As a long-term asthma sufferer myself I know how difficult it can be to cope with breathing problems, so anything I can do to lessen the severity and frequency of my attacks catches my interest.

These are some of the asthma treatments, tips and techniques that I’ve found to be useful and effective…

Keep your home free of allergens as much as possible. Hoover and wipe away dust at least weekly. Dust proof daytime covers for your pillows and bed linen can be a good investment for asthmatics. More specifically, if animal hair causes you problems, keep your pet outdoors or, at the very least, out of your bedroom. Give your pet a good wash often – good luck if you have a cat! If pollen is a trigger for your asthma, stay indoors whilst the pollen count is high.

Avoid perfumes – if something can make your eyes water, it isn’t going to help with your asthma very much.

Reduce your intake of mucus-encouraging foods such as dairy products, those made with whitened flour and highly-refined foods.

Drink water often, to assist in the thinning of any mucus in the lungs.

Use a de-humidifier if levels inside your house often peak at over 50%. Ensure good room ventilation when in the shower, stove top cooking, or any other steam producing activity. Wear a balaclava or use a scarf to cover your mouth and nose in the winter time.

If you still find yourself suffering an asthma attack: Try placing a wet, warm towel on your chest to relax your muscles and restore normal breathing. If that does not help, sit down and lean forwards.

Breath slowly and try to relax all the muscles in your body – it will then require less oxygen. If exercising at the time, slow down or stop completely.

If you don’t want to suffer more Asthma attacks visit http://www.learnaboutasthma.org/a_natural_treatment_for_asthma.php

About The Author

Chris Merriman is an asthma sufferer, who hasn’t had an attack in four years. You can visit his site at http://learnaboutasthma.org/a_natural_treatment_for_asthma.php

Posted: November 4th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

If your local (real world) bookmakers is still stuck in the seventies when it comes to ambience, or they simply don’t offer good odds on matches, then check out the Taikai homepage. Taikai offer tournaments where players can bet against each other on the outcome of all sorts of sports, though football seems to be pretty popular right now. Whether you choose to play Taikai for real money (in which case use TAK001 as your registration code for a £10 Freerolls after 3 matches). Enter a tipping league after your Sign Up Taikai.

Posted: November 4th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

Some urban tree species cause an inordinate amount of asthma and allergy problems, while other tree species cause little or no health problems. A large part of the problem is that the arborists and landscape professionals, who plant these trees, often dont know the difference.
The type of trees (and shrubs) used in modern city landscapes has changed dramatically in the past three decades. In the past, the majority of street trees used were perfect-flowered, insect-pollinated trees, such as the once so common American elm tree.
Today though, many of the most widely used city trees are wind-pollinated species. Most of these species are unisexually flowered (dioecious and/or monoecious) and further compounding the problem, thousands of popular cultivars sold today are touted to be seedless, low-maintenance, pod-free or litter-free.
These fruitless, seedless trees are male plants, all male, and male trees produce prodigious amounts of allergenic pollen. Female trees produce NO pollen what so ever.
In dioecious-flowered trees such as most ash, willow and poplars, it is easy to propagate male only trees because they are separate-sexed. Monoecious trees, which in Nature always have both sexes (male and female flowers) on the same tree, also usually produce abundant pollen. It is possible to have all-male trees from the monoecious species. On many species the sexes will be born on separate branches, such as on a Honey Locust tree. If you take cuttings, or budwood, only from the branches with male flowers, then, you’ll get an all-male tree. Lots of monoecious Acer spp. cultivars are male-only plants. In a somewhat different way, there are also numerous monoecious species where only the top or only the bottom will have either male or female flowers. For example, the bottom half of a mature Italian Cypress for example is all-male. Female
wood is found only at the top of the plant. Thus, scion wood taken from the bottom usually produces “seedless” plants.
The terms dioecious, and monoecious, are botanical terms, not horticultural terms. We could perhaps say that a manipulated, asexually propagated all-male cultivar, taken from a monoecious species, is now dioecious, but this is not quite correct. A proper dioecious tree is one that in Nature is separate-sexed. These modern engineered trees are never found in Nature.
Interestingly, the first reference in print I ever found to this single sexing-out with monoecious street trees, was in a USDA booklet, from 1982, called Genetic Improvement of Urban Street Trees.

How Bad Is Allergy Now?
In 1959 the official rate of allergy in the U.S. was between 2 to 5% of the public. By 1999 the official rate of allergy had increased to an incredible 38% of Americans. Asthma, which was once considered rare, is now the number one chronic childhood disease in the US.

Where are Allergies and Asthma the Worst?
The most common allergen of all is pollen and since there are so many more plants growing in the country than in the city, it would make sense then that there is more allergy and asthma in the countryside. Right? No, wrong! Allergies and asthma are far worse in the city than they are in the country.

Several things contribute to this:
1.Pavement makes a poor pollen trap. Pollen in the city often lands on pavement where wind can cause it to become airborne again. In naturally vegetated areas where there is much more vegetation, pollen often lands on and becomes stuck in grasses, shrubs and vines or in trees.
2.Cities have more air pollution, which weakens the immune system and lung function.
3.Stress, which is generally higher in cities, can contribute to both asthma and allergy development.
4.Increased carbon dioxide levels within cities causes pollen-forming plants to produce more pollen with each bloom cycle, and also often causes urban plants to bloom more often.
5.Pollen loads are actually far greater in cities because there is a sexual imbalance within the plant community. In the city there is a preponderance of male trees and shrubs, while in the rural areas there is almost always a complete balance of plant sexuality. The excess of male plants in the city results in an excess of pollen.
6.The very lack of female plant materials in the urban environment also is a prime factor in the epidemic of allergy and asthma. Female flowers carry an electrical negative (-) charge (the trees are grounded with their roots) and airborne pollen holds a positive (+) charge. The tree and the pollen are mutually attractive; thus a female plant becomes a very effective pollen trap for pollen of its own species. But with almost no female trees and shrubs in modern landscapes, most of the pollen remains airborne.

How to Improve Health and Air Quality through Tree Selection
Landscaping to reduce allergies, especially pollen allergies, is an idea that is coming into its own. In the past few years several books have been written on the subject and interest is growing rapidly.
With the addition of OPALS, (Ogren Plant-Allergy Scale) arborists now have a means to design allergy-free plantings. This scale ranks all landscape plant materials on a simple 1 to 10 allergy basis. Trees that produce zero pollen, e.g., female cultivars, usually rank the best number one. Trees that have abundant, highly allergenic pollen, especially those with very long bloom periods, are usually ranked the worst in the 9-10 range. There are many trees and shrubs, however, that fall somewhere in between. Using a list of over 100 factors, OPALS numerically ranks each species and then further ranks the individual cultivars. There are often dramatic allergy differences even between two species in the same genus.

