What is asthma?
Asthma is caused by inflammation in the airway "tubes" in the lungs. This inflammation makes these tubes red and swollen. It also irritates the muscles around the air tubes and makes them contract. All this leads to narrow airways making it harder than normal to breathe out.

How would I feel if I have asthma?
The main symptoms are wheezing (a "whistle" sound on breathing out), feeling like you can't get enough air, or cough. Some people can have asthma in their lungs, but don't feel anything at all. We have tools to help sort out how much asthma is in the lungs.

Is asthma curable?
There is no cure for asthma. However, asthma is very treatable. This means we have medicines that will improve the symptoms and help prevent missed school and work. It is very important to keep using asthma controller medicine for it to keep working. The amount of controller medicine each person needs is different, and will often change over time. Allergy shots may improve symptoms and reduce the need for medication in certain people.

What else can be done to help asthma?
If you have allergic asthma, then avoiding the things to which you are allergic will help. Everyone with asthma should avoid smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke. One thing to know is that if asthma is keeping you from exercising, or doing your normal activities, you may benefit from more, or different treatment. Our goal is to keep people at their full activity level.

One other thing - the use of inhalers for asthma is not always easy. Even if you are a pro, we consider it to be very important to make sure you are using your asthma medicine correctly. After all - if the medicine doesn't get to your airways - there is no benefit from the medicine!