Monthly Archives: June 2021

Should I See A Pulmonologist Or Allergist For Asthma?

If your physician has advised you to see an asthma specialist, you must be wondering, should I see a pulmonologist or allergist for asthma? To answer this question, we need to understand what every specialist does:

Pulmonologist

A pulmonologist specializes in treating the respiratory system, but it’s not out of the ordinary to find some pulmonologists specializing in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD), making them the best specialists to go for specialized care.

Pulmonologists work in hospitals with patients suffering from serious or chronic breathing problems.

A pulmonologist might not be the perfect professional to visit when you are suffering from asthma, but your pulmonologist can connect you with an asthma specialist that will provide you with the best medical care.

Allergists-immunologists

These often dig deeper into your breathing problems. For example, they will help you know whether you have inflammation, and as you can guess, these are the best specialists to go for when you are suffering from complicated asthma.

How do you know you should visit an asthma doctor?

If you have mild or well-controlled asthma, you don’t have to see an asthma specialist but if you are experiencing persistent asthma attacks or your symptoms are recurring frequently, you may have to see a specialist.

You should see an allergist-immunologist if any of these scenarios apply to you:

  • Your condition isn’t well controlled, you aren’t getting better with the treatment, or the treatment negatively affects your quality of life.
  • You have been hospitalized or taken to the emergency room for asthma at least three times a year.
  • You are experiencing the side effects of asthma medications. The most common side effects include: growth suppression, oral thrush, weight gain, osteoporosis, and emotional changes.

How will the allergy specialist help you?

There are plenty of ways the allergy specialist can help in managing your condition. Some of these ways include:

Finding the triggers

The professionals will test you to help determine the asthma triggers. These can be pollen, dust, mold, animal dander, and others. After finding the triggers, they will educate you on how to avoid them.

Advice on the medication

Since the asthma specialist knows the best asthma medication, he will advise you on the best one to take for your condition. The expert will also prescribe mepolizumab and omalizumab that come in handy at modulating the immune system and suppressing the body’s response to asthma triggers.

Give you access to the latest diagnostic tools.

Since they are experts, allergist immunologists have access to advanced tools to measure lung health. These tools can assess the current lung function, track how responsive the rungs are to the medications, and help you predict the best future treatment.

Work with you in managing asthma.

If you have been visiting your general doctor for some time, you will notice that they often try to manage the symptoms. It’s a completely different ball game with allergy experts—they not only help you manage the symptoms, but work with you to control the condition, so you live your best life.

For example, instead of avoiding going outside, so you don’t have flare-ups due to pollen exposure, the allergist will administer allergen immunotherapy. Here the specialist administers a series of injections or allergen doses to boost your tolerance to the allergen.

What should you consider when visiting an asthma specialist?

Even if you need an asthma doctor Manassas VA, it doesn’t mean you should go to anyone. Take your time to research and find an experienced professional certified to work in your local area. The professional should also have the necessary certifications.

How Can Doctors Tell If You Have Asthma?

When you have asthma symptoms such as coughing, recurrent wheezing, chest tightness, and troubled breathing, you should visit an asthma doctor to tell you whether you are suffering from the condition and what you should do to manage it.

How can doctors tell you have asthma? Well, they usually do a battery of tests to tell how well your lungs are working. Some of these tests include:

Spirometry

This is the main asthma test for people over 5 years. To tell whether you have asthma, the doctors will give you a tube connected to a spirometer. You should forcibly breathe in and out of the tube, and the spirometer will record the volume of air you exhale and how fast you do it.

Depending on your age, the doctor will determine whether you have asthma based on the volume of air you exhale. For example, if you have asthma, you will exhale at lower levels than normal as asthma has narrowed your airways.

If the doctor feels your airways have been compromised, he will tell you to take an asthma drug to open the passages then repeat the test. If your exhaled air is better the second time, you will be said to be suffering from asthma.

Challenge test

If the doctor undertakes the spirometer tests and the results are normal or near-normal, your doctor can try to trigger the asthma symptoms by asking you to inhale a product that causes the airways to narrow like the people suffering from asthma. One of the most common products that the doctor will ask you to inhale is methacholine.

The doctor can also ask you to jump on a stationary bike or jump around to determine whether your asthma is exercise-induced.

After taking the airways narrowing product or exercising, the doctor will ask you to undertake a spirometry test, and if your spirometry measurements are normal, chances are you don’t have asthma.