How Are Plants Allergy-Ranked?
OPALS was developed based on the following considerations: What do plants that are well known to cause allergies have in common? and What do plants that are well known NOT to cause allergies have in common? With these two questions it was possible to build two opposing sets of medical-botanical-allergy criteria. One set is positive and one set is negative. Examples of negative criteria: tiny flowers, excerted stamens, small (less than 25 microns in diameter) sized pollen grains, extended bloom period. Examples of positive criteria: complete flowered, sticky, heavy pollen grains, presence of nectaries, brief bloom period.
There are now over a hundred criteria used to develop OPALS rankings. Individual landscapers, city arborists, the USDA and the American Lung Association have already use the scale to make better landscaping decisions.
Based on the plant-allergy scale it is now possible to state, for example, that Acer rubrum Red Sunset maple, is ranked number one and causes no allergies. By comparison, Autumn Spire, a male cultivar of red maple does cause allergies and is ranked number nine. Most Pine trees will rank at numbers 4 to 5 and will cause some allergy. Platanus species (sycamore) rank number eight, and cause quite a bit of allergy. A male Canary Island Palm, Phoenix canariensis, which is considered one of the worst at a ranking of 10, will produce an abundance of pollen that will cause severe allergic reactions to many living nearby.
Pollen dispersal rates have been measured since 1972 (Gilbert Raynor, NY meteorologist) and although many pollen grains travel far in the air, research shows that most often 99% of a tree’s pollen falls out and sticks within fifty feet of the tree. This means that the closer one is to the pollinating tree the greater the exposure. Thus, the job for arborists is to plant trees that will not expose everyone near them to allergenic pollen.

So, How Do You Tell the Boys from the Girls?
It isnt always that obvious by looking at a tree (especially a young tree) as to whether or not it is a pollen-free female or a pollen-producing male. But since so many city trees are now asexually produced cultivars, the sex is predetermined. In the book Allergy-Free Gardening, which is the result of 15 years of research on this subject, several thousand trees were individually sexed and allergy-ranked. In some cities, pollen control ordinances are already on the books, although most of these could be improved an updated. Albuquerque, New Mexico is particular interesting, since it has attempted to curb allergies by prohibiting the sale and planting of any male cultivars.
As the public grows more knowledgeable about allergy-free landscapes, municipal arborists and landscape specialists will want to be ahead of the curve. They will want to show their clients that they are well-informed on the subject. In the future, instead of planting high allergy-trees, they will need to plan and plant healthy urban landscapes.

References:
1.Lewis, Walter H., Airborne and Allergenic Pollen of North America, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 1976.
2.Jacobson, Arthur Lee, North American Landscape Trees, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California, 1996.
3.Koch, Christopher Von, Allergy, Die Woche, pg. 27, July 7, 2000, Hamburg, Germany.
4.Dworschak, Manfred, Der Spiegel, Feind am StraBenrad, Pp. 174, 175, Nr. 29, 2000.
5.Ogren, Thomas Leo, Turn Back the Pollen Clock, New Scientist, London, Pp. 46, 47, June 3rd, 2000.

About the Author

Thomas Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Ten Speed Press. Tom does consulting work on plants and allergies for the USDA, county asthma coalitions, and the Canadian and American Lung Associations. He has appeared on HGTV and The Discovery Channel. His book, Safe Sex in the Garden, was published in 2003. In 2004 Time Warner Books published his latest book: What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn. His website: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Written By: Thomas Ogren

Posted: March 6th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

What is the difference between God and a Doctor? God doesnt think that he is a doctor. How do you tell the difference between a Doctor and a banana? If the banana doesnt go rotten in 14 days then it isnt a doctor. According to your doctor asthma is incurable, or as your Doctor learned after 8 years in University envying the number of women chasing the quarterback, who your Doctor in a jealous and drunken rage referred to in his secret diary as a hairy Neanderthal, asthma is a chronic (permanent) inflammatory condition of the lungs. The medical schools and the big drug companies and the big corporate executives have pawned off this deadly myth for so long that now even they believe it.

20 million Americans suffer from asthma. Does this mean that we should lay the blame for asthma on our creator? Did God not know how to create a functioning lung? Are we just prototypes in Gods vast laboratory? Perhaps without inhalers all of the asthmatics would die off and then the human gene pool would be freed from this genetic defect and then future generations would evolve into a species with perfectly functioning bronchial tubes. In the interest of future generations perhaps you should throw out your puffer and just choke to death sacrificing your life for the common good. This may get you into heaven in case you forgot to put your $5 into the collection plate last Sunday. Did Jesus have asthma? Did Jesus ever cure an asthmatic? Did Jesus know that asthma was incurable? Did Jesus go to medical school? Did Jesus play football? Was Mary Magdalene a cheerleader for the Jerusalem University Keepahs?

The reasons that the environmental organizations are going nowhere are myriad. One of them is that the word environmental is a combination of the words enviro and mental. No one knows what the word enviro means which leaves us with the word mental. People just think that these people are mental. George Bushs father referred to them as the spotted owl crowd. His son George proclaimed that there is no evidence that global warming exists. Jesus referred to the leaders of his day as snakes, blind guides, leading us all into the fire. The United States which likes to think of itself as the role model for a world which thinks of the U.S. as the black sheep of the family is the highest per capita polluter in the world. The reason that pollution groups are going nowhere is because people dont understand the meaning of the word pollution. The world is like a giant Jonestown filled with people believing that poison cannot kill them because some Bible writers, scribes, and who Jesus referred to as snakes spewing their deadly poisonous lies into your Bibles (Matthew 23) wrote this baloney in your Bible 2,000 years ago beside The Earth does not move and it never will three times. If God wrote your Bible then not only can he not create a functioning lung but he is also very poor at astronomy. Your Bible has 2,000 pages of Gods Word and no cure for asthma? Perhaps if the George Bushes had paid a little less attention to their Holy Bibles and checked out the Greenpeace website a couple of times, Greenland, Antarctica and the Arctic would not now be melting into the worlds 1 ocean which will shortly cause the sea level to rise 50 feet leaving nothing left of the United States except the peaks of Vail, which will be prime beachfront property.

