Once you start taking medications, your asthma symptoms should improve. However, this is a work in progress: while some people experience total relief from their asthma symptoms after they start taking medications, many people will continue to experience some symptoms. So what does it mean if you still have asthma symptoms? How controlled is your asthma? One new classification scheme from the Global Institute for Asthma (GINA) uses the following classification of how well-controlled your symptoms are with medications:

• Controlled asthma means there are no daytime or nighttime symptoms, infrequent need for quick-relief medicines (no more than twice a week) and your peak flow is normal with no asthma attacks (exacerbations).
• Partly controlled asthma involves daytime symptoms more than twice a week and sometimes at night with use of quick-relief medicine more than twice a week. Your peak flow rate is less than 80 percent of your normal and asthma attacks occur at least once a year but not weekly.
• Uncontrolled asthma is when you have three or more of the features of partially controlled asthma at least 3 times a week, and asthma attacks are occurring weekly.