Community Pediatric Asthma Service

Anyone using a metered-dose inhaler (MDI aka "puffer") should always use a spacer.  A spacer helps more medicine reach your lungs. 

If you don't want to use a spacer, you should talk to your doctor about getting a different asthma device.  Dry powder inhalers do not require spacers and are used for children 6 years and older.

Ask your pharmacist, your doctor, or your asthma educator to review your device technique every time you see them. It is harder to be good at taking your medicine than you might think. Consider using the same device for all your asthma medications so that you can become really good at one technique.

We have natural hormones (glucocorticoids) in our bodies that help keep the airways open by reducing inflammation. At nighttime when you are sleeping, these hormones are normally at lower levels, allowing more inflammation in the airways and increasing asthma symptoms. If your child has regular asthma symptoms at night, it may mean their asthma is poorly controlled and you should make an appointment to discuss this with your doctor.

Definitely! If you are continuously exposed to one of your allergic triggers your asthma will be more severe and you will likely need more medicine to control your symptoms. Many people who are exposed to a pet or other allergen continuously may not experience immediate symptoms, but this does not mean they are not allergic. Constant exposure will contribute to swelling in the airways of your lungs and swelling causes asthma symptoms. Constant exposure to your triggers makes it more likely for you to experience more severe symptoms when you are exposed to other triggers (an additive effect). Intermittent (off and on) exposure to allergic triggers can cause immediate, and occasionally severe asthma symptoms. All allergic triggers that you have identified should be avoided as much as possible so that your asthma is milder and easier to control with less medicine.

Allergy testing is used to try to identify allergic triggers that may be making allergic conditions, like hayfever, food allergies and asthma, worse. Once allergic triggers are identified, steps can be taken to reduce exposure to help reduce the severity of symptoms. Most allergists will use a prick skin test to identify allergic triggers.  This is a procedure when a small drop of allergen extract is placed on the forearm or back and the surface of the skin is pricked through the drop. If you are allergic to that allergen, a small hive will appear at the site of a positive test within twenty minutes.

Skin tests aren't always accurate. Skin testing sometimes indicates an allergy when there isn't one (false-positive) or skin testing may not trigger a reaction when you're exposed to something that you are allergic to (false-negative). You may react differently to the same test performed on a different day or you may react positively to a substance during a test, but not react to it in everyday life.

Yes!  Animals with asthma take the same medicines humans do (a controller and a reliever) and they even use a spacer like we do! Take a look at some pictures of our furry friends using asthma devices to treat their symptoms

Asthma medicines are very safe when used as prescribed by a doctor. The treatment goal is to adjust the amount of medicine to keep good control of asthma (no symptoms). The benefits of good asthma control far outweigh any possible risks or side effects of asthma medicines. 

When asthma is well controlled, most colds can be managed using more reliever medicine and following your asthma action plan. If you don’t have an action plan, ask your doctor or health care provider to write you a plan or refer you to an Asthma Educator.

You should use your medicines as your doctor has prescribed them. Using your controller and reliever medicines should help your asthma symptoms when you are exposed to your asthma triggers. If you have concerns or questions, ask your doctor or health care provider.

Saline (salt) sprays and rinses can also be used to help clear the nose.

Yes. Someone who has an allergy to a food and also has asthma can develop immediate worsening of asthma symptoms during an allergic reaction to that food. On the other hand, it would be extremely unlikely for food allergies to cause regular asthma symptoms. An assessment by a trained allergist can confirm or rule out any concerns you have about allergy triggers, including food.

A food allergy can be life-threatening (anaphylaxis), especially if someone also has asthma. It is very important to have well-controlled asthma when you have food anaphylaxis.  Anaphylaxis can be fatal.

• Take a look here for more questions and answers