Title: Hospitalization for Severe Asthma
Headings: Hospitalization for Severe Asthma
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Hospitalization for Severe Asthma
In this Article
Check Your Asthma Action Plan
What to Expect at the Hospital
Treatments

Content: You should call 911 or get to a hospital right away if you: Have wheezing or shortness of breath that doesn’t get better when you use your rescue inhaler
Are so short of breath you can’t talk or walk normally
Have blue lips or fingernails
Take more than 25-30 breaths a minute
Need to strain your chest muscles to breathe
Have a heartbeat higher than 120 beats per minute
Very few people need a hospital stay for asthma treatment. It’s more likely to be necessary if you: Have had a bad asthma attack before
Went to the ER or stayed in the hospital because of your asthma within the last 10 days
Got diagnosed with asthma after age 40
Take steroid medications regularly to control your asthma
Use your rescue inhaler more than twice a month
Have other long-term health problems, such as heart or lung disease
What to Expect at the Hospital
Emergency room doctors will decide whether you can be treated and released or whether to admit to you the hospital. They’ll examine you, note your symptoms, and test your lungs. Treatments
Depending on your symptoms, different medications and treatments may be given in the ER to get your asthma attack under control. These include: Bronchodilator drugs given through an inhaler or nebulizer to open your airways
Corticosteroid drugs given by pill or IV to lower lung inflammation
Extra oxygen
Tests
While they treat your asthma attack, your doctors will probably run tests to see how well they’re helping. These tests may include: Peak flow reading, which measures how quickly you breathe out
Spirometry, which measures how much air you breathe out in 1 second
Blood oxygen levels, as measured through a device on your finger
Hospital Stay
Even if your symptoms get better quickly, your doctor may want to keep you in the ER for a few hours to make sure symptoms stay under control.