This area is for adults who have asthma, care for a child with asthma, or simply want to know more about this disease. If you would like to view a "movie" about asthma (in English or Spanish), click here.

Basic Asthma Information

What is Asthma?
Asthma is a lifelong, or chronic breathing problem caused by swelling (inflammation) of the airways in the lungs. It cannot be cured, but it can be prevented and controlled. When you have asthma, your airways are super sensitive, or “twitchy.” They may react to many things. These things are called triggers.  People who have asthma may wheeze or complain of feeling “tight” in the chest. They may also cough a lot when their asthma is not under control.

Asthma Keys:

  • Develop an Asthma Action/Management Plan with your doctor. Go over it with your doctor or asthma specialist until you are comfortable with it. Update it often.
  • Avoid your triggers.
  • Know when and how to use your medications. Take them as directed.
  • Check your peak flow daily, if your doctor tells you to.
  • Have your quick relief medications handy at all times.
  • Watch for early warning signs of an asthma attack.  
Is Asthma a Serious Disease?
Asthma is a serious disease, and can kill if it is not treated the right way. When it is treated the right way, people with asthma can live normal, active lives. 

What are the Symptoms of Asthma?
Not all people with asthma have the same symptoms, however, the most common symptoms are:

  • Shortness of breath, chest “tightness”
  • Wheezing
  • Cough lasting more than a week, or that happens during the night or after exercise
  • Chronic cough (sometimes coughing is the only symptom you will have)
  • When you have a cold, it lasts for more than 10 days, and goes into your chest

Who Gets Asthma?

Anyone can get asthma, at any age. Sometimes it starts in infancy, other times it starts later in childhood.  Although some children seem to “outgrow” asthma, the disease never really goes away, there is just a time when you are not having any breathing problems. Asthma can also start at any time during adulthood, including the senior years.  Some people start having asthma symptoms after a bad cold or flu. Other people develop asthma after a work-related exposure. If you suspect that you have asthma, see your doctor or health care provider. 

What is an Asthma Attack?

An asthma “attack” or episode is a time of increased asthma symptoms. The symptoms can be mild or severe. Anyone can have a severe attack, even a person with mild asthma. The attack can start suddenly or slowly. Sometimes a mild attack will seem to go away, but will come back a few hours later, and the second attack will be much worse than the first.  Severe asthma symptoms need medical care right away. 

During an asthma attack, the lining of the airways in the lungs swells. The muscles around the airways tighten and make the airways narrower. All of these changes in the lungs block the flow of air, making it hard to breathe. Knowing what  is happening in the lungs during an asthma attack will help you to know why it often takes more than one medicine to treat the disease.

What Can Be Done During an Asthma Attack?
The best time to plan for an asthma attack is long before one happens, at the doctor's office. There, the doctor, the person with asthma and their family can make an Asthma Action Plan that will tell them what to do if asthma symptoms start.

Along with following the Asthma Action Plan, here are some other helpful hints:

1.    Stay calm, and try to relax. It isn’t easy! But the more you panic, the worse your breathing will get.

2.    Tell someone that you are having asthma symptoms. Get help if you need it. Don’t try to tough it out alone! Have the person stay with you.

3.   Take the quick-relief medication as your Asthma Action Plan tells you to. Not sure which medication is the quick-relief one?  Ask your doctor, asthma counselor, or pharmacist about it before you need it in an emergency!

4.    If the quick-relief medicine hasn’t helped in 5-10 minutes, call the doctor or 911.

5.    Keep taking the quick-relief medicine, or as directed by doctor, every 5-10 minutes until the ambulance arrives.

Never adjust your asthma medications or change how much you take unless your doctor has written it in your Asthma Action Plan or told you to do so over the phone.

What Can You Expect from Your Asthma Treatment?
With proper treatment for your asthma, you should be able to:

  • Stay active and symptom free (this includes exercising and playing sports)
  • Reduce or even prevent asthma symptoms
  • Maintain normal functioning
    • No missed school or work because of asthma
    • No or minimal need for emergency department visits or hospitalizations
    • Sleep through the night without having asthma symptoms
  • Have no or very few side effects from asthma medicines
  • Have normal or near normal lung function
  • Be satisfied with your asthma care

Help Each Other:

Have you had an experience related to asthma that may help others deal with this disease? Submit your story to us, and we'll post it here.  Click here to read stories written by other people who have learned to manage their asthma.

Assistance Programs:

 Asthma can be a difficult disease in many respects. If you need local help with an asthma-related problem, please use this service to find assistance programs in your community. If there isn't an assistance program listed for your area, click here to find the American Lung Association of Michigan office closest to you, they may be able to help.


  Is Your Asthma Under Control?
Do You or Your Child...

  • Miss school or work because of asthma?
  • Have trouble being active or exercising because of asthma?
  • Sometimes need to go to an urgent care facility or to the emergency room because of asthma?
  • Take your “quick-relief inhaler” more than two times a week?
  • Awaken at night with asthma more than two times a month?
  • Refill your “quick-relief inhaler” more than two times a year?


If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, your (or your child’s) asthma is NOT UNDER CONTROL. Talk to your doctor about your (or your child’s) asthma!

Click here for the Rules of Two™ in Spanish

The Rules of Two™ is a registered trademark of the Baylor Health Care System

 How Is Asthma Controlled?
There are two important ways to treat and control asthma:

  1. Prevent asthma symptoms from starting
  2. Stopping symptoms or asthma attacks soon after they have started

To prevent asthma symptoms, you and your doctor will make an Asthma Action Plan that keeps you breathing easy. It may include medicines that keep the airways from becoming swollen (called long-term controllers) but these medicines need to be taken regularly, even when you are feeling good. You may also be told to take medicines that help you breathe better fast (called quick-relief medicines). You will need to find out what triggers your asthma symptoms. Once you know your triggers, you can avoid them to help prevent asthma attacks. You and your doctor or asthma coordinator can make a plan that puts all of these ideas on one simple guide. 

The right treatment can stop symptoms or asthma attacks once they have started. It is important to treat even mild symptoms or asthma to keep them from getting worse. The earlier you treat your asthma symptoms, the easier it is to reverse them and feel well again.  Your Asthma Action/Management Plan will tell you what to do if you have asthma symptoms. Be sure to keep your quick-relief medicine handy. Get help right away if your symptoms get worse after you take your medicine, if relief from the medicine does not last for four hours, or if the quick-relief medicine does not work.