5 Ways to Prevent a Severe Asthma Attack

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes your airways to swell and fill with mucus, making it difficult to breathe. It also causes the muscles around your airways to tighten, restricting your respiration even more. An asthma attack, or symptom flare-up, typically consists of wheezing, chest tightness, a recurrent cough, and shortness of breath.

About 26.5 million people in the United States have asthma. If you’re one of them, you know the condition is always with you — and you also know an asthma attack only occurs when something bothers your lungs. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do to control your asthma and prevent a severe symptom flare-up. 

As board-certified pulmonologists who specialize in effective asthma management, our skilled team at Fivestar Pulmonary Associates in Allen, McKinney, and Plano, Texas, can help you take control of your asthma so you can be physically active, sleep better, prevent severe episodes, and avoid the emergency room. 

Here, Dr. Anthony Nebor, Dr. Asif Najmuddin, and Dr. Deepthi Gandhiraj offer five key asthma control strategies that can help you prevent a major symptom flare-up. 

1. Identity and control your asthma triggers

Knowing exactly what triggers your asthma symptoms is the best way to reduce your need for quick-relief medication and prevent asthma attacks. When you know what prompts an asthma flare-up, you can effectively avoid the trigger or control it. To discover your personal triggers, keep a detailed journal of each asthma attack you experience. Take note of:

• What you were doing (i.e., vacuuming, exercising)
• The presence of an animal, smoke, strong smells, etc.
• Whether you had a cold or other respiratory infection
• What the weather/air was like if you were outdoors
• Whether you were feeling upset, excited, or tired

Knowing common asthma triggers (environmental allergies, pet dander, smoke, mold, strong smells, cold or humid air, respiratory infections, and intense exercise) can help you zero in on your personal triggers, but it’s also important to work with our team to look for trends in your episodes. You may even find that a combination of factors makes your asthma worse.

2. If you have allergies, avoid your allergens

Most people with asthma also have environmental allergies, and the allergens that trigger your allergy symptoms can also trigger an asthma attack. When you’re exposed to known allergens, your immune system’s inflammatory response can readily lead to swelling in your airways which makes a severe asthma attack more likely. 

Asthma-inducing allergens include: 

• Dust mites
• Pests (cockroaches, mice)
• Animal dander
• Indoor mold
• Outdoor mold
• Plant pollen (i.e., ragweed)

If you’ve got environmental allergies, it’s important to keep your distance from the allergens that cause them. 

3. Take your asthma medication as directed 

Unless your asthma is very mild, your asthma management plan probably includes at least two asthma medications — a long-term control medication you take daily and quick-relief medicine you use when your asthma gets worse. 

Asthma medicines may be inhaled through a nebulizer, a metered dose inhaler, or a dry powder inhaler. Proper technique is key to ensuring your inhaler works well for you. 

Your long-term control medication eases inflammation in your airways to prevent asthma symptoms and attacks. You should take this medicine every day as directed, even when you don’t have symptoms. Apart from trigger avoidance, long-term control medication is one of your most important preventive asthma management tools. 

4. Know when your asthma is getting worse

Severe asthma attacks rarely appear out of nowhere or occur without warning. Many people experience early onset symptoms, like coughing, slight chest tightness, or feeling abnormally tired in the lead-up to a major symptom episode.  

When you track your asthma, you’re in a better position to recognize the early signs that it’s getting worse. The airways in your lungs narrow slowly, so you may not feel dire symptoms until your airways are badly constricted. The key to avoiding a serious asthma attack is knowing to take your quick-relief medicine at the earliest possible sign of worsening. 

5. Know when to use your peak flow meter 

A simple, pocket-sized device called a peak flow meter shows how well air is moving through your lungs. When you blow into it, it can detect a narrowing in your airways hours or even days before you feel asthma symptoms.

Our team can divide your peak flow numbers into color zones that correspond to your asthma action plan. A reading within the green zone means you’re safe, one that falls into the yellow zone means you should take precautions, and one that lands in the red zone means it may be time to head to the hospital. 

Using your peak flow meter on a routine basis can help you experience fewer symptoms and fewer severe asthma attacks that require a trip to the hospital. 

To improve your asthma management plan, call or click online to schedule an appointment at your nearest Fivestar Pulmonary Associates office today.

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