Asthma symptoms include coughing, wheezing, a tight feeling in the chest and trouble breathing. Asthma occurs when the main breathing tubes of your lungs are over-sensitive and react to a variety of triggers called allergens (eg house dust) or irritants (fumes, cold air).   As a result they may become swollen and narrow. These changes  should be controlled with inhalers as prescribed by your doctor. 

If your asthma is not getting better with standard treatment (preventor and reliever inhalers) or if you are having more asthma attacks than you or your doctor are comfortable with, or if the attacks are severe, you may be referred to a specialist.

In most cases you’ll be asked to give a complete medical history and will also be examined by the doctor. Other conditions can mimic asthma or make asthma worse, so you may be asked to have some tests to help in the assessment. 

 

Tests looking for severity and complicating features of asthma include:

chest X-ray, lung function tests and CT scans of the chest and sometimes the sinuses.  For more details see below.

You may, however, not need any of these tests.

 

Treatment

This may include taking medicines as well as making some adjustments to your living patterns.  A peak flow meter can be used to keep a watch on your asthma and to help with plans to prevent attacks.  Stopping smoking is very important as is learning to recognise what brings an asthma attack on.

Asthma is treated with inhaled medicines.  There are two types:

1. an inhaled steroid medicine which is usually taken every day.  It soothes the irritated breathing tubes and prevents worsening of asthma, “asthma attacks”.

2. a reliever helps reduce asthma symptoms. There are 2 types (long acting and short acting). They relax the tightened muscles around the breathing tubes. 

For more information on asthma see www.asthmanz.co.nz