In the Holy Bible God commands the cutting away of the foreskin, not the foresight. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure especially when there is no cure for asthma. The pollution, the particles of poison in the air which we breathe into our lungs, like deadly airborne cyanide, hemlock and snake venom gets into your lungs when you breathe the air, it inflames your lungs and you have asthma. If you want to get away with poisoning childrens lungs with deadly poison chemicals so that they cannot breathe then give your poison a name that no one understands, like a carcinogen, a cancer causing chemical coming out of the exhaust pipe of your car like a bullet which hits its target and then explodes 10 years later in your own lungs and then slowly eats you alive in an excruciating prolonged death. It was announced yesterday that in Beijing, the site of the next Olympics, where the smog is so bad that more car accidents are caused by low visibility than msg, over 100,000 Chinese people died last year from the indoor air pollution in their skyscrapers from the chemicals gassing off from their carpets, furniture, and poor ventilation. Who would want to open a window in Beijing even if the office buildings did have windows? The air in Beijing is so filled with poison gas that the 100 yard dash at the 2008 Olympics has been shortened to 10 yards. What is the big deal searching for a cure for Aids in Africa? If everyone remained a virgin and then only had sex with their spouse there would be no sexually transmitted diseases. Is this a secret being deliberately held from the African people? You cannot break the laws of nature but if you do it will break your back.

Mold is a fungus, a tiny airborne animal that can only be seen when magnified through the lens of a microscope. Some molds exist in nature and we breathe it in all the time in small amounts and our bodies can handle it. However in larger amounts, or in people with immune systems weakened by all of the poison we breathe in every day, these molds which we breathe in, that multiply in our lungs and digestive tracts, these molds cause allergic reactions, aka tightening of the airways, aka chronic asthma, chronic bronchitis and chronic emphysema leading to death. The end of chapter 14 of the Book of Leviticus recommends that in some cases when these molds get into the wooden walls and stones of your house, you must tear down your house and rebuild it.

Doctors, i.e. allopathic doctors will treat the symptoms of your asthma and not the causes. Allergists will diagnose you with mold allergies and inject you with mold for 5 years of useless and painful treatment. Respiratory specialists will give you cortisone inhalers which cause thrush, candida, yeast, mold, fungus in your throat which your bloodstream then carries to every organ in your body including your lungs thereby aggravating the problem and making the doctors and the drug companies rich. Jesus commanded that everyone sell all of their possessions and then give all of their money to the poor. Are there any Christian doctors? Are there any Christians?

Here is the good news. Go to your naturopathic doctor, your doctor of naturopathy. Take the best from what both traditional and naturopathic doctors have to offer. Actually naturopathic doctors should be called traditional doctors since they are the doctors who are using herbal remedies which have been used and are tried and true since before biblical times, which are recommended in the Bible. In the numerous cases of asthma which are caused by breathing in airborne mold, there is a herbal remedy which can cure it. Oil of oregano has been clinically proven to kill bacterial infections which penicillin cannot kill, viruses which nothing can kill, molds, yeast and fungus. Many drugs are synthetic preparations of herbal remedies, plant medicine put on earth by God to save your life. Oil of oregano with sage and cumin taken in capsules will kill off the mold, and remove the root cause of the asthma, tiny animals eating their way through your lungs like they eat through wood and stone no matter how much you clean the surface. Your bloodstream will take the Oregacyn capsules (oil of oregano, sage and cumin search oregacyn) which you can buy over the internet or in your health food store to every part of your body including your lungs and kill the mold and cure the asthma. It is also good to take non dairy acidophilus, the healthy bacteria in our bodies which beats back the mold, and NutriBiotic grapefruit seed extract tablets which also kill the fungus. Years ago Doctors accused the naturopaths of practicing voodoo medicine and the Government threatened to ban herbal remedies as being unsafe. (Some are unsafe. Check with your naturopath and your doctor and your health food stores to see which ones.) Today many drug stores look more like health food stores than drugstores. In the fight for power, control and money in medicine and in religion, it is always the patient who ends up the big loser. If the 200 countries on Earth decided to make World Peace they could do it overnight at the United Nations. Unfortunately your Holy Bibles and your religious leaders forbid it. Also, the weapons manufacturers own and are pulling the strings of the politicians, and they will never allow World Peace, until nuclear world war III causes the extinction of all life on earth forever in the near future, which will also put an end to asthma once and for all. Think of it as radiology theology coming to your rescue.

About The Author

Karen Fish is a writer currently living in Los Angeles California. The Temple of Love http://www.thetempleoflove.com The World Peace Religion

