There are two very important things to keep in mind about living with asthma

1. Asthma should be taken seriously.

Asthma is a chronic disease that can result in suffering, disability, and even death. It is also very expensive. In the United States alone, more than $6 billion is spent on medical care for asthma annually, and about $1 billion more is lost through missed work days and decreased productivity. Nationally, there are in the neighborhood of 500,000 hospitalizations and 2 million emergency room visits each year due to asthma. The human suffering that lies behind these statistics, of course, cannot be quantified.

There are about 5,000 asthma deaths every year in the United States. (Worldwide, unnecessary asthma deaths are estimated at 1 million per decade.) People who die of asthma usually have asthma that has not been under good control (though they may not have recognized it), and often they have delayed in seeking emergency care when their symptoms worsened.

2. Asthma can be controlled.

The good news (and the irony) is that suffering, disability, and deaths from asthma are preventable as they have never been before. Current treatment strategies have the potential to provide good disease control for the vast majority of asthmatics. Good disease control means symptom-free days, weeks, and months. It means normal activity, uncompromised by breathing trouble. It means avoiding the emergency room and the hospital. It means staying alive.

Living with asthma can be difficult, physically and emotionally. One person alone may feel overwhelmed. Coping effectively with the demands that asthma makes can be eased by reaching out to a network of others. Family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, support groups, and counselors can provide support and strength. A good health care provider can offer not just up-to-date medical care, but also information, guidance, and encouragement.

This section of the University of Chicago Asthma and COPD Center website presents information intended to help people with asthma to take an active role in their own care, and to make maximum use of the resources available to help them live as healthily and fully as they can.