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:

• If your doctor prescribed daily asthma medication, make sure to take it every day. Don’t stop taking your medication if you’re feeling OK. Think of it this way: if you’re doing well, it means your medication is doing its job, so keep taking it.
• Take the right amount of medicine. Your doctor has determined a dosage based on your individual needs.
• Keep your rescue inhaler with you, and use it only when necessary. If you feel the need to use your rescue inhaler more than two to three times a day, your asthma management plan may not be working as well as it should. Talk to your doctor about ways to reduce these asthma episodes. Emergencies do happen, though — so check your inhaler from time to time to make sure it hasn’t run out of medicine.
• Monitor your lung function using a peak flow meter, a device that measures how much air you can exhale. Peak flow levels can tell you whether your airways are constricted. Tracking your peak flow can also help predict potential asthma emergencies since peak flow often decreases two or three days before an especially severe episode.
• Tell your friends and teachers you have asthma. This will make it easier for them to help you if you have an episode. If you’re having trouble breathing, it’s hard to explain what’s happening.
• Don’t let asthma interfere with your social life. Discuss your particular triggers with friends and dates to prevent perfumes, aftershaves, or smoke from becoming a problem.
• Don’t limit yourself. Keep in mind that with effective asthma management you can do what anyone else can do. Many Olympic and professional athletes have asthma.
• Help prevent episodes. Figure out what your triggers are and avoid them if possible.
• Learn to recognize how you feel at the beginning of an episode. When you know an episode is coming on you can start dealing with it immediately.
• Work with your doctor. By keeping your doctor informed, you can help ensure that you’ll get the right medicine in the proper dose. Tell your doctor if you experience any negative side effects; he or she may be able to prescribe another medication instead. Don’t stop taking any medications without talking to your doctor first.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 7th, 2007 at 8:18 am and is filed under Teens. 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.