Together we can help control asthma.

This World Asthma Day (May 6) and during May, the Asthma Awareness Month the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) encourages you to discover how.

One of the first steps—whether you have asthma or know someone who does—is to develop a written asthma action plan (AAP) in partnership with your healthcare provider. AAPs that meet the specific needs of a patient include details ranging from how to take medication to reduce airway inflammation, to ways to reduce environmental triggers of asthma such as dust mites or tobacco smoke.

But AAPs don’t stand alone.

They are part of a comprehensive approach needed to improve asthma care and control. Like diabetes or high blood pressure, managing asthma symptoms requires daily attention and ongoing education.

An APP is just one of  the following six key actions, recommended by the NAEPP, that clinicians, patients, and all others who touch the life of someone with asthma can work together on to seize control of asthma so that asthma doesn’t seize control of asthma patients.

• Use inhaled corticosteroids to control asthma if you have persistent asthma. Your doctor will help you choose the best treatment.
• Use a written asthma action plan to highlight two things: 1) what to do daily to control your asthma, and 2) how to handle symptoms or asthma attacks.
• Assess asthma severity at the initial visit to determine what treatment to start to get your asthma under control.
• Assess and monitor how well controlled your asthma is at follow up visits. Your doctor may need to increase, or decrease your medicine to keep asthma under control.
• Schedule follow-up visits at periodic intervals, and at least every six months.
• Control environmental exposures such as allergens or irritants that worsen your asthma.

It takes an entire community—people from all sectors—to help create the type of care and environments that will make it easier for the one in 12 Americans who has asthma to breathe more easily and live life more fully.

Join the NAEPP and its partners in working toward this goal in May and beyond, by using and sharing the resources in the box above.

Join the Asthma Awareness Twitter Chat

Join the NHLBI’s Asthma Awareness Twitter Chat with U.S. News on May 14 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT. Follow the chat using the #AsthmaChat hashtag.

Join the “Get Asthma Aware” Thunderclap

Join the NHLBI’s “Get Asthma Aware“ Thunderclap by May 6 to pledge your voice to learning more about asthma. Thunderclap is an online action site where users can share the same message at the same time on social media.

Watch “Respirar es vida” (“A Breath of Life”)

Watch the video “Respirar es vida” (“A Breath of Life”) to learn how Jose’s parents build up their asthma team. Jose, his parents, a doctor and a nurse, a promotora (community health educator), a teacher, a school nurse, and a coach join forces to help Jose control his asthma. The video is recorded in Spanish and captioned in English and Spanish.

View video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGUo-3-R8wk

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, “World Asthma Day and Asthma Awareness Month” http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov website. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/prof/lung/asthma/naci/news/world-asthma-day.htm

© Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.

Asthma (AZ-ma) is a chronic (long-term) lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways. Asthma causes recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The coughing often occurs at night or early in the morning.

Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 25 million people are known to have asthma. About 7 million of these people are children.

Overview

To understand asthma, it helps to know how the airways work. The airways are tubes that carry air into and out of your lungs. People who have asthma have inflamed airways. This makes them swollen and very sensitive. They tend to react strongly to certain inhaled substances.

When the airways react, the muscles around them tighten. This narrows the airways, causing less air to flow into the lungs. The swelling also can worsen, making the airways even narrower. Cells in the airways might make more mucus than usual. Mucus is a sticky, thick liquid that can further narrow the airways.

This chain reaction can result in asthma symptoms. Symptoms can happen each time the airways are inflamed.

Sometimes asthma symptoms are mild and go away on their own or after minimal treatment with asthma medicine. Other times, symptoms continue to get worse.

When symptoms get more intense and/or more symptoms occur, you’re having an asthma attack. Asthma attacks also are called flareups or exacerbations (eg-zas-er-BA-shuns).

Treating symptoms when you first notice them is important. This will help prevent the symptoms from worsening and causing a severe asthma attack. Severe asthma attacks may require emergency care, and they can be fatal.