Written By: Karen Fish

Posted: March 3rd, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

Recent studies have shown that babies born to mothers who were exposed to high levels of pollen in their last trimester of pregnancy have a much greater chance of developing asthma. One of the main keys with asthma prevention is avoidance.
When you have asthma the typical garden is not a very friendly place at all. There are mold spores to contend with and worst of all is the pollen. Typical gardens have pollen producing male trees and male shrubs and other plants that can provoke asthma attacks. Almost anyone with asthma will tell you that their asthma can be triggered by a good number of things, but pollen is often number one for causing an attack. Garden allergies are common, but they need not be. Allergies from gardening could be largely a thing of the past if were willing to make some simple changes.
In fall of 1999 in Richmond, Virginia the American Lung Association of Virginia (ALAV) built a new Breathe Easy office and headquarters. They had this entire large building constructed with the latest innovations in green construction and sustainable design. No construction materials were used that would off gas any harmful or toxic chemicals, no materials were used that would trigger asthma or allergies. Every attempt was made to build something that would be pleasant and healthy to work in. The people who work in this office now will tell you too, that they all notice what a great improvement it is. Their office is a healthy building.
The ALA decided it would make perfect sense to landscape their new healthy building (in some states these are now called Health Houses) with an allergy free landscape. OPALS (the plant/allergy 1-10 numerical ranking system) was used to select only those plant materials that were either very low pollen, low allergy, or that were totally pollen free, allergy free. In effect they created the first true asthma friendly garden in the US.
Health Houses in other states are now also adding pollen free landscapes to their green construction, green buildings. A new Health House is about to be built in Pennsylvania, and the PA Association of Landscapers and Nurserymen are helping to surround it with an asthma friendly landscape.
Schools too are getting into the clean air act, and in the city of Visalia, California, the Tulare County Asthma Coalition recently directed the asthma friendly landscaping of a newly built elementary school.
Twelve keys to building your own asthma friendly garden:
1.Plant lots of female trees and female shrubs. Not only will these not shed any pollen, they will also trap a good deal of pollen that may stay in from somewhere else. Think of these female plants as natures air cleaners.
2.Use only low pollen or no pollen lawns. There are types of lawns now that are pretty well pollen free and these are a big improvement over some of the older lawn varieties. In southern states, if you have a common Bermuda grass lawn, consider replacing it with a newer, more asthma friendly hybrid Bermuda grass. Princess 77 is a new Bermuda grass hybrid that can be planted from seed. It is next to pollen free, grows very low and tight, and is especially good looking.
3.With OPALS 1 is best, 10 is worst. Use only plants with rankings of 1-5. The more plants in your gardens that have rankings ranging from 1-3, the friendlier your place will be for anyone with allergies or asthma.
4.Remove any trees or shrubs with rankings over OPALS #7. The woody landscape plants with rankings of 8-10 are all sure-fire allergy triggering plants and you can live without them.
5.Replace any removed high pollen, asthma triggering plants with their opposite, female trees or female shrubs. Also good as replacements are perfect flowered plants that are known to be very low pollen producers. These will all have good (low) OPALS rankings.
6.Use only plants that are well adapted to your own area. If you can find natives that have low allergy rankings, consider using them. Look around your own neighborhood, and see for yourself, which kinds of plants seem to be flourishing there already. For almost every kind of plant used in landscaping, there is now a no or low pollen version of it, if you know what to look for.
7.Use a wide variety of plant materials; diversity is good. Biodiversity always makes sense. The more diverse our gardens are he fewer problems well have with insects and molds.
8.Avoid plants with strong fragrances or odors, as they can cause asthma. Dont plant jasmines or similar vines next to entrances or exits and certainly dont use them underneath bedroom windows.
9.For mulch, use rock or gravel instead of bark to cut down on toxic mold spores in the garden. Flat stones or pavers also make good, mold free mulching materials.
10.To further eliminate mold spores, encourage wild birds in your garden. Virtually all wild birds eat insects, and insect damage triggers outbreaks of mold. Even the tiny hummingbirds actually eat a large number of insects. Put up a hummingbird feeder!
11.Keep your plants healthy. This too will cut down on both pollen and mold. When it is hot and windy, do some irrigating. Fertilize everything in the garden spring and fall. If plants are crowding each other too much, thin them out. If tree branches overhead are putting your whole yard in deep shade, consider having the tree thinned to let in more light. Fresh air and light are the enemies of molds.
12.If a tree, shrub, vine or any other plant always looks sickly, looks dirty, or always attracts bugs, then shovel prune it. Dig it up and get rid of it. Replace it with something easier to grow. Dont get caught up in having to spray insecticides all the time, as they too can easily cause asthma and allergies.

Make your garden a fun, stress free zone. Be sure to have a few comfortable garden chairs to sit in, and a little table of some sort is always good too. Wind chimes, bird feeders, and birdbaths can add greatly to your enjoyment and cost little. A beautiful, pollen free, allergy free, asthma friendly garden can be just the place for healthy children, and a great place for anyone to relax and enjoy the great outdoors. For more advice on low allergen gardening, look up allergy free gardening on the Internet, or go to your local library and read some books on this new important subject.

Tom Ogren is the author of five published books, including: Allergy-free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden (Ten Speed Press), and What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn (AOL Time Warner Books). Tom has an MS degree in Agriculture-Horticulture, taught landscape gardening for twenty years, owned and operated two wholesale-retail nurseries, and in northern Minnesota was host of the popular Public Radio call-in gardening show, Tom Ogrens Wild World of Plants!
Tom (Thomas Leo Ogren) has published hundreds of articles on health and gardening. His work has appeared in diverse publications such as South Africas Veldt and Field, in Womens Day, Alternative Medicine, the Burpee Seed Catalog, Sunset Magazine, Landscape Architecture, Der Spiegel, The London Times, The Seattle Times, The Washington Post, and even the Jerusalem Post. He has also made numerous appearances on HGTV and his work was the focus of two made for TV documentaries, one by the Canadian Discovery Channel.
Tom has been interviewed on National Public Radios Weekend Edition and his groundbreaking research was featured on The CBS Evening News. He is a frequent lecturer for garden clubs, arboretums, civic groups, hospitals, medical groups, Master Gardeners, and professional associations of landscapers, landscape designers, writers, nursery people, arborists, and urban foresters. He has become well known for his fun, high energy, highly informative, unusual and provocative talks. Tom is a member of the Professional Landscape Designers Association, and the GWA, the Garden Writers of America. Unlike many well-published authors, he still tries to answer all of his own email. You can contact Tom through his website, at: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Notice of Copyright: Copyright Thomas Leo Ogren

About the Author

Thomas Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Ten Speed Press. Tom does consulting work on for the USDA, county asthma coalitions, and the American Lung Associations. He has appeared on CBS, HGTV and The Discovery Channel. His book, Safe Sex in the Garden, was published 2003. In 2004 Time Warner Books published his latest: What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn. His website: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Written By: Thomas Leo Ogren

Posted: February 29th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

Asthma has increased 300 percent in children in the past ten years. Research by WHO, in Germany, finds prostate cancer, breast cancer, and other cancers increasing due to mold-related problems.

Mold is the number one health problem with one in every three persons affected by mold and one in ten with a severe problem related to mold. These can range from the common cold, tonsillitis, otitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia, to cancer.

Check your home’s humidity levels; buy or borrow a hygrometer and watch the changes in R.H. that occur throughout a typical day in different rooms of the house and over the heating season. To inspect your home for mold growth, winter is the best time except for basements which should also be inspected in the summer. With a flashlight and some simple tools, go through the entire house, both inside and outside, searching for moisture damage and mold growth and their potential causes.

The Stachybotrus species of mold is dangerous; it will start growing in 80 percent humidity but, once established, can grow at 55 percent humidity. This mold can develop from the decay of building materials and is much harder to control. If more than ten square feet develop, it is advised that a professional clean it up. When you see a small speck of mold, that’s only part of the problem – the remainder being inside the walls.

‘Frog Page’ is a manual of the health of the environment and states that frogs are declining because of mold.

Some of the causes of mold are brush and trees within 30 feet of the building; venting the clothes drier inside the home; furniture against outside walls; old fill, causing building movement leading to cracks causing water ingress; concrete will wick up water even to several feet above ground; ventilation not directed outside, such as the kitchen range hood, which should be vented outside; plants and aquariums; drying clothing indoors; standing water, such as keeping cold water in the kitchen sink; hot tubs; using several gallons of water to wash floors.

