Health Break: All about asthma

Camille: Welcome to Health Break by UPMC Health Plan, your quick guide to health, wellness, and how to make the most of your health insurance plan. I’m your host, Dr. Camille Clarke-Smith. This is your…Health Break.

In this episode, Teresa Messick takes a Health Break to talk about asthma. Listen in to learn what asthma is, how to manage it, what a treatment plan and action plan might look like, and more. Teresa, thanks for taking a Health Break with us today.

Teresa: Thanks for having me.

Camille: Let’s dive in with our first question. What is asthma?

Teresa: Yeah, absolutely. So asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the lungs, making it more difficult to breathe. So symptoms, severity, duration. These can all kind of vary from person to person. So some symptoms may be coughing or chest tightness or shortness of breath. It could be mild or severe, and then also it can last, you know, the asthma attacks can last a few minutes or hours or days. Some people do have triggers that will prompt their asthma attacks, but then other folks will have sort of asthma symptoms every day.

Camille: It sounds like managing asthma can be challenging. How can someone work to control their asthma?

Teresa: As a pharmacist, what we recommend for our members as far as the best way to manage asthma is to control breathing and prevent an attack. So first is an asthma action plan. Asthma action plans are a tool to help identify if you’re doing well, if you’re having symptoms, are they getting better, are they getting worse? Is it an urgent or emergent type medical care need? So this is something that you work with your doctor to complete. It helps you to know when to take your medications, any warning signs of an attack.

So in addition to that asthma action plan, one thing that’s really important with asthma is if you can work to identify any triggers for your asthma attacks. So one known trigger is allergies. So this will be dust mites, cockroaches, pollen, mold, pet dander, rodents. So there are some ways to avoid this. So of course, clean your home regularly and don’t let any sort of pet sleep in bed with you.

Also, air pollution can be a trigger for asthma. Cigarette smoke is a huge one, so you really want to be sure to quit smoking if you are a smoker, but support those around you to quit. Also, you’d want to avoid any sort of wood fires, charcoal grills, any sort of strong fumes or odors or chemicals. So ways to avoid this: Kind of keeping your windows closed, avoiding products that you notice are triggers for you. So that may be perfume or paint or hairspray.

Another trigger for asthma can be health concerns, other health concerns. So this can be obstructive sleep apnea, food allergies, acid reflux, anxiety, obesity, lung infections. If you do have any health concerns, make an appointment with your doctor to help identify other health conditions to help you manage them. For example, for GERD or reflux, we recommend to avoid spicy or acidic foods. Eat smaller meals, as well as don’t schedule your meals right before bedtime. Raise the head of your bed. So there’s different things that your doctor can do or your pharmacist may be able to help you through some of your triggers.

Finally, another way to manage your asthma is definitely taking your medication as prescribed, and if you notice that your medication is not working, let your doctor know.

Camille: So to best manage your asthma, it’s important to have an asthma action plan, identify your triggers and take your medication as prescribed. What are the types of asthma medications?

Teresa: Yeah, so there’s two types of asthma medications. We have our controller medications. The controller medications can be an inhaler or a tablet that you’re taking on a more regular basis. When you use them as prescribed, they can keep your airways healthy, reduce the inflammation, keep your lungs nice and open to prevent from having an attack. It’s really important to take your medications as prescribed, even if you’re feeling well. The controller medications can definitely ease the symptoms such as coughing or wheezing, reduce the number and severity of attacks. So that’s our controller medications that we use each and every day.

Then we have our rescue inhalers. So those are what we take as needed. So these provide quick relief, fast relief to open up your airways are often used during asthma attacks and before exercise.

So taking the controller medication as prescribed helps to reduce the need for the rescue inhaler, but it’s always important to keep your rescue on hand just in case you need it.

Camille: What are some tips for how a person with asthma can stick to their treatment plan?

Teresa: Have that up-to-date asthma action plan. But then also too, you want to feel comfortable and confident with your prescribed regimen. So with your controller medications, you can keep those in a location where you’re always going to remember how to use it. So work that into your daily routine. With certain controller inhalers, it’s advised to rinse your mouth after you use the inhaler to prevent oral thrush or infection. So it may be helpful to use your inhaler before brushing your teeth.

One other thing would be to set reminders or alarms to take your controller medication at the same time each day as directed by your doctor, and then also talk to your pharmacist about auto refill, or your doctor or pharmacist about 90-day supply prescriptions.

Then we also have our rescue inhaler. So how can somebody stick to their treatment plan? Make sure that you have your rescue inhaler on hand. If you notice that you have symptoms that you need to use your rescue inhaler more than twice a week, not from exercise, this may be an indicator that your symptoms are getting worse. So you really want to let your doctor know about that. Maybe your asthma is waking you up more than two nights a month. And then also if you’re unable to do any daily activities because of asthma, those are all reasons to visit your doctor. We recommend at least a wellness check yearly with your doctor. But if you need to communicate with them in between, that’s totally okay and we definitely encourage that.

Also, talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have any trouble at all using your inhalers as they can help you to get comfortable with the inhalers, how to use them. Also, there are tools like spacers, which are devices to help breathe in the medicine more easily that can be really helpful in using inhalers, if you need it. So the great news with asthma is once you find the right medication for you, you’ll be able to keep your airways healthy, reduce that inflammation, and ease asthma symptoms and reduce how often or bad your asthma attacks are so you’ll be able to do more things that you enjoy.

Camille: Teresa, thank you so much for taking a Health Break with us and helping us all understand more about asthma.

Teresa: Thanks for having me.

Camille: Check the show notes for more information and resources on asthma symptoms and care.

Find show notes and more information at upmchealthplan.com/podcast. Join us as we continue exploring health, wellness, and how to make the most of your health insurance plan in the next episode of Health Break.

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes. It is not medical care or advice. Individuals in need of medical care should consult their care provider. Views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of UPMC Health Plan and its employees.