Asthma
You can live better with asthma by taking steps to protect your health.
Helping you breathe easier with asthma
Asthma affects 22 million Americans. Living with it can be tough, but our asthma management tools and resources can help you live better.
What is asthma?
Asthma is a condition that affects the airways of the lungs. This can make breathing difficult and trigger coughing and wheezing. Severity can range from a minor inconvenience to a major problem that interferes with daily life or leads to a life-threatening attack.
Someone with asthma has very sensitive airways that are susceptible to different triggers. Identifying and avoiding your triggers is one of the most important parts of asthma management.
Common asthma triggers
- Tobacco smoke
- Allergens like dust mites, pollen and pets
- Irritants like strong odors, perfume, wood smoke or air pollution
- Exercise
- Some medications
- Weather
- Strong emotion like laughing hard or crying
- Infections like colds, flu and other viruses
Treatment
While there is no cure for asthma, you can control your symptoms. It’s important to work with your doctor and get the treatment that’s right for you. Proper care like avoiding your triggers and/or taking controller medications as prescribed are the best ways to control and manage this condition. There are two types of drugs used to treat asthma:
Anti-inflammatories
These drugs reduce swelling and mucus production in the airways. When you take these medications daily, they can control or prevent asthma symptoms.
Bronchodilators
These are drugs that relax the muscle bonds that tighten around airways. This helps open the airways to let more air in and out to improve breathing. These drugs relieve or stop asthma symptoms by opening the airways which can help control symptoms and prevent episodes.
Tools in MyBlue
With a MyBlue account, you get access to these helpful asthma tools and resources.
Refill Your Rx Online
Using the correct controller medications and getting refills as directed is one of the most important steps in managing asthma. To ensure prescriptions are always ready for you, we’ve partnered with our Pharmacy Program to bring you easy online refills. You can also track medications and refills through your MyBlue account.
Asthma Tracker
Track your medication and inhaler use. You can monitor how well you’re breathing with measurements like peak expiratory flow (how fast you can exhale) and forced expiratory volume (the amount of air you can exhale). Your Personal Health Record will automatically store your information in one convenient, secure place.
Asthma Assessment
Easily assess your symptoms and learn more about your options for care. You’ll get goal suggestions based on the information you provide to help create a Care Plan to better manage your asthma.
Blue Health Assessment
Answer a few key questions about your health, and the Blue Health Assessment will give you a personalized action plan for taking steps for a healthier life, including managing your asthma.
Properly managing your asthma comes with more than just health rewards
If you’re a FEP Blue Standard™ or FEP Blue Basic™ member, you may earn up to $170 in wellness incentives* just by protecting your health. For example, start by completing your Blue Health Assessment. It only takes about 10 minutes, and you can earn $50. You can also set asthma-related goals with Daily Habits. You can get support meeting these goals, track your progress, and earn up to $120.
*You must be the contract holder or spouse, 18 or older, on a FEP Blue Standard or FEP Blue Basic plan to earn incentive rewards.
