Asthma is a common disease that endangers people’s health. In China, the incidence of asthma is increasing year by year, but many patients still have misunderstandings about asthma, which affects the correct diagnosis and timely treatment of asthma. Let’s take a look at some of the “minefields” that asthma patients should not step on. Myth 1: Asthma only needs to be treated when there is an attack, but there is no need for medication if there are no symptoms. Asthma is a chronic and recurrent disease that requires long-term treatment. Many patients only remember to use medication when they have an asthma attack and do not use any medication during the remission period. Such repeated asthma attacks will cause serious damage to the patient’s lung function over time, causing serious complications such as emphysema and pulmonary heart disease, and even developing into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In fact, the real cause of asthma is chronic airway inflammation. After using relieving drugs, although the symptoms disappear, airway inflammation can persist. It is like the tip of an iceberg exposed on the surface of the sea, and there is actually a much larger iceberg hidden under the surface. Therefore, after getting asthma, it is important to insist on using medications to control airway inflammation, such as inhaled glucocorticoids, to prevent asthma attacks. As for the specific dosage and course of medication, you should go to a regular medical institution for evaluation and then listen to your doctor’s advice, and do not use or reduce the dosage without authorization. Myth 2: The side effects of hormones are too great, and I heard that long-term application will cause obesity and possibly osteoporosis, so it is better to switch to other drugs or use them less. A considerable number of patients who heard that long-term hormone inhalation is needed for asthma treatment are worried about the side effects of hormones, especially women and children, who are afraid that long-term hormone inhalation will make them fat or affect their growth and development, so they carry out maintenance treatment at half of the dose prescribed by the doctor or even at a lower dose, or they listen to others who use so-called prescriptions that are not formally approved for treatment, thus causing recurrent asthma attacks and a serious decline in lung function. In fact, inhaled glucocorticosteroids are the most common form of treatment for asthma. In fact, inhaled glucocorticosteroids are currently recognized as the most effective and safe treatment for asthma. In inhaled hormone therapy, the drug acts directly on the airway through the mouth, which requires a much smaller dose than oral administration, and the concentration of the drug absorbed into the blood circulation is smaller, so long-term use of inhaled hormone therapy generally does not cause systemic side effects. Some patients may experience some throat symptoms after using the drug, such as hoarseness and thrush, which can be avoided by deep throat rinsing after using the drug. Myth 3: No one in my family has a history of getting asthma, although I always have a cough, so it should be a cold or pneumonia, and I will be fine with some antibiotics. Many patients think that because they do not have a family history of asthma, they will not get asthma. They treat recurrent episodes of cough, wheezing, runny nose and sneezing as common colds and pneumonia, and repeatedly use antibiotics without targeting asthma treatment. In fact, colds and pneumonia are often caused by viruses and bacteria, while the chronic airway inflammation that causes asthma is a metabolic inflammation, different from the inflammation caused by bacterial infections, so treatment with antibiotics is ineffective. According to the latest guidelines for asthma prevention and treatment, when patients have repeated (multiple) symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness or coughing (some patients have only symptoms such as coughing or chest tightness; symptoms can be caused by exercise, laughing, allergens, cold air, cold and flu viruses), and these symptoms are worse at night and in the morning, they need to take the initiative to go to a regular hospital for pulmonary function and other tests to further clarify whether they have asthma. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, long-term standardized treatment should be started instead of blindly applying antibiotics. Myth 4: Pulmonary function tests are only needed when asthma is diagnosed, so since I have already started long-term standardized treatment, I don’t need to check my pulmonary function. Many patients have a misconception that pulmonary function tests are used to confirm the diagnosis of asthma, and once the diagnosis is confirmed, there is no need to check it again. In fact, in addition to confirming asthma, pulmonary function tests can help us understand how well our asthma has been controlled recently, how well our medication is working, and so on. In case of poor control, it can also prompt the doctor to find the cause and solve it early, which is very important for the control of the disease. Therefore, in addition to the medication, patients with bronchial asthma should also have their lung function checked regularly in order to prevent the occurrence of acute asthma attacks.