Acknowledging what causes asthma and allergy symptoms is essential, and your healthcare provider can assist in finding ways to limit exposure to allergens.
Consult an allergist/immunologist, who can perform skin tests to detect your allergens. Furthermore, they may prescribe medicines to help treat allergies and asthma such as quick-relief inhalers for immediate relief.
Symptoms
Allergens such as cat dander, pollen and mold may exacerbate symptoms, stimulating your immune system and leading to inflammation in your airways that makes breathing difficult and even triggering asthma attacks. Allergies may even provoke attacks in people already vulnerable.
An obvious sign of asthma is wheezing, which sounds like squeaky musical notes coming out of your nose and mouth when breathing in. Additionally, chest tightness may occur that feels as if something is compressing on your lungs, fatigue and shortness of breath may occur during both mild and severe attacks of asthma.
Allergies can also trigger coughs that produce mucus, leading to an irritating, persistent dry cough that makes breathing difficult or impossible; this is known as an asthma attack and should be treated immediately in order to avoid fatal consequences.
As soon as you experience symptoms related to allergy-induced asthma, it’s essential that you visit an allergist/immunologist as soon as possible in order to get diagnosed and develop an effective treatment plan. AAAAI provides a Find an Allergist/Immunologist service where you can quickly locate one near you. When making your appointment with one, bring the medical history for both yourself and your child’s asthma episodes, along with details regarding severity. Your allergist will ask many other pertinent questions regarding lifestyle and family history too.
Diagnosis
People suffering from allergies develop immune systems that become sensitive to otherwise harmless substances known as allergens, producing chemicals which irritate the airways and make breathing difficult. Common allergens include pollen from trees, grasses and weeds; mold spores; feathered or furry animal dander; dust mites; food; and cockroaches – which all can trigger asthma symptoms in an individual.
As part of diagnosing allergic asthma, healthcare providers first conduct an evaluation of symptoms, medical history and physical exam of an individual. Lung function tests such as spirometry or methacholine challenge test may also be ordered to measure how effectively their lungs work.
Skin testing is often employed to help diagnose allergies. This method involves pricking the skin with small quantities of an allergen–typically in liquid form–and seeing whether any reactions such as reddening or itching develop as an indicator that an individual might be allergic. If they react by developing a rash or itchy bump on their body, this may indicate they’re suffering from allergies to that substance.
If a person is diagnosed with allergic asthma, their doctor will create a treatment plan consisting of both an asthma control medicine and quick-relief (rescue) medicine, as well as any additional measures they feel necessary such as antihistamines or decongestants to help reduce mucus production and coughing symptoms. They will monitor symptoms at regular follow-up appointments to ensure that asthma remains under control.
Treatment
Allergic asthma can be treated using medications that decrease inflammation and help your body adjust to allergens that trigger symptoms. You may require both short-acting bronchodilators like albuterol for immediate relief as well as long-term control medications to decrease swelling in your airways and lessen extra mucus production.
Your healthcare team may recommend allergy shots administered through a needle, or oral steroids such as prednisone for your condition. Immunotherapy has recently emerged as an innovative option that may reduce inflammation associated with allergic asthma; other medicines, including leukotriene modifiers like montelukast (Singulair), can also be helpful.
Your doctor will assess the severity of your asthma, creating an action plan with your provider that includes how often to visit and when/if to adjust/increase medications according to changes in symptoms. They may suggest using a peak flow meter as another means to measure lung function and monitor how effectively medications are working for you.
Your doctor may suggest other treatments to manage allergy-induced asthma, including long-acting muscarinic antagonists (taken as tablets, capsules, solutions or syrup) and oral theophylline as controller medicines that will gradually decrease swelling in your airways while relieving sudden symptoms. Your doctor could also suggest inhaled corticosteroids like fluticasone (Flonase), budesonide (Pulmicort Flexhaler), clobetasol propionate (Corticoster) or mometasone (Asmanex), which will daily work to decrease swelling while relieving sudden symptoms.
Prevention
Identification and avoidance are the best ways to manage asthma symptoms. Allergens include pet dander; mold and dust mite droppings; grass, tree or weed pollen; and cockroaches (including their feces, saliva, body parts). People who are susceptible should avoid prolonged exposure to allergens as much as possible and take medication daily as prescribed in order to keep attacks under control and keep symptoms manageable.
Treatment plans vary from person to person depending on the root causes of their symptoms. Allergic medication like epinephrine autoinjectors and steroids may be prescribed, while antibiotics and leukotriene modifiers like Montelukast may help to reduce inflammation in the airways. Regular flu and pneumonia vaccinations should also be considered an integral component of managing asthmatic symptoms.
Some individuals with allergic asthma are able to identify their triggers by keeping an eye on when their symptoms worsen during certain months, as this suggests something in their environment may be contributing. People allergic to grass or trees should stay indoors during peak pollen season while those with asthma should take extra caution not cutting grass, digging in the dirt, or participating in outdoor activities when pollen levels or mold spore levels are high. Individuals should also make sure they have an action plan prepared, detailing what needs to happen if symptoms get out of hand – should symptoms become overwhelming
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