Understanding Asthma is a Free comprehensive guide covering asthma's various forms, its symptoms, its management, and its treatments. An essential guide for anyone wanting to understand this growing health concern. Free! Learn more.

INVALUABLE ASTHMA INFORMATION

Then, there's the realization that you're an asthmaic on medication.

What's this going to mean for your baby?

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes a person's airways (bronchial tubes) to experience a particularly sensitive reaction to irritants. It's most often characterized by a difficulty breathing. While it cannot be cured, for most patients it can be controlled with the proper use of those medicines prescribed by the doctor, so that only minimal and infrequent symptoms are experienced. 

Managing your asthma is an important part of a healthy life. This requires that you avoid those environmental influences that tend to irritate your airways, and you take your medications as directed by your doctor. The management and control of your asthma is particularly important when you're pregnant.

With this in mind, you should know that far from being dangerous in pregnancy, certain asthma medicines can actually help to protect your baby and aid in its normal development. In fact, there are no known harmful effects from inhaled steroids (or any preventer inhaler) and bronchodilators (or any reliever inhaler used within reason), even after decades of use by pregnant women, and after decades of study and research.

A number of experts have concluded, after years of evaluating the evidence, that the proper treatment of asthma in pregnancy not only is safe with no negative side effects from the medications on the baby, but that it can even pay dividends in protecting your unborn baby.

Still, it's always advisable to keep the use of medicine to a minimum carrying your unborn baby.

Here are some other tips if you're pregnant:

• Don't smoke during pregnancy and don't allow others to smoke around you.  Smoking causes asthma-like changes in your baby's lungs.  It's also bad for your asthma.  If you don't smoke, and you don't live in a smoky environment, then often you'll require less medicine.
• Do what you can to avoid known allergic causes of asthma such as pets and house dust mites during pregnancy.  By keeping away from the causes of your asthma, once again, you'll also reduce the amount of medicine you're likely to require.
• Get good, up-to-date, professional advice about your asthma. Maintain your regular treatment.  By doing this you'll be less likely to have your asthma become difficult to handle or even result in an emergency.  In other words, regular steady preventer treatment means you're much less likely to need big doses of drugs if your asthma intensifies or you begin to experience more attacks.

A pregnant woman's asthma symptoms may get worse or better during pregnancy.  Approximately one third will encounter increased difficulty with their asthma. Occasionally, this results in severe symptoms. If this occurs in your case, immediately seek the advice of your physician.

Oddly, some women will actually become asthmatic for the very first time while they're pregnant.  Or if not for the very first time, they may suddenly encounter symptoms again after not experiencing an episode since childhood. If you find yourself in either of these situations, your lungs are still very close to functioning normally, so treatment should be minimal and the results effective.

On rare occasions, asthma can be particularly bad during pregnancy. This can require that you be admitted to the hospital (make sure you're not just treated by your obstetrician or general physician, but also by an asthma specialist). Again, this is a rare situation, but it does happen.  The good news is that your asthma will greatly improve after the birth of your child.

The rules for dealing with your asthma during pregnancy are basically the same as at other times. Just make certain to keep an eye on your symptoms and work closely with your physician.

At A Glance

• Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that makes airways (bronchial tubes) particularly sensitive to irritants, and this is characterized by difficulty in breathing.
• Common allergy and asthma medicines are known to be very safe during pregnancy.
• As a result, pregnant women should be able to enjoy an asthma and allergy free pregnancy.
• Far from being dangerous in pregnancies, certain asthma medicines can help to protect your baby and help it to develop normally.
• Pregnant women should avoid cigarette smoke and all other known allergic causes of asthma such as pets and house dust mites during pregnancy.
• By keeping away from the causes of asthma you will reduce the amount of medicine needed.
• Get good, up-to-date, professional advice about your asthma, and take your regular treatment regularly.