Tracking Asthma Changes

Have you ever been carrying on with life and then what feels like out of nowhere is an asthma attack? This happened to me recently and I was caught off guard. I had been having a really good stretch of asthma symptoms and I rarely have what can be defined as an asthma attack these days. It looked like my good streak had come to an end, and I experienced an asthma attack.

An asthma attack during a period of good asthma control

Generally, not a big deal for me. When it first came on, it felt all too familiar, the wheeze, the chest tightness, and the cough. It took a moment for me to recognize this as an actual asthma attack. I had a few recent moments of what I like to call goofy lungs, and this felt similar, but also different. The strangest part of this particular attack is that I was not sure what the trigger was. For the most part, I have had good control of my triggers and I cannot think of what may have caused this one.

It was almost time for my regular maintenance medications so I decided to go with that as my treatment plan. One of the inhalers is also a rescue inhaler and part of my asthma action plan. Luckily, treating my symptoms worked, which was positive, however, I was wiped out from the incident and it did not even feel significant at the time. This felt unusual. I wondered if this was just the beginning of things to come. I am hoping it is not but only time will tell.

Tracking changes in my asthma

In my experience, it may be an early warning sign that my asthma control has been slipping even if I did not initially notice. I have been known to be a notoriously poor perceiver, however, I thought those days were largely behind me. It was time for me to revert to some monitoring techniques that used to be mainstays in my life.

These techniques include noting symptoms, keeping daily notes of how I am feeling, and monitoring for triggers. I have been wondering if I have to have more reactions or sensitivities to things and if that is contributing to this new crop of symptoms. I have not changed any products or been near any other known triggers to my knowledge, however, I wonder if these have changed in recent months. The weather has been unseasonably warm, and that may be contributing to this situation.

I will be inquiring with my physician to see if further follow-up will be warranted. It has been a long time since I have taken peak flows, so I am not sure I will be adding that to the mix as I no longer have reliable baselines.

Currently, I do not believe that my treatment plan needs to change, however, I will be keeping a close eye on further symptoms and any changes to treatment response just in case. I have hit a good stride with my treatment and I hope that this is not a sign of treatment failure.

Do you track your symptoms, treatments, triggers, and changes?

Have you ever experienced new triggers or a crop-up of new symptoms? I would love to know about your experiences and how you monitored the changes that you may be experiencing.