It is common to be scared when a doctor gives you a diagnosis of asthma. There is no getting rid of asthma if you have the condition. Your life does not have to stop after you have been diagnosed with asthma. This guide will give you a few ways on how you can manage asthma effectively and safely.
If you suffer from asthma, stay away from the fumes of household cleaning products. Cleaning products may contain chemicals which can trigger an asthmatic episode, such as ammonia. If you do the cleaning in your house, use natural solutions that are safer for you to breath in.
If you suffer from asthma, avoid smoke, fumes and vapors. This does mean avoiding all tobacco products as well as being mindful of sources of employment, with special attention to factories that might provide exposure to smoke and vapors.
If you suffer from asthma, try seeing if a leukotriene inhibitor helps. As its name suggests, this inhibitor works by preventing the release and build-up of leukotriene. Leukotriene, a chemical released by the body in response to an allergen, is responsible for inducing many of the symptoms of an asthma attack. The inhibitor can prevent them and decrease your asthma attacks.
What type of asthma are you having to deal with? You can learn to combat the life changing effects of asthma by understanding your specific type. People suffering from asthma that is exercise-induced, for example, had best be prepared for asthma attacks at the gym! Treating asthma is less difficult if you and your physician are aware of the triggers that bring on an attack.
Talk to a social worker if you do not have health insurance and need medication for your asthma. Social workers are trained to help people find resources for affording health care, particularly on debilitating conditions such as asthma.
If you suffer from asthma and you smoke, it’s crucial that you quit. Smoking is a bad habit for everyone, but patients that suffer from asthma are negatively affected by smoke as it cuts the oxygen supply off and induces an asthma attack.
If you have asthma, it is imperative that you stay away from smokers. The functionality of your lungs can be dramatically impaired if you inhale tobacco smoke, especially in areas with little ventilation, and you run a greater risk of attack.
Cleaning Products
If you deal with asthma in your life, always choose products that are free of scents. Products that contain fragrance, such as perfumes, colognes, or air fresheners, can pollute the air triggering your asthma. Other asthma irritants include fresh paint fumes and new carpeting. Keep the air inside as fresh as you can.
When you have asthma, it is vital that you avoid cleaning products. A lot of the cleaning products have certain chemicals in them which can trigger asthma attacks. If you’re the one that cleans your home, try organic or natural cleaning solutions that are much less risky to your health.
While everyone appreciates the look and feel of a clean house, asthma sufferers in particular benefit from a healthy environment as it can decrease the risk of asthma attacks, especially in a sleeping area. Only allow food in the kitchen, and never smoke indoors. Make sure that the home is properly ventilated and aired out, especially after cleaning with harsh products, like bleach or ammonia.
Know situations and conditions that cause asthma attacks for you, and stay away from them in the future as much as possible. This is different for everyone, but some people, things like dust or pollen can trigger an attack. For others, it may be linked to physical exertion. Try to determine your asthma triggers, so you can avoid them and prevent attacks.
You should be ready to increase asthma treatments if you suffer from hay fever or a cold. Illnesses like this can often worsen your asthma symptoms, which may require that you up your dosage of certain medications. It is possible your doctor will want to add additional therapies to your treatment program until you are back on your feet.
If you are suffering from a mild or moderate asthma attack, expel all the air from your lungs. Exhale as quickly as possible, expelling air forcefully out of your lungs. It can’t be said too strongly: you must force the air out! Then, follow three short intakes of breath with one longer inhalation until your lungs are filled with air, although not uncomfortably so. Finally, expel the air from your lungs with force again. This will force you to pay careful attention to all of your breaths. It pushes air from your lungs so you can breathe more in. This breathing technique may cause some coughing or sputum, but it can help regulate your breathing and reduce the attack.
Pay attention to your symptom triggers. The more aware of your triggers you become, the easier it will be to avoid them and reduce the number of attacks you suffer. Generally, it is found that items such as smoke and pollen can trigger attacks in those that suffer with asthma. Do your best to avoid coming into contact with substances that you know will trigger your symptoms.
