Asthma Triggers & Secondhand Smoke

• Quitting is hard for everyone but can be made easier with the help of medications and counseling.  Talk to your health care provider.

• Visit 802Quits.org or call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for free, personalized, confidential quit support and nicotine replacement patches, gum and lozenges.  Thousands of Vermonters have found success using these evidence-based phone, online and text services.

• Place a sealed trash bin in the designated smoking area to collect any cigarette butts or other smoke-related waste.

• Change and store clothes, coats and hats that have been worn when smoking to keep them away from family members and from other items in the home. Ask visitors who smoke to leave their coats and other belongings in the car or outside.

• If you are looking for a new place to live, such as a condo or an apartment, ask about its smoke-free policy. Many multi-united housing buildings have become smoke-free, which offer more protection from exposure.

• Never use scented candles, air fresheners or air purifiers. In addition to often having toxic ingredients, when combined with tobacco smoke, they can create dangerous combinations for everyone, especially people with asthma.

• Avoid using any personal or home products to mask the smell of smoke, including cleaning products, room sprays, perfumes, scented candles, and toiletries.

• Remind all passengers that your car is a smoke-free zone. In fact, it’s now illegal to smoke in your car with a child aged 7 or younger.

• If you have any ashtray, fill it with spare change or gum to resist the urge to smoke.

• Store cigarettes and vaping devices in the trunk while on the road and ask the same of your passengers.

• Smoke reduces the resale value of the car.

What is Asthma and Who Has It?

Asthma is a chronic (long-term) disease in which the lungs become inflamed and airways narrow and react to "triggers”. Asthma can impact anyone.

What Causes Asthma, or an Asthma Attack?

It is not clearly known why or how people develop asthma. Research suggests that a combination of family genes and environmental exposures produce asthma.

Asthma can begin in early childhood or may first appear later in life. Not all childhood asthma continues into adulthood.

Family history of asthma, respiratory infections in young children, exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy and the first years of life, occupational exposures, house dust mites, air pollution, or cockroach droppings are a few of the things that may lead to asthma. An asthma “trigger” is anything that inflames your airways and flares your symptoms—like tobacco smoke, dust, viral infections, cold weather, pet dander, pests (like cockroaches and mice), pollen and mold and strong fumes.

There are many kinds of triggers, and triggers may be different for different people. Pet dander, tobacco smoke, air pollution, pollens, mold, mildew and dust are common triggers. When the lungs become irritated, the airways swell and mucus builds up, causing shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing, chest pain or tightness, tiredness or a combination of these symptoms.
 

What should you do if you think you or a loved one has asthma?

• See your health care provider as soon as possible and talk with them about your symptoms.

• Reduce exposure to common triggers like dust, mold, and pet hair.

• Monitor your or your loved one’s symptoms closely. If their symptoms become severe, see a doctor.

• Go over your Asthma Action Plan with your provider each year and any time you get a new medicine.

• Know how to properly use your inhaler and spacer. If you have a metered dose inhaler, the Asthma Action plan includes tips that may help you use it correctly. Be sure to ask your health care provider to go over the instructions for your unique inhaler and spacer.

• Remind yourself to take your long-term medicines. You can add reminders on your calendar, email or phone or leave notes in places you see every day (like next to your toothbrush or coffee pot).

• Keep your Asthma Action Plan—and your rescue medicines—with you at all times.

• Keep track of how much medicine is left in your inhaler to make sure you order refills before running out.

State Resources

• Department of Health Asthma Program

• Vermont 2-1-1 (a free, confidential, 24/7 service to find resources in your community). Dial 2-1-1 from a Vermont phone or visit vermont211.org

• Allergy & Asthma Network

• Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA)

• American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
   

Asthma Resources for Older Vermonters

• Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America

Asthma Resources for Parents and Children

• American Lung Association

• Arthur Family Health: Asthma

• 802Quits