If you currently have asthma and struggle with managing your symptoms, or a potential asthma attack, then you are not alone. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of American found that over 26 million Americans have asthma, which equals 8.3 percent of all adults and 8.3 percent of all children in the United States.

Whether you are an adult or child dealing with asthma you understand how careful you need to be when controlling asthma triggers. Common triggers including pollen, dust mites, polluted air, stress, and cigarette smoke.

The good news for asthma patients is that many of these respiratory triggers are simple enough to control with a few effective techniques. However, if you start to experience more frequent symptoms of an asthma attack then you’ll want to re-evaluate your treatment options.

So how can patients control and manage their asthma and related symptoms?

Asthma patients can manage triggers with household maintenance, awareness

Keeping your household clean is one of the most effective ways to lower your contact with asthma triggers. Some of the best ways to keep your living space trigger-free includes:

• Routinely dusting and cleaning counter tops and other household surfaces
• Using hypoallergenic bedding and washing any bedding at least once a week in hot water
• Keeping windows closed during dry and windy days to reduce spread of outdoor pollen
• Using air conditioning units to cool down your home on hot days instead of leaving windows open, and frequently changing air filters on AC units
• Taking a shower as soon as you can after going outside on high-pollen days

Even with household triggers under control an asthma patient also needs to be aware of preventive measures to control asthma. These measures include:

• Keeping your inhaler on you at all times in case of a potential attack
• Avoiding going outside when possible on days where pollens and triggers are more abundant than normal
• Get vaccinations for influenza or other illness to reduce the chance of triggers or other respiratory irritations
• Follow your asthma action plan and help your child keep up with their plan. An asthma action plan details all of the medications, prevention steps, and daily routines that help keep triggers under control

Visit an urgent care center whenever you require asthma treatment

Asthmatic patients may need treatment if they notice their symptoms getting worse or if they are using their inhaler more frequently. If this happens, try going to a nearby urgent care center to get symptom relief, adjustments to your asthma action plan, and refills for your inhaler.

Patients that require urgent care near Stoneham, MA can always visit AFC Urgent Care at 16 Main St. or call us at 781.279.4000 for more questions. Patients can also come in to our walk-in clinic and get local urgent care without an appointment!