‘Sick Building Syndrome’ is caused by moisture and mold growth. It migrates through foundations up from the soil. A dehumidifier is not the final answer as it only does the air and not the walls. What is required is a combination of ventilation, circulation, and heat.

Carpenter ants and termites will smell moisture from miles away and they only attack damaged wood.

Ventilation alone won’t help a crawl space. In the summer the vents bring in warm, moist air.

Mold forms on the coldest space. The only
way to deal with it is with heat. Wall heaters with fans are more efficient than baseboard heaters.

Pull furniture and store material away from exterior walls and off basement floors; leave closet doors ajar; leave bedroom doors open as much as possible; undercut doors; don’t block or deflect warm air registers; open drapes, blinds, and curtains; set the furnace fan to run continuously. This will use more electricity but can be offset by installing a two-speed energy-efficient motor; don’t cut off the heating supply or close off unused rooms.

Uninsulated or poorly insulated areas such as exterior corners or foundation walls, should be improved with additional insulation. Be sure to install an air-vapor barrier, usually polyethylene, on the room side of the insulation to prevent hidden condensation behind the insulation. Seal hidden opening into the attic, tighten the attic hatch, weatherstrip and caulk around windows and doors, gasket electrical outlets, caulk baseboards and seal the top of foundations. Using an air conditioner on muggy summer days also helps take out the moisture.

Humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air-conditioning units and filtration systems can be a source of mold growth if they are not regularly cleaned.

Key areas to check for moisture sources leading to condensation inside the home are roof leaks [especially at chimneys, flashings, skylights and eavestroughing]; wall leaks [especially at window and door flashing and sills]; foundation leaks [especially where the ground slopes toward the foundation]; and plumbing leaks [especially at toilet bases and under sink drains].

Check any fuel-burning equipment – furnaces, hot water heaters, boilers, fireplaces, and wood stoves – to ensure that they are venting properly. A blocked chimney could mean that combustion products, including large amounts of water vapor, are spilling into your house. Along with that moisture come dangerous combustion gasses, such as carbon monoxide, which cause deaths every year. Have heating equipment and venting systems checked by a trained service person.

If your moisture remedial work includes extensive air sealing, be sure that all fuel-burning equipment has an adequate supply of combustion air. High efficiency furnaces, for example, have their own air supplies and exhaust fans but conventional equipment may rely on house air for combustion and on ‘natural draft’ to move combustion products up the chimney flue. If starved for air or overpowered by an exhaust fan somewhere else in the house, such equipment can spill combustion gasses indoors. Examples of this include stains near the vent of a gas water heater, smoke entering the room from a wood-burning fireplace or stove, and pilot lights being blown out.

Mold growth often occurs in out-of-the-way areas like closets, corners, walls behind furniture and unused rooms. Increasing air circulation to these areas warms the cold surfaces and lowers local humidity levels.

To solve moisture problems, cover any exposed earth in a crawl space or basement with heavy polyethylene, sealed and weighted-down; slope soil away from foundations to keep basement walls and slab dry; patch any foundation leaks; don’t use humidifiers, unless humidity levels are below 30 percent R.H.; avoid drying firewood indoors; operate bathroom exhaust fans during a bath or shower; use your range hood exhaust when cooking; avoid steam-cleaning carpets in winter; clean mold from wood and gyproc with a 10 percent to 30 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide applied with a spray bottle. This is more effective than bleach and water.

If you use chlorine bleach, mix one part bleach with two parts water and a little detergent to clean nearby surfaces. Leave for 15 minutes and rinse well. Use gloves and protective glasses and good ventilation. Badly mildewed carpets, furnishings and books will probably need to be thrown out.

Molds are parasitic micro-organisms that appear as black, white or multi-colored stain or fuzz. In addition to causing asthma, they can cause other allergies and serious health problems. There are tens of thousand of varieties of molds and are difficult and expensive to identify, even for experts. Health officials recommend eliminating all molds from inside your home.

Most mold spores need condensation or damp materials to germinate and once are established, many colonies generate their own moisture and can continue to survive even under dry conditions. They also need mild temperatures and a source of food, such as house dust or drywall paper.

Resources:

1. Natural Resources Canada [NRCan] “Air-Leakage Control” Pg. 11 [20 Feb 2002]

2.WHO [World Health Organization] [20 Feb. 2002]

3. Cormier, Dr. Y., Centre de Recherche, Hopital Laval, 2725 Chemin Ste-Foy, Ste Foy, Quebec Canada, G1V-4G5 Institut de Recherche en Sante et Securite du Travail (IRSST), Quebec Canada July 21, 1999; revised; accepted for publication November 26, 1999.

4. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/ [20 Feb. 2002]

5. http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/qa/105-10news/NIEHSnews.html [20 Feb.2002]

6. http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/FS/fs-043-01/
[20 Feb. 2002]

About the Author

Margot B, Writer, Information Broker, Web Developer at Margot B & Associates mailto:margotb@wonderport.com http://www.writers.Org-HQ.com

Written By: Margot B

Posted: February 26th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

Many asthmatics want to dive, but unfortunately, there are a number of concerns about the effect of asthma on dive safety. Dive physicians have traditionally taken a very conservative approach to asthma in dive fitness assessments. Mention of the word “Asthma” and potential divers were ejected from the surgery faster than you could say, “but it wasn’t serious and it’s gone away now”

More recently, some dive physicians have begun to take a more liberal, informed consent approach in assessing previous or mild asthmatics for diving. Some ex-sufferers previously prevented from diving can now dive, after making an informed choice about the possible risks. To understand this, it is first necessary to understand what asthma actually is. Asthma is a condition affecting medium to small airways in the lungs. In asthmatics, these airways are prone to narrowing, which impedes the flow of air into and, in particular, out of the small air sacs (alveoli) where gas exchange occurs. The trigger for these events is often an allergic response to a specific stimulus.

Some asthmatics also respond to physical stimuli such as exercise or a change from breathing warm air to cold air. The result is that the patient feels short of breath and there may be an audible wheeze due to airway narrowing which can cause severe breathing difficulty, which in severe cases, can certainly be fatal. One of the biggest problems in discussing asthma, and this is particularly true when discussing asthma in the context of diving, is that the spectrum of severity is extraordinarily wide.

