How Can Allergists Help Your Asthma?
Studies show that people with asthma who see an allergist reduce their:
Symptoms
Emergency room visits
Hospital stays
Visits to the doctor because they are sick
Missed days from work or school
Health care costs
They also are happier about their care and have a better quality of life.
Anyone who has asthma should see an allergist to keep the disease under control. Government guidelines from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) recommend seeing an asthma specialist such as an allergist if you:
- Have asthma symptoms every day and often at night that cause you to limit your activity
- Have had a life-threatening asthma attack
- Do not meet the goals of your asthma treatment after three to six months
- Are not responding to current treatment
- Have symptoms that are unusual or hard to diagnose
- Have conditions such as severe hay fever or sinusitis that complicate your asthma or your diagnosis
- Need more tests to find out more about your asthma and what causes your symptoms
- Need more help and instruction on your treatment plan, medicines or asthma triggers
- Might be helped by allergy shots
- Need treatment with a medicine called oral corticosteroids
- Have stayed in a hospital because of your asthma
- Need help to identify your asthma triggers
- Have a child ages 0-4 who has asthma symptoms every day and three to four nights or more a month, or a child of any age who has symptoms three days or more a week and one to two nights a month