Don’t Let Asthma Leave You Breathless: Develop an Asthma Action Plan
Did you know, nearly 25 million people in the United States (US) are living with asthma? 1Black Americans with asthma have approximately 5x higher asthma-related emergency department visits and 3x more asthma-related deaths than White Americans. 2 This difference is due to several factors:
According to Dr Dirks, “Many people with asthma do not have an Asthma Action Plan and Black and Hispanic/Latino American children are less likely to have an Asthma Action Plan than White children.”3
But you can take charge of your asthma management. One way to do this is by creating a personalized Asthma Action Plan that is unique to your asthma, with your healthcare provider.4
Your Asthma Action Plan will guide you on4,5:
- How to manage your asthma every day
- What to do when your asthma symptoms get worse
- How to adjust your medicine(s) in response to your asthma getting worse
- How to manage your asthma when you exercise or get sick
- Who to contact in case of an emergency
Don’t forget to bring your Asthma Action Plan to your medical appointments and get it
checked and updated regularly by your healthcare provider.
Another way to manage your asthma is by keeping an asthma journal.
An asthma journal helps you track your asthma by recording information about your daily routine, your asthma symptoms, times when asthma symptoms get worse, new asthma triggers, and how your asthma changes following a change in treatment.5
BREATHE is a daily asthma journal–designed by LUMA™–that helps you collect information about YOUR ASTHMA and helps your healthcare provider develop an Asthma Action Plan just for you.6
Practical Tips for Managing Your Asthma
You can manage your asthma at home by doing the following:
- Update your asthma journal regularly with information such as triggers that cause your
symptoms, so you know how often you are having an asthma attack and how severe
it is4 - Measure your peak flow to understand when to use your quick-relief asthma medicine
or when to seek emergency care7 - Identify lack of asthma control based on the “Rules of Two”8
○ Have asthma symptoms or use your rescue inhaler more than 2x per week
○ Wake at night with symptoms more than 2x per month
○ Refill your rescue inhaler more than 2x per year - Know your medicines and the right technique for your prescribed medicine(s)4
- Reduce exposure to indoor asthma triggers9
- Track air quality information in your area to protect yourself from unhealthy levels
of pollution9
You can learn more about how you can better understand and manage your severe asthma during the Fall Peak Asthma season by listening to KBLA’s full interview with Dr Reema Dirks, and visit https://luma-edu.com to learn more about managing your asthma
using your personalized Asthma Action Plan.
References
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov/asthma/most_recent_
national_asthma_data.htm. Accessed September 11, 2024.
2. Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
https://aafa.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/asthma-disparities-in-america-burden-byrace-
ethnicity-executive-summary.pdf. Accessed September 11, 2024.
3. Allergy & Asthma Network.
https://allergyasthmanetwork.org/what-is-asthma/asthma-action-plan/.
Accessed September 20, 2024.
4. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/asthma/treatment-action-plan. Accessed September 11, 2024.
5. Mayo Clinic.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/asthma/in-depth/asthma-treatment/art-
20044284. Accessed September 11, 2024.
6. BREATHE: A daily asthma journal.
https://www.luma-edu.com/assets/files/LUMA-Asthma-Journal.pdf. Accessed September
11, 2024.
7. Johns Hopkins Medicine.
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/peak-flowmeasurement#:~:
text=Peak%20flow%20measurement%20is%20a,term%20(chronic)%20
lung%20disease. Accessed September 11, 2024.
8. American Lung Association.
https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/asthma/managingasthma/
asthma-control. Accessed September 11, 2024.
9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/control/index.html.
Accessed September 11, 2024.
