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(08) 6110 0570admin@pdchealthhub.com.auAsthma is a long term lung condition in which the airways are sensitive and inflamed, so they narrow easily and breathing gets hard. Your GP diagnoses it, prescribes the inhalers and writes your action plan.
Asthma is a long-term lung condition. The airways in your lungs are sensitive and inflamed, and when something sets them off the muscle around them tightens, the lining swells and reddens and more mucus is produced, so the airway narrows and breathing gets hard.1,3 That is a flare-up, also called an asthma attack. The usual symptoms are wheezing, coughing, breathlessness and a tight chest, often worse at night, early in the morning, in cool weather or after exercise. Asthma triggered by physical activity is known as exercise-induced asthma.1
Your GP diagnoses asthma and prescribes for it, using your history and breathing tests such as spirometry.1 Your GP also writes your asthma action plan, with you rather than for you, and that plan tells you what to do as your symptoms change, including what to do in an emergency. Everyone with asthma should have one, no matter their age or how mild it feels.2 Asthma first aid depends on which reliever you carry: the National Asthma Council Australia sets out separate steps for a blue or blue-grey puffer and for a combination anti-inflammatory reliever.4,5 PDC clinicians do not diagnose asthma and do not prescribe or change inhalers.
The two inhalers do different jobs. A preventer is taken regularly to settle the inflammation and keep asthma under control. A reliever opens the airways within minutes when symptoms come on.1 Needing the reliever often is not a sign it is working. It is a marker of poor control and of higher risk of severe flare-ups, which is why reliever-only treatment is no longer recommended for adults and adolescents.1,7 If you are using it more than twice a week, apart from before exercise, book a review.3 Little or no relief from your reliever during a flare-up is a sign of a severe attack and needs 000, not another dose.6
PHOTO NEEDED · Add a Hero Image to this condition in the CMS: a PDC clinician with a client, natural light, no identifiable health information on screen
Symptoms are a guide, not a diagnosis. Your GP confirms the diagnosis; our team helps you manage it day to day.
The teams and services that most often support people with this condition. They work from one shared plan, and one GP referral reaches all of them.
This page follows Australian guidance: Healthdirect Australia, Asthma Australia on written action plans, National Asthma Council Australia on asthma first aid and reliever choice, and the WA Department of Health. Diagnosis, prescribing and your written asthma action plan sit with your GP.
Bring your own inhaler and spacer to a pharmacist and use it in front of them, because that is the only way to find out. Technique slips are common, easy to miss and easy to correct, and they improve most when you demonstrate it, get corrected and then show it back. It is worth checking before any increase in your treatment, and again whenever your device changes.
Call triple zero (000) for an ambulance first, say it is an asthma emergency, and then start asthma first aid while you wait. Follow your own written asthma action plan, which has a section for a severe flare-up and a section for an emergency. If you have no plan, the steps depend on which reliever is in your hand, because a blue or blue-grey puffer and a combination anti-inflammatory reliever such as budesonide-formoterol have separate charts, so use the National Asthma Council Australia asthma first aid chart for your device. With a blue or blue-grey puffer, sit the person upright and stay calm, give 4 puffs one at a time with 4 breaths after each puff, wait 4 minutes, then keep giving the reliever one puff at a time until the ambulance arrives.
A preventer is taken regularly, whether or not you feel symptoms, and it works by settling the inflammation in your airways so flare-ups are less likely. A reliever works within minutes to open the airways when symptoms are already happening. Current Australian guidance favours an anti-inflammatory reliever for adults and adolescents, and reliever-only treatment is no longer recommended. Which inhalers you are on is your GP's decision, not ours.
Yes, and getting fitter usually means you can work harder before symptoms start. Do a proper warm-up and cool-down, keep your reliever with you, and bear in mind that cool, dry air is a common trigger. If symptoms start, stop and follow your action plan, and only go back to it once your breathing is normal. Tell your GP if exercise sets your asthma off, because it is treatable.
Healthdirect advises regular reviews with your doctor every 6 to 12 months, and more often after hospital treatment, after a change in treatment or during pregnancy. Asthma Australia advises having the action plan itself checked once a year for adults, and updated whenever your medicines or symptoms change. Bring your inhalers to the appointment.
Tell us what is going on and we will point you to the right discipline, or to more than one. Most people start with a single appointment and leave with a plan the rest of the team can see.
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