THE TWO MEDICINES: There are two medications for most people grappling with asthma. Each medication treats only one aspect of the disease. 1) Controllers or Preventers: these reduce inflammation in the air passages. These should be taken each day. The medicine is working if you find, over time, that you're having fewer and fewer symptoms. Carefully: Don t ever stray too far from medical attention or from a person who could get you there and knows what symptoms to look for. Always remember to carry ventelin or albuterol or whatever steroid it is you use, and always keep a spare on hand in the event you run out. Judiciously: Judge all tasks not based on how much you want to do them, but how difficult it will be to complete. That s a symptom of asthma that s not uncommon in someone just beginning an exercise regimen, for instance. It s also symptomatic of being out of shape and pushing yourself too hard. Not doing correct warm-ups before, cool downs after, or keeping properly hydrated... the list goes on. So, yu see, there is no need to get worked up over nothing if you begin to experience asthmatic symptoms. If you just bear in mind a few quick things in order to maximize your effort, you won t tire too quickly, and you ll avoid endangering something greater like life or limb. Asthma should not at all inhibit your ability to exercise. In fact, if you have limitations in your ability to exercise and that is blamed by you on asthma then you may have a much larger problem. Living with Asthma in an elderly Relative Though living with an elderly relative with Asthma is not much different to living with any other age group with asthma, you naturally have to take a little bit more special care. They are one of the at risk groups, and they don t always associate the symptoms of asthma as an attack but prefer to simply put it down to old age. Medication Medication is usually two inhalers one for every day use the other for emergency relief. Your doctor make get you to do a peak flow reading for a while to try and determine what causes the attacks and when attacks are likely. The peak flow meter is like a plastic tube that you blow into and they give a reading of breath output so that the doctor can see from the chart at what points the breathing becomes more laboured and therefore try to work out what the child was doing and where he or she was.