There are three main concerns about asthma and diving. First, asthma may make divers more likely to suffer a dive-related illness. We are all taught that the most important rule in diving is to breathe normally and to never hold your breath. If a diver ascends while holding his breath, the expanding air can damage delicate lung tissue, and air may be introduced directly into the blood, travel to the brain and cause an arterial gas embolism (AGE).

There is concern that an asthmatic may suffer narrowing or blocking of small airways during a dive, and that expansion of any trapped air during ascent may lead to the same problem. There is also concern that use of reliever medication, such as Ventolin, prior to diving may cause the lungs to be less efficient at filtering out the venous nitrogen bubbles we all have after dives. These bubbles may then circulate through the lungs and reach arteries where they might, in theory, be more likely to contribute to the development of decompression illness.

Second, it is recognised that an asthma attack in the water may severely compromise the diver’s safety by incapacitating him and causing an inability to function effectively. Indeed, it is hard to argue that difficulty breathing would not be a decided disadvantage if you were caught in a current that was sweeping you away from your boat.

Third, it is a plausible concern that diving itself could precipitate asthma. Asthma can be precipitated by the exercise associated with diving, or by the irritant effect of breathing a cold, dry gas. It is also recognised that regulators frequently leak a little salt water, and that some of this may be nebulised into a mist during breathing. This mist can irritate the airways and precipitate narrowing in vulnerable individuals.

The problem with all these very plausible concerns is that we have no idea how truly significant they are as there has been very little historic research. There is some data from retrospective surveys and these reveal many asthmatics (including active asthmatics) do dive, and that while their relative risk in diving may be more, their absolute risk remains reasonably low. e.g. one survey indicated that asthmatic is twice as likely to suffer an AGE as a non-asthmatic. Sound bad? Maybe. But if the risk of AGE for a non-asthmatic is one in every 50,000 dives, then the risk for an asthmatic is one in 25,000; a clear illustration of the fact that not very much multiplied by two is still not very much.

In this day and age where people do not want to take responsibility for their own actions, the most prudent thing for a dive physician to do when an asthmatic walks into his surgery is to say “Bog off, you’re unfit”. This happens frequently, and who can blame the doctors? However, while it might be defensive medicine, it is not necessarily good medicine. Indeed, such subjective pronouncements often motivate the candidate to go to another doctor and lie about having asthma.

There is now an alternative informed consent basis of assessment. Fundamentally, this means clearly and comprehensively explaining the risks of diving to the candidate, and letting him make an informed choice about whether to proceed. However, there are some important provisos. In the context of asthma, most dive physicians would agree that the more active the asthma, the greater the risk in diving. Those candidates who suffer serious attacks, wheeze relatively often or who use reliever medications regularly, cannot be considered for diving, even on an informed consent basis, because rightly or wrongly, the risks are perceived to be too high.

On the other hand, previous asthmatics and milder cases may be subject to little extra risk, and it is reasonable to let them, as intelligent adults, make up their own minds on the matter. Every day of our lives we make decisions that inherently involve weighing risk against benefit. We choose to get on planes, we choose to play rugby, we choose to ride bicycles on busy roads, all because we decide the benefit outweighs the risk. There is no reason diving should be any different in this regard, although dive candidates are much less well-informed about its inherent risks than they are about these other intuitively obvious risk situations. It is the dive physician’s role in this setting to sufficiently educate candidates so they can make an informed choice.

A sensible approach to the asthmatic dive candidate is to first take a detailed history of his problem. The obvious active asthmatics are told they cannot dive, and the reasons are clearly explained. Asthmatics who have not experienced symptoms of asthma or have not used medication for years are usually able to dive without any special investigations.

The most problematic are mild asthmatics i.e. those candidates who wheeze once or twice a year when they have colds; or who wheeze a little in the spring when certain pollens are around, etc. With these candidates, a long discussion about the potential risks in diving implied by their asthmatic history, is usually followed with tests to check that neither exercise nor the breathing of nebulised salt water (at the same concentration as sea water) provoke airway narrowing. If these tests are negative and patients exhibit a clear understanding of the issues and wish to proceed, then we should be happy for them to dive. Unfortunately, to conduct and document this process properly is a time consuming and expensive exercise, but at least it’s better than being told to “clear off” without so much as an explanation.

About the Author

Sheldon Hey is the founder of Dive The World (http://www.DiveTheWorldThailand.com)and has been an passionate scuba diving professional for many years. Sheldon and the Dive The World Team would love to share their experience with you to ensure your next diving trip meets all your expectations. Follow this link if you would like to read more about Sheldons scuba diving experiences.

Written By: Sheldon Hey

Posted: February 11th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

What we plant often has a direct effect on our own health and the health of those near us. A pollen-producing male tree in our own yard will easily expose us to ten times more pollen than would a similar tree growing just down the block. This can be compared to second-hand smoke. It is possible to inhale some smoke from a person smoking a block or two away from you, but it is hardly the same as someone smoking right next to you. It is the same with plants. If your own yard is full of allergenic plants, then you will be exposed most.
Elementary school landscapes are frequently highly allergenic because all too often they have been landscaped with trees and shrubs that will not produce any seeds, seedpods or fruitwhich the children might want to toss at each other. What is over-looked is that these tidy choices are usually male cultivars (clones) and although they are litter-free, they are prodigious producers of allergenic pollen. I am now involved with a pollen-free landscape planting at a new elementary school in Tulare County, California. This work is being sponsored by their local asthma coalition and it is very encouraging to see preventative measures like this being taken. Children suffer greatly from allergies and asthma, and asthma is now the most common chronic childhood disease in the US.
Another fine example of low-pollen landscaping surrounds the new American Lung Association Regional Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. With green construction principles a new Breathe Easy allergy-free office was constructed. The allergy-friendly landscape plant materials are predominantly female, and compliment the clean air building. Other Breathe Easy offices are also now using pollen free landscapes, as are numerous Heath Houses.
Twelve tips: Remember, the greater the exposure to pollen, the greater the incidence of pollen-triggered allergy and asthma.

