An asthma attack can be a very painful experience: The person’s airways close up and they are physically incapable of breathing. The person makes great efforts to try t get air into his or her lungs but it just doesn’t happen. The chest rises and falls incessantly without result and the person feels that he is dying. Constant cough episodes, as the lungs struggle to open the airways and receive some air rack the chest area until it hurts. As the minutes go by the situation only worsens because the airways will continue closing until there is no air going through. The airways also fill with mucus in an attempt by the body to remove the foreign objects, which have caused the original reaction only help to narrow the air passages further.
In a severe asthma attack, without personal help or medical help the patient will suffer damages due to lack of oxygen. When an asthma attack is severe the person can be rendered helpless and incapable of medicating himself in fact eventually he will loose conscience due to lack of air. In a situation where this person is alone in the middle of an asthma attack, emergency medical attention must be received immediately because this person will probably die without it. There is no two ways about this, your daily medication will not reverse the asthma attack or stop it and home medication applied in a nebulizer will not stop it either. The nebulizer may help some while the emergency personnel arrive but it will not reverse the attack.
Asthma medications taken daily are designed to prevent symptoms, not to cure them. Having a nebulizer with prescribed medication at home will help and reverse mild attacks of asthma. If the person feels the symptoms coming on right after entering a room or some place, and he or she was feeling fine before entering this place; it is possible that the trigger allergen is inside the room or place and leaving immediately may reverse the symptoms back to normal. This applies to places where there are animals living, cats, dogs, hamsters, are examples of animals, which may induce allergic reactions. If this person has had negative reactions, coughing, sneezing or chest tightness in the presence of these animals it is most likely that he is allergic to one or all of them so stay away from them and places where they live.
Once the symptoms have started, taking another dose of your daily medicine will not help. It is too late for that, this is a preventive medication. The doctor should prescribe this person a medication to be used in case mild to medium attacks occur, the medications prescribed should be taken as the first symptoms flare up because it will take some time for it to have a full effect on the body. Time is of the essence when dealing with asthma because life and death are involved plus the fact that a fully fledged asthma attack can also be very painful and stressing.
Asthma is a disease which is easier to prevent than to deal with an attack, so attention to your environment and scheduled medication intakes are the best way to avoid difficult and painful consequences.