The warning signs of an asthma attack are pretty easy to spot and include: tightness in the chest, coughing, wheezing and restlessness while trying to sleep. Others have experienced itchiness on the face or head. Anyone who has had an asthma attack remembers the panic you feel, so it is important to practice simple techniques to calm the body and the mind; and to have an action plan in place for when the attack hits.
Instructions
1. Have a plan in place prior to an asthma attack. When an asthma attack happens, it is important to have an action plan already in place. Know where your medication is. Take your prevention medication regularly to prevent attacks, but also have a relief medication with you at all times. Once you are having the attack, your prevention inhaler is not going to help you.
The biggest thing to do is relax. Calm yourself mentally. Tell yourself it is going to be okay. Calmly get your relief medication and take it as quickly as possible. Purse your lips to breathe in slow breaths.
Allow yourself to cough. Coughing can loosen mucus in the throat and coughing it out can allow you to breathe more normally.
If the attack is really bad--worse than normal--and it seems to happen more frequently, make sure to contact your doctor.
2. Talk to children. Children with asthma tend to panic more during an attack than adults do. An asthma attack is scary, because suddenly you feel like a fish out of water. The body's first impulse is to start panicking and gulping air. But this can worsen the attack because your body goes into shock when it doesn't get enough oxygen.
Talk to children repeatedly about what to do when an attack happens. The attacks may happen when adults aren't around and it is good to practice with the child to make sure they know what to do when it does happen.
3. Try practicing breathing techniques. One suggestion is to use the Russian breathing technique--which can be a way to ease the asthma attack without drugs. "It's a drug-free approach, developed by a Russian physician, Dr. Konstantin Buteyko, called the Buteyko (shallow breathing) Method," reports Natural News.
It's a simple technique that once practiced and used can really help calm you down in the midst of an asthma attack. By using shallow breathing with extended pauses, you can get your body to understand and can lengthen the controlled pauses to 60 seconds. Then when the attack occurs you start the technique and your body is familiar with it, so it helps the panic of the attack subside more quickly.
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