Understanding Asthma Triggers

What are triggers?

Triggers can bother your lungs and lead to asthma flare-ups. Triggers can be different for different people. Common triggers include:

• Irritants, such as tobacco smoke or air pollution.

• Allergens or substances that cause allergies, like pets, dust mites, or pollen.

• Special conditions. These can include having a cold or the flu or being in certain kinds of weather.

• Exercise. If exercise is a trigger, you can learn how to exercise safely.

• Emotions. High levels of stress or anxiety can cause a flare-up.

What triggers your asthma?

Which of these common triggers cause your asthma to flare up? Check all that apply to you.

Irritants:

☐ Tobacco smoke (smoking or secondhand smoke)

☐ E-cigarettes

☐ Smoke from fireplaces

☐ Vehicle exhaust

☐ Smog or air pollution

☐ Aerosol sprays

☐ Strong odors, such as perfume, incense, or cooking odors

☐ Household cleaners, such as ammonia or bleach

Allergens:

☐ Cats

☐ Dogs

☐ Birds

☐ Dust or dust mites

☐ Pollen

☐ Mold

☐ Cockroach droppings

Other triggers:

☐ Cold air

☐ Hot air

☐ Weather changes

☐ Exercise

☐ Certain foods or food ingredients, such as sulfites

☐ Medicines, such as aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and beta-blockers

☐ Emotions, such as laughing, crying, anger, or feeling stressed

☐ Illnesses or other health problems, such as colds, the flu, GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), and sinus infections

☐ Other:

Allergies and allergy treatment

People with asthma often have allergies. Talk with your health care provider about testing and treatment if you have allergies, or think you have them.

Allergy testing can find out exactly which allergens affect you. Types of tests include:

• Skin tests. A small amount of each allergen is put on the skin. The provider then looks at those sites to check for an allergic reaction. This could be redness, swelling, or itching.

• Blood tests. A blood test can show how sensitive you are to the allergen.

Exposing a person to increasing amounts of an allergen over time can help the body build up a tolerance. This is the goal of allergy shots (immunotherapy). For this therapy, shots are given over a period of years. At first, you get the shots with a very small amount of allergen about once a week. As time goes on, the amount of allergen is slowly increased to a certain level. Eventually, you have the shots less often. This therapy can take up to a year to start working. But it can work very well to manage certain allergies over time.

There are also medicines that work like allergy shots. These are taken by mouth. Talk with your provider about treatment choices that are right for you.