Is your Asthma well controlled?

Nicole is a sixth grade science teacher who has always taken good care of her health, particularly her asthma. She exercises regularly, watches her diet and gets regular check-ups with her doctor. All through college she took her Advair twice daily as her doctor directed and was on her school’s crew team. Rarely did her breathing interfere with either her studies or her sports. Now in her 30s though, Nicole has found she needs more and more of her “rescue inhaler,” albuterol, just to get through her normal daily activities, like rushing to work in the morning. The doses and number of drugs she takes for her asthma has gradually crept upwards over time, but her symptoms don’t seem to be getting any better. When even exercising at the gym became difficult, Nicole came to a Board Certified Allergy and Asthma Specialist for help.

We started by talking to Nicole about her asthma, about how it affected her life and how her ability to control it had changed. We did a specialized physical exam and some tests to see what type of asthma she had and what triggered her symptoms. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lung’s small airways, and what causes that inflammation in any given person can vary. In Nicole’s case, we found she had an excess of eosinophils in her blood. Eosinophils are a particular kind of white blood cell which some people overproduce causing allergic swelling in the lungs and worsening asthma. We recommended a medication that, when taken just once every two weeks, lowered Nicole’s eosinophil count to normal levels. Soon she was able to get back to her normal active life without having to rely on the bag full of inhalers she initially carried in to our office.

Take the Asthma Control Test. If your score is not at least 19, your asthma may not be as well controlled as it could be! Make an appointment at MN Allergy, Asthma and Immunology with a Board Certified Allergy and Asthma Specialist today! 651-795-9800