If you’re a sufferer of asthma, stay away from cigarette smoke. Never smoke yourself! Avoid vapors and chemical fumes from cigarettes. More often than not, smoke is going to trigger an unavoidable asthma attack. If you find yourself in a situation where you are around smokers, remove yourself as quickly as possible.
Join a support group, online or in “real life”, to find help from your peers. Since severe asthma can be quite debilitating, it can have a huge impact on your everyday life. In addition, a community of other asthma sufferers will let you know about changes in medications or other relevant scientific discoveries.
Talk to your doctor about getting a leukotriene inhibitor if you have asthma. Leukotriene inhibitors are used to prevent things called leukotrienes. Leukotriene, a chemical released by the body in response to an allergen, is responsible for inducing many of the symptoms of an asthma attack. The inhibitor will prevent leukotrienes, which can decrease the amount of asthma attacks that you have.
Mold and mildew can thrive in a humid home environment. These fungi are both common triggers for asthma attacks. So, it makes sense to keep dry air in your home. During the winter, you can use a dehumidifier to control humidity when using a heater, and an air conditioner during the summer will help keep your home dry.
If you have asthma, you may wish to consider installing a dehumidifier in your home. Decreasing the humidity in the house decreases dust mites, which decreases asthma flare ups. Dehumidifiers keep the air in your home dry by eliminating humidity.
Asthma takes a long time to develop and doesn’t yield obvious symptoms. A few people have even died from an asthma attack without knowing they even had this dangerous condition. If you have any trouble catching your breath or a cough that won’t go away, consider talking to your doctor to make sure that you aren’t afflicted with asthma. If you are, you’ll need to keep an inhaler with you at all times and possible take other medications.
The use of multiple (more than four) household cleansers can cause an increase in asthma attacks. Try to use organic based cleaning products that are not harmful to asthma sufferers.
If you need to travel with your asthma medication, particularly if you plan on bringing a nebulizer or other large equipment, it can be helpful to obtain a letter from your doctor explaining their use. If you have the proof that this is a medical necessity, it can cause less hassles during the security check.
If you have asthma, try to avoid smokers, even if you do not smoke. If you inhale the smoke, it will harm your lungs and increase the possibility of an asthma attack. Always be mindful of this, especially in small spaces that do not have very much air flowing.
Someone suffering from asthma should avoid animals. While allergies to dander or animal hair can possibly complicate your asthma, even those with no such allergies can have asthma attacks by inhaling the pollen and dust animals usually carry about with them.
Lower the chances of asthma attacks by keeping a spotless home, particularly in the areas where you sleep. Keep food consumption to the kitchen and the dining room, and never allow anyone to smoke in the house. Try not to use bleach or other irritants inside, and always thoroughly change the air in your house after cleaning.
Bed linens often collect asthma aggravators, such as pollen, dust and allergens. Clean your linen and pillow case every week to prevent asthma attacks. You will breathe easier at night when you have freshly washed and clean bed linens.
When you travel, your rescue medication should be with you all the time. It’s easy to get thrown off your regular eating and sleeping routine while traveling, which strains your body and increases your vulnerability to asthma attack triggers. You also have little control over your surroundings as you travel, and this may result in an increase in symptoms or frequency of attacks.
When pollen counts are high, people who have asthma should stay inside. The same pollens and other irritants that cause trouble for allergy sufferers are also concerns for asthma sufferers, even though the two are quite distinct conditions. Information about local air quality is available in many areas so that those with asthma can reduce their outdoor exposure if irritants are within the air.
As seen here, it is important that you are prepared in order to manage asthma. If you know about what kind of arthritis you have, you can find ways to manage it. Reading this article has been the first important step in getting control of this disease.
If you are using a vaporizer or humidifier, you should thoroughly clean it prior to use. Bacteria will breed rapidly due to the moisture in the machine. If you continue to use one without cleaning it correctly, you will be pushing allergens around the home, instead of the soothing humidity that you are hoping for.