedy that will surely heal whatever ails you.
That’s the movie version, anyway. In reality, complementary care (sometimes called alternative or integrative medicine) has gone mainstream. About one-third of Americans turn to complementary therapies such as traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, and herbal medicine, according to The New England Journal of Medicine. These therapies are called “complementary” because, in most cases, they are used in addition to — not instead of — treatments prescribed by medical doctors. Always talk to your doctor before trying any complementary therapy.

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Does 15 minutes of running in gym class leave you coughing and wheezing, with shortness of breath, tightness in your chest, and a killer headache? You may have exercise-induced asthma (EIA), asthma triggered by physical activity. And you’re not alone. Researchers at the University of Colorado have found that as many as nine out of ten kids with asthma list exercise as one of their triggers.

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Your asthma is a product of nature (the genes you were born with) and nurture (the environment you grew up in) — just like the rest of you. While you can’t do much to change your genes, you can do lots of things to control your asthma (instead of letting it control you). Here are some asthma management tips endorsed by the American Lung Association:

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Your history teacher means well, but she sends you to the nurse’s office every time you so much as cough. Your coach can’t understand why you need to take so many breaks during track practice. It can be hard to talk about asthma, but your safety at school depends on giving teachers and coaches the information they need to know in order to deal with an emergency — and when to let you manage your asthma on your own.

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Ever used a peak flow meter? It’s a device that measures how much you can exhale, indicating how well you’re breathing. When it comes to talking to your family about asthma, you need to become sort of a human peak flow meter, giving regular updates on your symptoms. If this sounds like an challenge, well, it is. But good communication is key to getting your family to understand what you’re going through. Good communication also ensures that you receive all the help you need.

Here’s a rundown of the peak flow approach to talking to your family about asthma.

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Let’s be honest. When you’re young, the harmful effects of cigarette smoking can seem far in the future. The health problems caused by inhaling smoke may take years to develop. But if you have asthma, a lungful of smoke (first- or secondhand) may trigger or worsen asthma symptoms right now — not to mention what it will do down the road.

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If you have asthma and you smoke, you’re putting your health doubly at risk. In addition to spiking your risk for lung cancer and heart disease, smoking can trigger asthma, worsen symptoms, and make it harder to recover from asthma episodes. Quitting smoking isn’t easy, especially if your friends smoke. And it may take some practice before you finally quit for good. In other words, you may quit for a while, then start again, quit, start, quit, start, quit. That’s OK, just as long as the end result is finally quitting.

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If you’re having a severe asthma episode, do you know when it’s time to ask for help? Maybe you’re not sure what an asthma emergency feels like. Maybe you’re hoping that a really bad asthma episode will get better on its own. If you have questions about when it’s time to seek emergency treatment for asthma, don’t wait to ask. Take the time now to learn how to recognize the warning signs of an emergency. It could save your life.

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