HIN Health Action e-Bulletin

You are not alone if you have asthma. More than 22 million Americans report they have asthma. In fact, asthma is on the increase, not just in the United States, but throughout the world. NHLBI has created the following three materials that together help people cope with their asthma.

Also visit the So You Have Asthma Home page for more information at http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/asthma.

Read About Asthma

Get important information on asthma management and treatments and on ways to keep your asthma under control. This guide offers tools and step-by-step guidance for monitoring asthma and communicating with your doctor to develop a plan for managing your asthma. You will learn about ways to avoid things that can make your asthma worse, how asthma medicines work, and how to use a peak flow meter. In an upbeat style, it helps you realize that you can make good asthma management a part of everyday life. Also includes a symptom diary, an asthma assessment checklist, and a list of information resources.

How does asthma make you feel? How do you know if you have asthma? Check out the sections on pages 9 -10.

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Use the My Asthma Wallet Card

This handy wallet card for patients lists common warning signs of an asthma attack and topics to discuss with your doctor to learn the best ways to control your asthma. It also provides space to record your peak flow zones, medicines, and phone numbers to call in an asthma emergency.

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Make an Asthma Action Plan

Managing asthma requires you to do things and make decisions, each based on your own pattern of asthma. An Asthma Action Plan helps you recognize the stages of an attack and tells you what to do at each stage and how to adjust medicines to respond to changing symptoms. It gives a place to record all your medicines, how much to take, and when to take them.

Use this plan together with your doctor to write down how to manage your asthma, routinely on a daily basis and during an attack. For help in controlling things that can make your asthma worse, look on the back for a list of possible asthma triggers for you and ways to avoid them.

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