Outlook

Asthma has no cure. Even when you feel fine, you still have the disease and it can flare up at any time.

However, with today’s knowledge and treatments, most people who have asthma are able to manage the disease. They have few, if any, symptoms. They can live normal, active lives and sleep through the night without interruption from asthma.

If you have asthma, you can take an active role in managing the disease. For successful, thorough, and ongoing treatment, build strong partnerships with your doctor and other health care providers.

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, “What Is Asthma?” http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov website. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/

© Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.

If you have asthma, you’ll need long-term care. Successful asthma treatment requires that you take an active role in your care and follow your asthma action plan.

Learn How To Manage Your Asthma

Partner with your doctor to develop an asthma action plan. This plan will help you know when and how to take your medicines. The plan also will help you identify your asthma triggers and manage your disease if asthma symptoms worsen.

Children aged 10 or older—and younger children who can handle it—should be involved in creating and following their asthma action plans. For a sample plan, go to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s “Asthma Action Plan.”

Most people who have asthma can successfully manage their symptoms by following their asthma action plans and having regular checkups. However, knowing when to seek emergency medical care is important.

Learn how to use your medicines correctly. If you take inhaled medicines, you should practice using your inhaler at your doctor’s office. If you take long-term control medicines, take them daily as your doctor prescribes.

Record your asthma symptoms as a way to track how well your asthma is controlled. Also, your doctor may advise you to use a peak flow meter to measure and record how well your lungs are working.

Your doctor may ask you to keep records of your symptoms or peak flow results daily for a couple of weeks before an office visit. You’ll bring these records with you to the visit. (For more information about using a peak flow meter, go to “How Is Asthma Treated and Controlled?”)

These steps will help you keep track of how well you’re controlling your asthma over time. This will help you spot problems early and prevent or relieve asthma attacks. Recording your symptoms and peak flow results to share with your doctor also will help him or her decide whether to adjust your treatment.

Ongoing Care

Have regular asthma checkups with your doctor so he or she can assess your level of asthma control and adjust your treatment as needed. Remember, the main goal of asthma treatment is to achieve the best control of your asthma using the least amount of medicine. This may require frequent adjustments to your treatments.

If you find it hard to follow your asthma action plan or the plan isn’t working well, let your health care team know right away. They will work with you to adjust your plan to better suit your needs.

Get treatment for any other conditions that can interfere with your asthma management.

Watch for Signs That Your Asthma Is Getting Worse

Your asthma might be getting worse if:

• Your symptoms start to occur more often, are more severe, or bother you at night and cause you to lose sleep.
• You’re limiting your normal activities and missing school or work because of your asthma.
• Your peak flow number is low compared to your personal best or varies a lot from day to day.
• Your asthma medicines don’t seem to work well anymore.
• You have to use your quick-relief inhaler more often. If you’re using quick-relief medicine more than 2 days a week, your asthma isn’t well controlled.
• You have to go to the emergency room or doctor because of an asthma attack.

If you have any of these signs, see your doctor. He or she might need to change your medicines or take other steps to control your asthma.

Partner with your health care team and take an active role in your care. This can help you better control your asthma so it doesn’t interfere with your activities and disrupt your life.

Source: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, “Living With Asthma” http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov website. Accessed December 2, 2015. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/asthma/livingwith.html

© Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. This content is strictly for informational purposes and although experts have prepared it, the reader should not substitute this information for professional insurance advice. If you have any questions, please consult your insurance professional before acting on any information presented. Read more.

Dear Valued Customer,

May is Asthma Awareness Month, the subject of this issue of the “———————“.

Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. In the United States, more than 25 million people are known to have asthma. About 7 million of these people are children.

Whether you have asthma or know someone who does, one of the first steps in taking action is to develop a written asthma action plan (AAP) in partnership with your healthcare provider. Please read on to find out how you can help yourself or someone in your life who suffers from asthma.

We appreciate your continued business and look forward to serving you.

Kind regards,