Section 2: Asthma
Asthma can be a tricky thing to manage in college, if your asthma is not controlled. Once your asthma is controlled, it is important to take your medicine. Missing doses can result in missing class and in college playing catch-up is hard to do. The first step in managing your asthma is keeping your living environment clean and trigger free. If you need special living conditions such as an air-conditioned room (which might help control mold growth in a hot humid climate), contact your school's Disability Services office to file a formal request and discuss the available accommodations. If things like smoke and perfume trigger you, request to be paired with someone who doesn't smoke and who doesn't use a lot of perfume. If these are big triggers for you, you may want to consider requesting a single. Most importantly, always carry your rescue inhaler and an asthma action plan (which you can download below) on you in case of emergency.
Some social environments could be a challenge with asthma - such as bonfires and parties where there is smoking. Hopefully you have some experience from high school to draw upon so you know what situations are the most important to avoid for your health. If you are from a warm climate (especially a warm moist climate) and you are going to school in a climate that has a cold winter, you should be prepared to cover your nose and mouth when walking outside in low temperatures. Dry winter cold air can cause wheezing. Even if you grew up in a cold climate, you probably didn't walk outside in cold winter air as much in high school as you will in college. On top of that, if your asthma is worse when you have an upper respiratory infection - which are also common in the winter - you may need to change your maintenance medication for the winter.
Some social environments could be a challenge with asthma - such as bonfires and parties where there is smoking. Hopefully you have some experience from high school to draw upon so you know what situations are the most important to avoid for your health. If you are from a warm climate (especially a warm moist climate) and you are going to school in a climate that has a cold winter, you should be prepared to cover your nose and mouth when walking outside in low temperatures. Dry winter cold air can cause wheezing. Even if you grew up in a cold climate, you probably didn't walk outside in cold winter air as much in high school as you will in college. On top of that, if your asthma is worse when you have an upper respiratory infection - which are also common in the winter - you may need to change your maintenance medication for the winter.
Asthma Action Plan | |
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