Asthma & Immunology Treatment

Asthma is a chronic condition that causes inflammation and swelling of the breathing passages in your lungs. Symptoms include difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, and other uncomfortable or painful problems. Although it's most common in children, many adults suffer from asthma as well.

Asthma is a chronic condition, but that doesn't mean you constantly have symptoms. Asthma attacks, which are the times when your symptoms are suddenly quite severe, happen now and then. Some asthma sufferers have attacks quite frequently while others might go weeks or months between attacks.

Asthma attacks generally happen after an irritant reaches your lungs. Each asthma sufferer can have different asthma triggers, so you might not always know what caused the attacks. Some of the most common asthma triggers are:

• Dust mites
• Mold
• Pollen
• Pet dander
• Smoke
• Heavy exercise
• Extreme weather

Determining asthma triggers is a very important part of asthma treatment because it allows your Specialty Physician Associates doctor to personalize treatment for you or your child’s needs. Your doctor does an environmental assessment to find triggers in your home, workplace, school, or anywhere else you spend a great deal of time so you can make changes to reduce them.

Specialty Physician Associates offers a variety of treatments for asthma. In addition to helping you eliminate triggers, your doctor can prescribe one of the following treatments for you or your child’s asthma.

• Daily (preventive) inhalers
• Rescue (as-needed during attacks) inhalers
• Oral medication
• Injected medications
• Immunotherapy for allergies

Every asthma sufferer has different needs, so your doctor works with you until the ideal solution is found. Many patients have two or more asthma treatments for optimal control, including one preventive medication and one rescue medication.