1.Dont plant any male trees or shrubs. These are often sold as “seedless” or “fruitless” varieties but theyre males and they all produce large amounts of allergenic pollen.
2.Do plant female trees and shrubs. Even though these may be messier than males, they produce no pollen, and they actually trap and remove pollen from the air. There is also some very good all-female sod to use for pollen-free lawns. As an added bonus, these female lawns stay low and require less frequent mowing.
3.Plant disease-resistant varieties: mildew, rust, black spot and other plant diseases all reproduce by spores and these spores cause allergies. Disease resistant plants wont get infected as much and the air around them will be healthier.
4.Use only trees and shrubs well adapted for your own climate zone. Plants grown in the wrong zone will often fail to thrive. Because they are not healthy, they will be magnets for insects. Insect residue, “honeydew,” is a prime host for molds and molds produce allergenic mold spores. Often native plants will be the healthiest choices.
5.Be careful with the use of all insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Accidental exposure to all of these chemical pesticides has been shown to cause breakdowns in the immune system. Sometimes one single heavy exposure to a pesticide will result in sudden hypersensitivity to pollen, spores, and to other allergens. This is as true for pets as it is for their owners. Go organic as much as possible. Make and use compost!
6.Diversity is good. Dont plant too much of the same thing in your landscapes. Use a wide selection of plants. Lack of diversity often causes over-exposure. Use lots of variety in your gardens.
7.Wild birds are a big plus because they eat so many insects. Plant fruiting trees and shrubs to encourage more birds. Suet also attracts many insect-eating birds. Insect dander causes allergies and birds consume an incredible amount of aphids, whiteflies, scale, and other invertebrate pests.
8.Use pollen-free selections whenever possible. There are many hybrids with highly doubled flowers and in many cases these flowers lack any male, pollen parts. Formal double chrysanthemums, for example, usually have no pollen. Another example would be almost all of the erect tuberous begonias. These have complete female flowers, but their male flowers have nothing but petals, making them pollen-free.
9.If you simply must have some high-allergy potential plants in your yard, just because you love them, then watch where you plant them. Dont use any high-allergy plants near bedroom windows or next to patios, well-used walkways, or by front or back doors. Place the highest allergy plants as far away from the house as possible and downwind of the house too. Remember: the closer you are to the high-allergy tree or shrub, the greater is your exposure.
10.Know the exact cultivar name of a tree or shrub before you buy it. Dont buy any that are not clearly tagged with the correct cultivar (variety) name and the Latin, scientific name. Compare the exact name of the plant with its OPALS/TM allergy ranking. With this scale, 1 is least allergenic, and 10 is the most allergenic. Try to achieve a landscape that averages at OPALS #5, or below.
11.If you have a tree or hedge that has high allergy potential and dont want to remove it, consider keeping it heavily sheared so that it will flower less. Boxwood, for example, has allergenic flowers but if pruned hard each year, it will rarely bloom at all.
12.Get involved with your own citys tree and parks departments, and encourage them to stop planting any more wind-pollinated trees. There are thousands of fine choices of street trees that do not cause any allergies and we should be using these instead. Working together we can make a healthy difference, and well all breathe better for our efforts.

*Note, with the dioecious plants (separate-sexed) males cause pollen-allergy, and females because they are pollen free, do not. Examples of some of these dioecious plants are: red maple, silver maple, box elder, holly, willow, aspen, cottonwood, poplar, fringe tree, pepper tree, carob tree, Osage orange, mulberry, cedar, juniper, podocarpus, yews, ash, date palms, and even asparagus.

About the Author

Thomas Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, Ten Speed Press. Tom does consulting work on landscape plants and allergies for the USDA, county asthma coalitions, and the Canadian and American Lung Associations. He has appeared on HGTV and The Discovery Channel. His book, Safe Sex in the Garden, was published in 2003. In 2004 Time Warner Books published: What the Experts May NOT Tell You About: Growing the Perfect Lawn. His website: www.allergyfree-gardening.com

Written By: Thomas Ogren

Posted: January 27th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

If you have asthma, managing it is an important part of your life. Controlling your asthma means staying away from things that bother your airways and taking medicines as directed by your doctor. If you have asthma, it is important to learn how to take care of yourself.

MAKE AN ACTION PLAN WITH YOUR DOCTOR

It is important that you work with your doctor to make an action plan that you are both happy with. As part of this, you will need to:

* Tell your doctor about all other medications and drugs you are taking, in case one of them affects your asthma.
* Follow your asthma action plan and have regular checkups.
* Learn to use your medication correctly. Ask your doctor to teach you how to use your inhaler. This is very important. If inhalers are not used correctly, less medication gets into the airways.
* If you are having problems taking your asthma medicine, seek your doctor’s advice immediately.

IDENTIFY YOUR ASTHMA TRIGGERS

You also need to learn to identify and avoid the things that can worsen or trigger your asthma symptoms.

* If animal dander is a problem for you, keep your pet out of the house and/or at least out of your bedroom and wash your pet often – or even find it a new home.
* Do not smoke or allow smoking in your home.
* If pollen is a problem for you, stay indoors with the air conditioner on when the pollen count is high.
* To control dust mites, wash your sheets, blankets, pillows, and stuffed toys once a week in hot water. You can get special dust proof covers for your mattress and pillows.
* To prevent colds and flu, wash your hands often and get a flu shot every year. Children with asthma should get flu shots, too.
* If cold air bothers you, wear a scarf over your mouth and nose in the winter.
* If you get asthma when you exercise or do routine physical activities like climbing stairs, work with your doctor to find ways to be active without having asthma symptoms. Physical activity is important.
* If you are allergic to sulphites, avoid foods (like dried fruit) or beverages (like wine) that contain them. For example, sodium metabisulphite (E220-227) may also trigger asthma, but not via an allergic reaction. It can be found in wine, home-brewed beer, fizzy drinks, prepared meats and prepared salads.
* Do not allow smoking indoors unless there is a room reserved for smokers and which has a separate ventilation system to exhaust smoke outside. Never allow smoking around anyone with asthma.
* Try to keep humidity levels in the home between 30 and 50 percent. High humidity can promote growth of biological agents that may trigger asthma episodes. Use exhaust fans or open windows in the kitchen or bathroom areas when cooking, using the dishwasher, or taking showers. Make sure clothes dryers are vented to the outdoors, and use a dehumidifier in the basement if necessary.
* Avoid using humidifiers. If it cannot be avoided, clean it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Refill it daily with fresh water to prevent the growth of harmful microbes.
* Minimize exposure to combustion particles and gases that can cause breathing difficulties for people with asthma. Have combustion-powered furnaces, stoves, or heaters checked yearly to make sure they are operating properly. Change furnace filters according to the manufacturer’s instructions, or every month or two during periods of use. Consider installing higher efficiency filters to reduce the number of particles in the air. Never use a gas stove to heat the home, and always use the exhaust fan when cooking on a gas stove.
* Avoid sprays like deodorants, perfumes, or air fresheners, odours from paint, and strong smelling cleaners may start a child’s asthma attack.
* Keep the house clean to reduce allergens like microscopic dust mites, pollen, and animal dander. Use an allergen-proof comforter and encase mattresses and box springs in vinyl covers. Wash bedding frequently in hot (130F) water. Avoid furnishings that collect dust.

