When to See a Specialist for Asthma
- Thursday, August 6, 2009, 2:55
- Asthma
- 246 views
Andrew:
Dr. Shapiro, how can a person determine when to see their primary care physician and when to seek out a specialist?
Dr. Shapiro:
If you are finding that you need escalating amounts of medication and you’re starting to be concerned about side-effects of medication or you’re not getting good management of the problem, you should certainly suggest that you would like to see a specialist. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that allergy is an important issue for many people, and you may need to find out about the environment and what things you need to avoid to get the best results and to also minimize the use of medication. Also, a good family practice person or generalist is also fairly good at using these medications but doesn’t have the expertise of someone who does it all day long, every day, and you may want to get an opinion about what options are available.
Andrew:
So someone shouldn’t be shy with their primary care practitioner in raising the question of whether seeing a specialist might be appropriate for them?
Dr. Shapiro:
Certainly I’m biased because I’m a specialist, but most people have mild-to-moderate asthma and they can be very well cared for by a primary care person. If, however, your asthma is escalating so that things are not going so smoothly, you need to know there are other options and you should seek some more help.
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