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Choose one
doctor for asthma. When a doctor knows you or your child and has your
medical records, you can handle many different problems over the phone
from home. The doctor can try different medicines or different amounts
of medicine so that your asthma is under control, and you do not have
problems with side effects.
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Keep
all asthma appointments, even if you feel fine and are breathing well. |
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Ask
the doctor for an Asthma Action
Plan to use at home to help you control your asthma. |
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If
you do not have a doctor, ask friends, family and other people you
know for the names of doctors who take care of people with asthma. |
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Your
doctor can send you to a specialist in asthma care if you or your
child has special problems getting asthma under control. |
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Ask
about a peak flow meter and a spacer to help you take
charge of your asthma. |
Click
here for the Checklist for Doctor Visits
Click
here for the Asthma Action Plan
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A preventive
medicine keeps asthma episodes from starting. It works slowly
over many days to stop the swelling in the airways. You take it
every day even when you feel fine and can breathe well. There are
also medicines you can take before running or playing to prevent
episodes. Many people take their preventive medicine all year long
for many years. You cannot become addicted or hooked on these asthma
medicines even if you use them for many years.
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A quick
relief medicine helps stop an asthma episode that has already
started. It can keep the episode from getting serious. It works
fast to stop the tightness and opens the airways in the lungs during
an asthma episode. You can take it at the first sign of a wheeze,
cough, or tight chest. Sometimes doctors also tell people to take
it every day for several weeks after an asthma episode, but quick
relief medicines are not meant to be used to stop episodes every
day for weeks and weeks.
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