- Physical exam
- Medical history
- Lung function tests, including spirometry, to test how well your lungs work
- Tests to measure how your airways react to specific exposures. During this test, you inhale different concentrations of allergens or medicines that may tighten the muscles in your airways. Spirometry is done before and after the test.
- Peak expiratory flow (PEF) tests to measure how fast you can blow air out using maximum effort
- Fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) tests to measure levels of nitric oxide in your breath when you breathe out. High levels of nitric oxide may mean that your lungs are inflamed.
- Allergy skin or blood tests, if you have a history of allergies. These tests check which allergens cause a reaction from your immune system.
Treatments
When you have asthma, it is important to work closely with your healthcare provider to determine the best treatment plan to manage your symptoms and prevent attacks. The plan will include the following:
- Strategies to avoid triggers. If tobacco smoke is a trigger for you, you should not smoke or allow other people to smoke in your home or car.
- Short-term relief medicines, also called quick-relief medicines. These will help prevent symptoms or relieve symptoms during an asthma attack. They include an inhaler to carry with you all the time. It may also include other types of medicines, which work quickly to help open your airways.
- Control medicines. You take them every day to help prevent symptoms. They work by reducing airway inflammation and preventing narrowing of the airways.
If you experience a severe attack and short-term relief medicines don’t work, you should seek emergency care. Your provider may also adjust your treatments until your asthma symptoms are controlled.
In some cases, asthma may be severe and not easily controlled with medicines and other treatments.
Doctors may suggest bronchial thermoplasty for adults with uncontrolled asthma. This procedure uses heat to shrink the smooth muscle in the lungs. Shrinking the muscle reduces your airway’s ability to tighten and allows you to breathe more easily. The procedure has some risks, so it’s important to discuss them with your provider.