Are You at Risk for Asthma? Plus Steps to Breathe Easier
Asthma, a chronic condition that impacts your breathing, affects one in thirteen people in the United States. Watch one asthma patient regain a better quality of life and get answers to common questions about asthma in this 2 Your Well-Being discussion with WFMY News 2.
Breathing Easier
Peggy Clough is breathing easy now, but not too long ago, the Guilford County mom struggled for air.
Clough describes "not being able to catch your breath, and you get to a point where you’re coughing so bad, you’re gagging.” She often felt winded and had a painful tightness in her chest. Her shortness of breath turned into wheezing – and eventually an emergency.
Wheezing is a loud, labored breathing occurs during an asthma attack. As airways tighten, it's harder to get air in and out. And in Clough’s case, that was happening almost every 30 days.
Nikita Desai, MD, specializes in treating lung conditions – including asthma – at LeBauer Pulmonary Care.
“Peggy was getting treatment for her asthma exacerbations with prednisone and antibiotics almost every month, and it was really interfering with her quality of life,” says Dr. Nikita. “And so we sat down and kind of really re-examined what her triggers would be and adjusted her inhaler therapy to try and get that under better control.”
There are many risk factors and triggers for asthma. Asthma runs in families. It can be related to smoking or secondhand smoke, air pollution and industrial chemicals. Where you live can also impact your asthma.
According to Dr. Desai, “Greensboro is actually a city that consistently ranks amongst the worst for asthma control across the country… based on looking at the number of times a patient has to come to the emergency department or needs rescue medications like prednisone for their treatment.”
All sorts of environmental factors can trigger asthma. Allergies can set off symptoms. “Here in North Carolina,” says Dr. Desai, “we are lucky to have beautiful trees and beautiful flowers. We also have heat and humidity in the summer. And all of these things can contribute to poor asthma control. We also look at things like air quality and socio-economic status, which play heavily in asthma control.”
Infections from viruses or bacteria can also cause asthma to flare up. “Whether that's allergies or infection, or other medical conditions. And generally what happens is that trigger goes into your lungs and causes a narrowing of your airways,” says Dr. Desai. Opening your airways up requires medical treatment, mostly through rescue inhalers. Severe cases require steroids, antibiotics albuterol, and often a trip to urgent care.
Before receiving a new treatment plan, Clough remembers struggling with her asthma. “I was on steroids all the time. I was on antibiotics all the time, and my body could not fight it back. And I just really think that eventually it would have just gone to being on an oxygen tank all the time.”
But Dr. Desai says there are new ways to keep it from getting to that point. “In the last five years, we've had a lot of breakthroughs in asthma treatment. These are new medications that were never available to a lot of our patients who have had asthma as children, so a lot of them may not know that these treatments are out there and available.”
Maintenance inhalers like can keep lungs calm when exposed to environmental triggers. The medication Dupixent also improves breathing and can prevent severe asthma attacks.
Today, Clough uses a new strategy to control her asthma. “I use an inhaler in the morning. I take an Allegra tablet for allergies, and then I take the Dupixent shot every two weeks.” Clough credits these new therapies for helping her regain a better quality of life with asthma.
Watch the full video interview with Dr. Desai for more information on asthma symptoms, risk factors and treatments.
