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Asthma

How a Family Doctor Can Help Manage Asthma

Asthma is a chronic condition that can cause chest pain, difficulty breathing, and wheezing. One of the most common causes of asthma is allergies, usually due to environmental factors such as dust, smoke, and pollution. A respiratory illness can also trigger asthma symptoms.

While there is no cure for asthma, you can keep your asthma symptoms under control with the help of your family doctor. A primary care doctor can coordinate your healthcare with other medical specialists and help you maintain your quality of life.

Asthma is one of the most commonly treated conditions by family medicine providers. It may surprise you to know that even if you are already seeing an allergy doctor for your asthma, the allergy specialist may recommend that you also see a primary care provider.

Let’s talk about why you need to have a primary care physician, how a family doctor can help you manage your asthma, and where you can go in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach for top-notch medical care for yourself and your whole family.

Reason #1: A Family Doctor Can Help You Manage Several Conditions at Once

A family medicine provider helps you control not just asthma but also other chronic conditions you may have, such as high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes. Your family doctor can provide comprehensive care by taking into account your medical history, lifestyle, and preferences.

It can be challenging trying to manage several health conditions concurrently, but it’s not impossible. Some medications have ingredients that contraindicate each other, in which case they should not be taken at the same time – and your family doctor will make sure that none of your medicines are counteracting. Similarly, some recommendations for one condition may not be recommended for another condition, and this physician will help you to make the best decisions about how to take a comprehensive approach.

Reason #2: A Family Doctor Can Help Prevent Complications of Asthma

The breadth of knowledge and experience of a primary care doctor includes training in diagnosing and treating asthma, so this physician knows how to help you reduce or prevent complications that may arise – such as a worsening of asthma symptoms. Family medicine providers give personalized, high-quality care to keep you healthy for a lifetime.

How a Family Doctor Helps Keep Asthma Under Control

The goal is to prevent and control asthma attacks and establish normal lung function. This includes identifying your own personal triggers and avoiding them, and also the use of medication.

Depending on your needs, you may require the use of short-acting and long-acting prescription asthma medication. The doctor will educate you on the use of a peak flow meter, and teach you how to use it to detect an oncoming attack and possibly prevent it.

The doctor will also teach you how to properly use a rescue inhaler to experience quick relief from your asthma symptoms. The long-term medication prescribed by your family medicine provider will help prevent asthma attacks and lessen their severity when they do arise.

Family Doctor in Wellington, FL

If you want to take control of your asthma, let our family medicine provider here at Advanced Medical Clinic, Dr. Shariffa Gunawardene, help you live a better life. Dr. Gunawardene provides personalized asthma treatment for our patients who have allergy-induced asthma, and she takes her time with each patient to determine the best course of action for optimal health and wellness. She and her husband, Dr. Ishan Gunawardene, together lead our medical team and will ensure you receive the full and proper diagnostics and treatment that works for you.

If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, call our primary care clinic today at (561) 434-1935 or fill out our convenient online appointment request form. We look forward to serving you!

Swimming When You Have Asthma

Swimming has become a common form of exercise for people with asthma. In fact, it is an activity and competitive sport for many asthmatics, even Olympian athletes! One such athlete is Olympic gold medalist Amy Van Dyken who won a total of six gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games. Van Dyken was diagnosed with asthma at a young age. When she was 6 years old, her pediatrician suggested she take up swimming, and the rest is Olympic gold history. Amy has since retired from competitive swimming competitively.

Because swimming helped this world-class athlete with asthma, perhaps it can help you, too. Be sure to talk to your doctor before diving in.

Benefits of Swimming With Asthma

There are benefits to swimming when you have asthma. Swimming induces less instances of bronchoconstriction – when the airways constrict, resulting in shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing – than other sports, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Swimming is an excellent exercise option for people with asthma. In fact, swimming is sometimes utilized as asthma therapy. Learning to regulate breathing is crucial for asthma sufferers, and swimming a lap requires swimmers to pace their breathing in order to make it across the length of the pool. Warm air in a cool pool is a combination that works for asthma sufferers. Swimmers with asthma gain more benefits from swimming than they could with other activities.

Keeping the airways of the lungs open is the key to avoiding an asthma attack. The primary goal for every person with asthma is unrestricted airways. Swimming in an indoor pool provides an opportunity that other exercises don’t. The indoor pools’ humidity is credited with helping to keep airways open.

Primarily found outside, pollen and mold spores are allergens, which can trigger asthma attacks. Swimmers obviously aren’t typically exposed to these triggers while swimming in an indoor pool. Additionally, dried-out airways – often the result of being exposed to cold, dry air – can trigger asthma attacks. The air surrounding an indoor pool is humid and moist. And because exercise, including swimming, increases breathing rate, swimmers’ airways tend not to dry out.

Swimming when you have asthma is a good idea. It increases physical fitness that might otherwise be impossible for asthma sufferers. Swimming provides the perfect conditions for good breathing and it increases lung function. However, if you have asthma, be sure to check with your doctor before starting any physical activity.

Find out more about what is appropriate or not appropriate when you have asthma by contacting the primary care providers at Advanced Medical in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach, Florida. Call us at (561) 434-1935 or use our convenient appointment request form.