GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America says one in 13 people in the U.S. has asthma. The chronic condition makes it harder for people to breathe.
In the South, where textiles run deep, and the humidity is so thick, people have an even higher risk of an asthma attack.
In this month's 2 Your Well-being report, WFMY News 2's Tracey McCain talked with a Cone Health doctor about the risk factors and the new treatments available to manage asthma.
Peggy Clough is breathing easy now, but the Guilford County mom struggled for air not too long ago.
"I wasn't able to catch my breath, and I was coughing so bad I was gagging," said Clough.
She often felt winded and had a painful tightness in her chest. Shortness of breath turned into wheezing and an emergency.
"Wheezing is an exhaled musical sound that happens when your airways are partially blocked or inflamed. It might be because of an allergic reaction, a cold, bronchitis, or allergies," said Dr. Nikita Desai, a pulmonary critical care doctor at LeBauer Pulmonary Care
Dr. Desai said you would hear that loud, labored breathing during an asthma attack. As airways tighten, she says it is harder to get air in and out, and in Clough's case, it was happening almost every 30 days.
"Peggy was getting treated for her asthma with Prednisone and antibiotics almost every month, which interfered with her quality of life. We sat down and determined her triggers and adjusted her inhaler therapy to try to get that under control," Dr. Desai said.
Asthma runs in families and can be related to smoking or secondhand smoke, air pollution, and industrial chemicals. Environmental factors also trigger asthma, including where you live.
"Greensboro is a city that consistently ranks the worst among asthma control across the country. Studies based that information on the number of times a patient has to go to the emergency room or needs rescue medications like Prednisone for treatment," Dr. Desai said.
Allergies can set off symptoms too.
"Here in North Carolina, we are lucky to have beautiful trees and flowers. We also have heat and humidity in the summer, which can contribute to poor asthma control. We also look at air quality and social-economic status, which impacts asthma control."
Infections from viruses or bacteria can cause asthma to flare. Opening your lungs up requires medical treatment, primarily through rescue inhalers.
Severe cases require steroids, antibiotics, albuterol and frequent trips to urgent care.
"I was on steroids and antibiotics all the time, and my body could not fight it back. Eventually, I think it would have just ended up on an oxygen tank all the time," said Clough. "Now, I use my inhaler in the morning, I take Allegra for allergies, and then I take the Dupixent shot every two weeks, and that's what made a difference and got me over the bridge," Clough said.
Dr. Desai says there are new treatments to manage asthma and keep people out of the emergency room.
"In the last five years, we've had a lot of breakthroughs in asthma treatment, and these are new medications that were never available to a lot of our patients who had asthma as a child, so a lot of them don't know that these treatments are out there and available."
Maintenance inhalers such as Flovent keep the lungs calm when exposed to environmental triggers, and the medication Dupixent is a shot that the patients give themself at home to prevent severe asthma attacks.