Controlling your asthma

Is your asthma under control?

Three questions can help you to identify whether your symptoms are under control:-

In the last month:

• Have you had difficulty sleeping because of your asthma symptoms (including cough)
• Have you had your usual asthma symptoms during the day (cough, wheeze, chest tightness or breathlessness)
• Has your asthma interfered with your usual activities – eg housework, work, school etc)

If you have answered yes to any of the above questions it may be that your asthma is not controlled as well as it could be. See your doctor or asthma nurse to discuss ways that you may be able to improve your asthma control.

Signs that your asthma is not well controlled

Signs may include:

• Waking at night with coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath or a tightness in the chest
• Having to take time off work because of your asthma
• Finding it difficult to breathe, and breathing short shallow breaths
• Needing more and more reliever treatment
• Finding that your reliever does not seem to be working
• Having to take your reliever more frequently than every four hours
• Feeling that you cannot keep up with your usual level of activity or exercise

If you notice any of these symptoms you should follow your personal asthma action plan, as this should help you to get your symptoms back under control. If this does not work, you should see your doctor or asthma nurse. This may involve looking at your medicines, triggers and lifestyle to see if anything can be changed.

Help for you to take control of your symptoms

You can take control of your asthma by knowing what medicines to take, how much and when to take them. It is also important to avoid things that trigger your asthma and know what to do if your symptoms get worse.

All of this information should be recorded on a personal asthma action plan, which your doctor or asthma nurse should complete in discussion with you. Asthma UK produces a set of tools called ‘Be in control’ which includes an action plan, peak flow diary, medicines card and asthma review card. This is available free from Asthma UK – follow the links on the right hand side of this page.