What Do You Do When You Feel An Asthma Flare Up Coming On?

According to this article doubling your dose of inhaled steroids isn't the answer. And that's one of the therapies that our doctor has recommended in the past. Whenever my son has a flare up or we notice a flare up coming on, the doctor has increased the amount of inhaled steroid he gets (we go from 2 puffs once a day to 2 puffs twice a day). If that didn't work and he progresses to a full blown flare up we add in the rescue meds through the nebulizer every 4 hours or as needed, and keep taking his daily preventative as directed. If that doesn't seem to be working we'll add in a liquid steroid to try in kick it up a notch. The liquid steroid is usually added in extreme cases and usually during illness. The prior "asthma cocktail" seems to do the trick most of the time. But now I'm wondering if that extra dose of inhaled steroid is really needed?

How do you handle things when you feel a flare up coming on? Do you do the extra dose of inhaled steroid to try and keep an asthma flare up at bay? Has it helped you?

The best way to keep flare ups from occurring is to take your daily preventative medications and to try to avoid triggers.

Other things you can do:

* Get a flu shot
* Stay away from cigarette smoke
* Stay inside during high pollen days or high smog days
* Keep your environment clean of dust or mold
* Keep all indoor irritants to a minimum
* Avoid exercising in extreme temperatures
* Take all of your medication as prescribed by your physician (make sure you are doing it properly )

What else can you add to these suggestions? What's worked for you? Do you have a post or video that you can link to?

Tags: Asthma, Controller Medications, Flare Ups, Inhaled Steroids, Rescue Medications, allergies, breathing, fall, indoor allergens, lungs

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Comment by Nicole on October 18, 2010 at 10:51am: Hi Janeen,
I have had asthma my whole life, although it has faded to near non-existence in the last six or seven years for me. I think this article is very interesting, especially because I have always been told to run through the steps that you mentioned above. I have always just taken an extra puff of my inhaler if my asthma seems to be getting severe. Recently, however, I have been skipping a few steps if I feel a flare coming on. Instead of first trying more puffs, I tend to just start my nebulizer treatment early. In doing this, I usually do not have to use the nebulizer more than once. I'm not really sure what affect this would have on a severe case of asthma, but it always works for me. I find that this way, I get less of the side effects of taking many steroids at once; I know that I always get shaky and it really affects my day if I go through the many steps of medication.
I certainly don't recommend drastic changes without talking to a doctor. Like I said, my asthma faded drastically once was out of my pre-teen years. I also have found that everyone reacts differently to asthma and it's treatments. There are many different levels and types of asthma.

Comment by Ellen S on October 20, 2010 at 12:17pm: Great questions! In the past, this is what our doctor instructed us to do as well, so I'm not really sure what else to add. We did find that adding Magnesium supplements to our regimen is helpful not only for Migraine but also for asthma and eczema. I don't know that it helps everyone, but even a friend of ours found that her eczema disappeared and her asthma improved when she started using mag. I wonder if there is any research to back this up?

What Do You Do When You Feel An Asthma Flare Up Coming On?

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