DALLAS \u2014\u00a0For Michael Lanham, managing asthma has become part of his routine.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsthma is pretty treatable, at least in my experience with it,\u201d Lanham, a Dallas-Fort Worth resident, said.<\/p>\n
Lanham has been dealing with asthma and allergies for nearly 50 years. He still visits the Dallas Allergy and Asthma Center regularly for treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery five weeks I’m here getting my shots and and doing my normal treatments,\u201d Lanham said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do use a couple of inhalers, some when I’m having an asthma attack, some are just preventive and maintenance kinds of things,\u201d Lanham said.<\/p>\n
For Lanham, that treatment is accessible.<\/p>\n
But a new report shows that is not the reality for everyone living with asthma in Dallas.<\/p>\n
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America\u2019s 2026 Asthma Capitals report examined 100 metropolitan areas and found Dallas ranked No. 18 among the most challenging places to live with asthma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised and disappointed,\u201d said Lara Gross, an allergist at the Dallas Allergy and Asthma Center.<\/p>\n
Dallas is not the only Texas metro area on the list.<\/p>\n
Five others also made the list, including El Paso, San Antonio, Austin, McAllen and Houston.<\/p>\n
Gross says part of the challenge comes down to something basic: access to care.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany asthma patients without insurance can’t make it to doctors for asthma care,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n
The report also ranks Dallas third among the 100 metro areas for lack of health insurance.<\/p>\n
Gross says that can make it harder for Texans to manage their asthma before it turns into a bad flare-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s always so tragic to hear about an asthma related death, because this is a disease that can be well controlled if you have the resources to do so,\u201d Gross said.<\/p>\n
She says there\u2019s another challenge here in North Texas \u2014 allergens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do know in Texas we have we have long pollen seasons. We don’t get hard freezes in the winter. So, our pollen seasons are long, which for many people with asthma, that’s a trigger for their asthma,” Gross said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s something Lanham knows all too well.<\/p>\n
\u201cPollen is my main, my main nemesis,\u201d Lanham said.<\/p>\n
He says knowing his triggers means paying attention to what\u2019s in the air and adjusting his routine when necessary.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that’s the key message: be diligent about it,\u201d Lanham said.<\/p>\n
Lanham says he hopes all Texans living with asthma can find the care and treatment they need.<\/p>\n
Because after nearly half a century of dealing with it, he\u2019s learned it\u2019s something he can manage \u2014 not something that has to hold him back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014\u00a0For Michael Lanham, managing asthma has become part of his routine. \u201cAsthma is pretty treatable, at least…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[132,1570,102,104,103,138,136128,223,82,1569,835],"class_list":["post-452337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-austin","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-el-paso","tag-ezekiel-ramirez","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}