No-one with asthma wants to take more medication than they need
to keep them well. If you have been well for some time, your doctor
may advise reducing or stopping a medication. Monitoring with the
Asthma Assistant can demonstrate that you are well enough to
decrease your medication. Secondly, it enables you to document any
change in your condition on decreasing your medication. This is
illustrated in our case study about Peter.
Case Study
Name: Peter
Age: 18 months
Background
Peter was wheezy and coughing at night for months following a
chest infection. His doctor prescribed an inhaled preventer, 2 puffs
to be taken twice a day and also a ventolin inhaler for relieving
his symptoms when needed. Peter is now much better. His symptoms
have disappeared completely and he is sleeping through the night.
His parents are keen to reduce his daily preventer medication. His
doctor has advised them to monitor his condition for a week then to
halve his preventer and to come back in three weeks to see how he is
getting on.
Monitoring With The Asthma Assistant
As Peter is too young to monitor peak flow, his mother has been
monitoring his symptoms and medication using the 'Basic Daily Card'.
After two weeks she returns to see Peter’s doctor with a copy of
Peter’s 'Monthly Basic Report'. The top of the report automatically
begins on Peter’s symptoms. A section of this report is shown below.
You can see that for the first 7 days, Peter has no asthma
symptoms. He does not need his ventolin (reliever) and his mother
rates his asthma as 'Good'. 2 days after she halves his preventer
medication, Peter’s symptoms return. On the 10th and 11th
of July, his mother gives him ventolin twice and rates his asthma
as 'Okay'. On 12th July Peter’s mother gives him ventolin
8 times and rates his asthma as 'Bad'. This suggests Peter is much
worse on this day compared to the previous 2 days.
Summary
This report suggests that Peter does need 4 puffs of preventer a
day to keep him well at the moment. He has no symptoms on 4 puffs a
day, but within a couple of days of halving his preventer
medication, his symptoms return and he needs ventolin. This example
illustrates how monitoring with the program can help you to reduce
your medication
safely. Even if your are unable to monitor peak flow, as
in Peter’s case, you can still keep track of your condition by
monitoring medication and symptoms.
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Please Note:
This is just an hypothetical example. Asthma can be very
different from one person to another and even in one
person at different times. Always get to know your own
asthma. Always work closely with your doctor and nurse who
are essential in educating you about your condition.
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