Expert: Marc Rubin, RPh Asthma Educator - 12/13/2011

Question
I am from India and i am 21 years old, whenever season changes for example in November , march , july.i'e (winter,summer and monsoon.) i mostly face cold and cough later on i also face problem in respiration .Doctors told me its seasonal asthma. When i was of 2 years i am facing this problem..is there any treatment for this deasese..due to this i am unable to join any game and i also fail to concentrate on my studies..

Answer
Hello Ravi,

First, it is important to understand that asthma is a condition of underlying inflammation in the lungs. Even in your good seasons where you do not sense any issue, there is inflammation present, but to a lower degree. The gold standard of therapy is to take control using inhalation steroid medication to reduce the inflammation.

Now, as you describe, your asthma varies with the seasons. What is critical for you to achieve success is to start therapy 6 weeks prior to the start of the season. That will lower the inflammation that is present, and reduce the risk of an attack when the weather changes. What you need to understand is that it may take more than one medication to get you completely under control and reduce the risk of further attacks. This is a normal part of the treatment approach. Once the season is over, the medications can be reduced back, possible to none, until the weather cycles back again.

Also, after being under excellent control with the meds, you may find that what you have percieved in the past as good breathing in the off season, was not as good as you have come to know. It is very important to have breathing tests done to determine the level of inflammation going on. You may find that in the off-season, you may be on a daily tablet like montelukast (known in the US as Singulair), to keep the inflammation at bay, then again, going into your abd seasons, changing back to the inhaler.

Another aspect of control may include nose spray. If you cannot reach good control on oral inhalers, it could be due to your allergies affecting you nose and sinuses. That can aggrivate your lungs, in spite of the other meds.

Now, it may seem that there are a lot of potential medications that may need to be used to get complete control, but that is not necessarily the normal approach, but I wanted you to not get frightened if the doctor needs to add more meds.

And finally, two important points: 1) proper instruction and use of the devioes that administer the medication is critical for best results, and 2) the doctor will need to test you to discover the specific things (we call triggers) that set your lungs off. Avoidance, to your best ability, will result in the best success. Obviously, you cannot change the weather. But staying away from smoke (like cigarettes), getting a flu shot each year, and learning about the illness itself (as you are doing now) will put you in control of your condition, instead of your condition controlling your life.

The best doctors to see about treatment are allergists and pulmonologists. They have the equipment to test, and the experience to get you to your goals the quickest.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

Marc