Asthma – Grow out of it

Transcript

So one common question we get asked a lot is, can I grow out of my asthma? A lot of patients will have childhood asthma and, indeed, they grow out of it. Important thing to know in these situations is yes, you probably grew out of your asthma and you probably won’t have symptoms for a very long time, many decades, even, possibly even the rest of your life. But it’s also important to know that you’re never a hundred percent. You’re never completely cured of asthma. Asthma, after all, is a chronic lung disease, which means it’s essentially always around. So my best advice for patients that had childhood asthma, probably grew out of it. You probably feel fine on a day to day basis, it’s just to remember that you still carry a diagnosis of asthma. If you start having symptoms of increased cough, increased tightness, increased shortness of breath, you’re not going to necessarily notice these symptoms immediately, but if you start developing these symptoms over a course of weeks, months, maybe even a year or more, it’s important to consider that your asthma may be getting worse. You may be starting to develop more severe asthma symptoms and it’s time to get checked out. Repeat lung function tests decide if more medications are needed in your case.