Difficult to control asthma

Allergies
Allergens can be found in a variety of sources such as house dust mite, pollen and pet dander.

If you are allergic to something, ongoing exposure can aggravate the inflammation in your airways and increase the severity of your asthma.

Therefore, avoiding or reducing exposure to risk factors, when possible, can help improve asthma control.

Other aggravating disorders
Other underlying health conditions may not necessarily be related to asthma but can make it worse:

• Rhinitis (inflammation of the nasal passages).
• Sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses).
• Acid reflux (indigestion, heartburn).
• Sleep apnoea (pauses in breathing during sleep which reduce the oxygen level in your blood).
• Psychological problems (like anxiety, low mood or depression).
• Abnormal breathing patterns (sometimes called dysfunctional breathing).
• Obesity (Being overweight adds to all kinds of health problems including asthma).

It is known that of those people with difficult to control asthma 90% will also have an allergic reaction to at least one substance when skin prick testing is done.

Sometimes despite working with your GP and practice team, difficult to control asthma continues and you may require the expert attention of respiratory specialist team in hospital.

Symptoms of an allergic reaction
Any medication may have side effects but most of the time they are mild and easily tolerated. A few people may have an allergic reaction to their medicine such as:

• Rash, difficulty breathing, swelling or feeling faint.
• Joint pain with or without swelling or stiffness, rash, fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle pain.
• Swelling, pain or rash around blood or lymph vessels, high level of a specific type of white blood cells.
• Worsening problems with breathing, nasal congestion, heart problems, pain, numbness, tingling in the arm and legs.