MONITOR YOUR ASTHMA

If your asthma is not under control, there will be signs that you should not ignore. The following are some signs that your asthma is getting worse:

* Your asthma symptoms happen more often.
* Your asthma symptoms are worse than they used to be. * Your asthma symptoms are bothering you a lot at night and making you lose sleep.
* You are missing school or work because of your asthma.
* Your peak flow number is low or varies a lot from morning to evening.
* Your asthma medications do not seem to be working very well anymore.
* You have to use your short-acting “quick relief” or “rescue” inhaler more often. (Using quick relief medicine every day, or using more than one inhaler a month is too much)
* You have to go to the emergency room or doctor because of an asthma attack.
* You end up in the hospital because of your asthma.

If your asthma seems to be getting worse, see your doctor. You may need to change your medication or take other actions to get your asthma under control.

About the author:

For further information on asthma, visit Asthma Experience. David Drinkall is a lifelong asthma sufferer and owner of AsthmaExperience.com .

Written By: David Drinkall

Posted: January 12th, 2008 under Asthma.
Comments: none

Over 17 million Americans have asthma. Boost your awareness with this brief introduction to the disease.
What is asthma?

Asthma is a chronic condition that affects both children and adults. It is characterized by inflammation of the lungs, causing an inability to breathe properly. Certain triggers cause changes in the lungs of an asthmatic; airways restrict and may also become filled with fluid, which can lead to wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. Asthma affects 5% to 10% of the worlds population, with the United States having record numbers of cases. Currently, more than 17 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma, and asthma is one of the number one reasons for missed work and emergency room visits in the country. Asthma can be a serious, life threatening condition, but is manageable with proper medical care, medications, and education.

What are the symptoms of asthma?

The most common symptoms of asthma are coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, but these are not the only symptoms that asthma can cause. Rapid breathing, irritation of the nose and throat, frequent sinus infections, allergies, excessive thirst, chest tightness and pain, productive and non-productive persistent cough, allergies, difficulty breathing while exercising, and waking at night with a feeling of being suffocated are all symptoms and possible signs of asthma. An asthma attack is usually marked by beginning with a noisy wheeze experienced while exhaling and rapid breathing. Panic can increase the severity of an asthma attack, which is an unfortunate thing, as an asthma attack itself can cause one to panic. I have noticed during my own asthma attacks that I experience chills, tremors, and a cold, clammy perspiration before and after an attack, along with marked weakness in my limbs. It is important to remember that each persons symptoms may differ from those of others.

Who gets asthma?

There are many different criteria for determining who gets asthma. The two most at risk groups for developing severe asthma are the elderly, and the urban poor. In the United States, 6.1% of African-Americans develop severe asthma compared to 5% of Caucasians. Also, African-Americans are three times as likely to die from severe asthma as are Caucasians. Childhood asthma occurs most often in boys, but after puberty reports show that cases of asthma are diagnosed most often in young women. Women run a much greater risk of death from asthma than do men, and the numbers are increasing steadily, especially in elderly women. 90% of all asthma deaths in the United States occur in the elderly.

Workers in certain occupations, such as farmers, hair dressers, and those in the textile industry, are at greater risk of developing asthma. Some known workplace allergens that may cause asthma include polyurethane, paints, steel, electronics, western red cedar, oak, redwood, mahogany, metal salts, vegetable dusts, and certain red dyes, and people that work with these substances on a regular basis have a greater risk of developing asthma.

Lifestyle also plays a major role in deciding who gets asthma. Studies have shown that those who are obese run a far greater risk of developing the disease than do people who maintain their recommended weight. On the other side of the coin, highly trained athletes, such as long distance runners, bear an increased risk as well.

It is also believed that environment can be a risk factor for those who live in heavily polluted areas of the country, such as large cities, industrial areas, and those who live near congested roadways.

Heredity can also bear a part in risk factors. Asthma seems to run in families, and an asthmatic couple wishing to have children should discuss their own risks for passing on the disease with their doctors. Asthmatics with children should also be on the lookout for signs of the disease in their children, as it can become quite severe if allowed to progress unnoticed.

What can trigger asthma attacks?

There are many things that can trigger asthma attacks, and they are different for each individual. However, some of the more common triggers include primary and second-hand cigarette smoke, food and plant allergies, allergic reactions to insect bites and stings, certain chemicals such as chlorine and ammonia, certain medications such as aspirin and beta-blockers, exposure to extreme hot or cold air, extreme emotion, colds or respiratory infections, mildew and mold, dust, and intense exercise. In 40% to 90% of people with asthma, intense exercise will trigger coughing, wheezing, or shortness of breath.

It is important to note that strong emotion, such as anxiety, fear, or panic, can trigger asthma attacks. When suffering from an asthma attack, the victim should be kept as calm as possible to avoid compounding or prolonging the attack by becoming distressed or frightened. My most severe, life-threatening attack happened after a car accident, and if I had not had a compassionate individual on hand to calm me, my condition could have ended up very bad indeed.

What are the consequences of asthma?

Asthma can be a serious illness that results in death, but most fatalities that are caused by asthma are preventable by seeking proper treatment from a medical professional. All that aside, asthma is still a frightening and debilitating disease that carries a myriad of problems along with it. Sleeplessness is one common problem suffered by asthmatics. In fact, 40% of all asthmatics lose at least 11 days of work or school per year due to difficulties caused by sleeplessness or lack of quality sleep. Between 17% to 30% of all asthmatics also develop chronic sinusitis and continuous nasal drain.

How can asthma be treated?

There are many options when discussing the treatment of asthma. Bronchiodilators are one of the most common treatments prescribed, and may come in the form of liquid, pills, or inhalers, such as Albuterol. Steriods are also used in order to beef up lungs and make them stronger, thus more able to resist asthma flare-ups. Certain exercise regimes may be recommended in order to build lung capacity, as well as an education plan in order to avoid triggers which may cause asthma attacks. Before undergoing any treatment plan you should always consult with your personal physician.

About the Author

Deanna J. Jones is a freelance writer, wife, and mother. She is also a self-proclaimed history buff who spends her free time building web sites and working on her first novel.

Written By: Deanna J. Jones

Posted: December 28th, 2007 under Asthma.
Comments: none