Flare-ups can range from mild to severe and can be an emergency.
A good asthma treatment plan will minimize flare-ups and enable you to stop them when they occur.
Learn more about asthma flare-ups, including signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment.
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FatCamera / Getty Images
What Is an Asthma Flare-Up?
During an asthma flare-up,asthma symptoms get worse.
Talk with your healthcare provider about how to determine this.
You should be able to walk around normally and speak in full sentences.
You might feel like youre straining your neck to get to breathe deeply.
Your PEF reading could be between 50% and 80% of your personal best.
You might feel confused, anxious, disoriented, or drowsy.
Seek Emergency Help
Asthma can be serious and even life-threatening.
Severe Symptoms
In some cases, asthma can become a medical emergency.
Asthma Flare-Up Causes
There are many reasons your asthma symptoms might flare up at certain times.
These bronchodilators are usually short-acting beta-agonists (SABAs), such asalbuterol.
Increasingly, combination inhalers that include the quick-acting, long-acting bronchodilator named formoterol (e.g.
Your healthcare provider might prescribe oral steroids on a temporary basis to treat a persistent asthma flare-up.
In January 2023, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Airsupra (albuterol and budesonide).
If you use arescue inhaler, see to it to bring it with you everywhere you go.
If your healthcare provider prescribes you preventive controller medications, take them even when youre not having asthma symptoms.
If you have co-occurring medical conditions, treating them can also help to ease your asthma symptoms.
Asthma flare-ups happen when asthma symptoms get worse.
Flare-ups can be mild, moderate, or severe.
If symptoms get worse, its important to seek emergency medical treatment.
In severe cases, asthma can lead to respiratory failure,which can be fatal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Depending on its severity, an asthma flare-up may last a few minutes.
Then again, it may last several hours or even several days.Asthma flare-ups can happen at any time.
Asthma flare-ups do not cause fever.
The symptoms of an asthma flare-up include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath.
However, you might have a fever during an asthma flare-up due to an infection or illness.
Respiratory infections and other illnesses can sometimes trigger asthma symptoms.
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