On the other hand, if the measurements fall significantly, you most likely have asthma.

Exhaled nitric oxide test

Here you breathe into a tube connected to a machine that measures the amount of nitric oxide gas in your breath. It’s normal for the body to release nitric oxide, but when you breathe extremely high levels, it means that your airways might be inflamed, which is a sign of asthma.

Asthma testing in children

Like adults, children can have asthma, and the doctor can help to know whether they are truly suffering from the condition.

In most cases, doctors don’t do lung tests in children under 5 years of age. Instead, they rely on the child’s signs and symptoms, physical examination and medical history.

If the doctor inspects the child and suspects they might have asthma, they prescribe a bronchodilator to open up the airways. If the child’s signs and symptoms improve after using the bronchodilator, they might be having asthma.

Allergy tests

Although allergy tests won’t help diagnose asthma, they help the doctor tell whether you have any form of allergies that might worsen your existing asthma.

Sometimes when you have allergies, you might be confusing it for asthma, so by the doctor testing the allergies and ruling them out, he can concentrate on testing whether you have allergies.

If you have both allergies and asthma, the allergy doctor Manassas VA will give you medicals to control the allergies to have an easier time managing asthma.

Other tests that the doctor can use

Besides the above tests, the doctor can use plenty of other tests to determine whether you have asthma. These tests include:

  • Sinus CT scans
  • Blood tests
  • X-ray or computerized tomography
  • Gastroesophageal reflux assessment
  • Phlegm examination in the lungs

Types of Seasonal Allergies and How to Deal With Them

Seasonal allergies are one of the most popular types of allergies, and they are characterized by cold-like symptoms such as sneezing, congestion, and runny nose. While the allergies are grouped in one, you should note there are many types of seasonal allergies you can suffer from. The most common ones as given by allergy specialist doctor include:

Spring allergies

These allergies result from pollen from the trees, and they start pollinating from January to April, depending on your location and climatic conditions.

The most common trees that bring about spring allergies include: ash, olive, elm, oak, maple, walnut, cypress, sycamore and others.

Summer allergies

The leading cause of summer allergies is grass pollen. Besides the usual sneezing and coughing, many people have reported developing itching and hives due to coming into contact with the grass during the allergy season.

Fall allergies

Weed pollen is the main cause of fall allergies. Depending on your location, these weeds will include: pigweed, tumbleweed, sagebrush, ragweed, and cocklebur.

How do you deal with seasonal allergies?

You can’t control the fact you are allergic to tree, weed or grass pollen, but you can adopt several strategies that will help you keep the seasonal allergies under control. Some of these strategies include:

Reduce your exposure to the allergy triggers

This is probably the most effective way to bring the condition under control. To reduce your exposure to the elements, you need to:

Stay indoors during the dry, windy days and only go outside after a good rain. At this time, the pollen count in the air is less, so you have fewer chances of developing allergies.

Most homeowners mow their lawns on Saturdays. However, you should consider hiring a lawn mowing company during the allergy season to help with the mowing instead of doing it yourself. If you can’t afford to hire a professional, let the grass grow and cut it once the season is over.

Do you love riding the bike or jogging in the evening or early in the morning? Don’t do it during the allergy season. Instead, you should switch from working out outdoors and exercise in the house. One great way to go about it is to invest in a stationary bike.

Keep the indoor air clean.

Since you will be avoiding going outside to avoid coming into contact with the harmful pollen, you should ensure that no pollen is coming into the house from the outside. And the beauty of it is that it’s possible to do it.

One of the things you should do is to use a high-quality air conditioning system.

If you have a forced-air heating and air conditioning system in your house? Use high-efficiency filters that will filter as much debris from the air getting into the house as possible, so you only have fresh air getting in.

For even better air quality, have a portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter in your bedroom.

You also should regularly clean your house with a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter.

Use medications

If you do the above and still the symptoms catch up with you, try to control the condition using medications. Thankfully, there are many types of medications you can go with. The most common ones are:

Oral antihistamines: These will help relieve sneezing, itching, watery eyes, and runny nose.

Decongestants: Oral decongestants such as pseudoephedrine provide temporary relief from nasal stuffiness.

Nasal sprays: The most popular nasal spray you can use is Cromolyn sodium. For best results, start using it before the symptoms kick in.

Combination medications: Here, you need to check into an allergy clinic Germantown MD, and the allergy doctor will prescribe several drug combinations such as antihistamines and decongestants.