Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffBe prepared for your visit to your doctor so that you can get the most out of your appointment. At each visit:
- Take your asthma action plan with you when you see your doctor. If you haven't made one yet, work with your doctor to create one. This plan should discuss how to treat an asthma attack.
- Take your peak flow meter results and all of your medications.
- Be prepared to discuss your symptoms, and how much your asthma has been bothering you. Often, periodic changes in treatment are needed to keep asthma under control and to prevent asthma attacks.
- Be prepared to demonstrate using your metered-dose inhaler. Improper use can reduce an inhaler's effectiveness.
Your time with your doctor is limited, so preparing a list of questions will help you make the most of your time together. Some good questions to ask your doctor include:
- What steps do I need to take to keep my asthma under control?
- Do my medications or treatment plan need to be changed?
- What are the signs of an impending asthma attack I need to watch out for?
- When asthma signs and symptoms get worse, what steps do I need to take to prevent an asthma attack?
- What steps do I need to take to stop an asthma attack in progress?
- When do I need to go to the emergency room or seek other emergency treatment?
- I'm having more heartburn. What can I do to prevent this?
- Is it time for my flu shot? Am I due for a pneumonia shot?
- What measures can I take during cold and flu season?
In addition to the questions that you've prepared to ask your doctor, don't hesitate to ask questions during your appointment any time that you don't understand something.
- Fanta CH. Treatment of acute exacerbations of asthma in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- Expert panel report 3 (EPR-3): Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma-Summary report 2007. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2008;121:1330.
- Mangan JM. What do patients need to know about their asthma? http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Oct. 24, 2008.
- Spirometry and other lung function tests fact sheet. American Lung Association. http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.43918/k.B71/Spirometry_and_Other_Lung_Function_Tests_Fact_Sheet.htm. Accessed Oct. 22, 2008.
- Questions and answers on final rule of albuterol MDI's. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/CDER/mdi/mdifaqs.htm. Oct. 22, 2008.
