Asthma & the Older Adult Series: Managing Your Asthma

So, you've been diagnosed with asthma for the first time as an older adult? Well, welcome to an ever-growing club! More and more older adults are being diagnosed with asthma these days. I talked about why in the previous post in this series.

But what's important to realize is that although there is no cure for asthma -- it's a chronic illness -- it IS very treatable. With the right asthma management plan, there is little reason why asthma should interfere with everyday life, whether you're a child or an older adult.

However, managing asthma in older adults IS more challenging. Here are some reasons why:

• Older adults may be more stoic and less likely to notice a worsening of symptoms.

• Older adults often have multiple health conditions and/or multiple medications that can interfere with asthma treatment.

• Asthma medications can have side effects that can complicate other conditions, including heart disease and osteoporosis.

• Because of cognitive losses or muscle/joint problems, seniors may have trouble using medical devices, such as inhalers, effectively.

Managing Your Asthma

Getting your asthma under control, and keeping it under control, is always the goal of asthma treatment, no matter what your age. The best way to do that is by having an asthma management plan that includes knowledge, medications, avoidance of triggers and a healthy lifestyle.

Learn All You Can About Asthma

No matter what kind of health issue you're dealing with, your first line of defense will always be knowledge. They say, "Knowledge is power!" and when it comes to your health, nothing could be truer. Arm yourself in the fight to stay healthy by learning all that you can about asthma and how to manage it. You'll find tons of information right here on HealthCentral.com, but you can also read books on asthma, ask lots of questions of your doctor or his/her nurse or join an asthma support group.

Whatever you do, just make sure you're getting your information from a reliable source of health information. That's probably NOT your neighbor, family member or acquaintance, whether they have asthma themselves or not. There's a lot of misinformation and myths out there, so make sure you're getting the facts about asthma.

Take Your Medicine

Next, your doctor will probably prescribe some sort of inhaled steroid medication. This is a medication that you take every day (or twice a day) to help your airways expand and relax, so that asthma symptoms are greatly minimized, or hopefully, prevented altogether. You breathe this medicine in, using some sort of inhaler device.

The traditional type of inhaler is a small device called a metered dose inhaler (MDI) that transforms liquid medicine into a fine mist. When used correctly, it's effective. But using it correctly can be challenging for anyone, especially senior citizens. The procedure is slightly complicated, requires strength and flexibility, and doesn't allow much margin for error. When not used correctly, you won't get all of the medicine you're supposed to and that can lead to poor asthma control.