Uncontrolled asthma is different from regular asthma. With typical asthma, you may experience symptoms for short periods, followed by long periods with no symptoms. With uncontrolled asthma, you often experience difficulty breathing and may suffer from life-threatening asthma attacks.

With uncontrolled asthma, you may experience typical asthma symptoms. However, instead of being something you deal with rarely, it is something you deal with regularly. With uncontrolled asthma, you are likely to experience:

• Constant chest tightness and wheezing
• Increased wheezing and coughing at night that wakes you up
• Increased use of a reliever inhaler
• Reduced peak expiratory flow
• Raised fractional exhaled nitric oxide
• Inability to speak in complete sentences without losing one's breath
• Reduced ability to carry out daily activities

If you experience any of the above symptoms, it is essential to get treatment right away. Don’t wait until your next annual check-in; schedule an appointment with West Hills Allergy & Asthma Associates immediately.

There are a range of reasons why one may experience uncontrolled asthma. Here are a few of the most common reasons: 

• Poor inhaler technique
• Poor routine with taking inhalers and asthma medications
• The right asthma medications and routine have not been identified
• Other long-term conditions that make controlling asthma harder, such as diabetes or a heart condition
• Smoking

Uncontrolled asthma can have many consequences in your life. Common consequences include: 

• Increased visits to the emergency room
• Missed school and work
• Poor sleep 
• Inability to participate in daily activities
• Additional health issues

Uncontrolled asthma can harm your entire life, which is why it is vital to get it under control, so you can live the life you want.

With uncontrolled asthma, our goal is to partner with you so you can learn self-management and get your asthma under control. We will help you with the following tasks: 

• Teaching you optimal inhaler techniques
• Helping you identify your triggers
• Identifying other risk factors impacting your health, such as poor nutrition, exposure to mold, stress, and physical inactivity. 
• Tracking symptoms and triggers
• Completing objective assessments
• Creating a treatment plan

With uncontrolled asthma, you play a massive role in the success of your treatment. You must take ownership of your condition, track your triggers, learn how and when to take your medications, and recognize signs of trouble. 

With uncontrolled asthma, the goal is to focus on asthma management. You need to work with a medical professional to identify your triggers, identify medications that work for you, and learn how and when to use your inhaler. 

The goal of asthma management is to allow you to control the disease, not the other way around. Reaching asthma control means that you meet the following criteria. 

• No waking up during the night due to breathing difficulties
• No daytime symptoms
• No need to use rescue medications
• No asthma attacks
• Zero to very few activity limitations
• Normal lung functions

Our goal is to get patients dealing with uncontrolled asthma to the point where they are in control of the disease and able to live a full and productive life.

At West Hills Allergy & Asthma Associates, Dr. Anderson-Cowell has more than two decades of experience diagnosing and treating patients with uncontrolled asthma. 

Uncontrolled asthma is extremely serious and requires immediate care.  

If you’re looking for expert diagnostic experience and effective treatment history, Dr. Anderson-Cowell can help. For a consultation, please call (503) 297-4779 or request an appointment online.