Controlling asthma through medication is the preferred method of living with asthma for most people, and can be a fairly hassle-free experience. One you get into the regular routine of taking your medication, living with asthma is no problem at all. Taking a few extra steps, like eliminating smoke from the home or controlling the dust mite population, makes living with asthma worry-free. You may hear that asthma is incurable, that no one knows what causes asthma to occur. You may hear this and feel a little hopeless, a little lost. After all, how are you supposed to live with something that won t ever go away? You have to learn how to live with it because it won t ever go away. Living with asthma means learning how to breathe in a whole new way but it s not quite as daunting as it sounds. For this discussion today, let s say there are three 'zones' in the life of an asthmatic. Only your doctor can tell you where you fit in this schism, what these zones involve, and about the three different plans of action for what you need to do, and how fast, in different situations. THE GREEN ZONE: This is the ideal place to be. In the years 1972-1986 Sweden did a poll to see what the trends were with asthma and the elderly and they found that 710,187 hospitalisation days and 62,342 periods of hospital treatment were mainly due to the elderly and asthma. Typical Symptoms Typical symptoms of asthma may mimic Chronic Bronchitis, and Emphysema, colds and allergy. A lot of teenagers do not understand exactly what asthma is so explain to them in detail. Many do not understand that asthma is not just a sudden wheeze or coughing bout, but is active 24/7. Asthma is caused by the tubes that help you breath becoming swollen and inflamed, therefore causing them to tighten up and leave less room for air to get to the lungs. The fact is, controlling your asthma through medication is one of the best ways to learn how to live with asthma. Having breathing troubles shouldn t stop you from living and living with asthma can mean living the life you want to lead, in spite this chronic condition. Learn the facts of your asthma medication.