Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Free Yourself From Boundaries: Tips To Care For Asthma

Asthma can be a very hard ailment to live with. It can affect your ability to participate in even the most basic of activities, such as going for a short walk. Unfortunately, there is no actual cure for asthma, but there are indeed treatments. This article offers tips on how you can stop your symptoms from getting too severe.

Asthma sufferers should definitely stay indoors more when pollen increases. Although asthma is not an allergy, many of the same irritants that trouble allergy sufferers affect asthma sufferers too. Since data on air quality is now widely published, those with asthma have the ability to avoid being outside when concentrations of irritants are high.

There are support groups available to you, both in person or on the Internet. Asthma, particularly if it is severe, can incapacitate you and keep you from going about your daily activities. As science marches on, new medications and treatments for asthma become available, and you can keep abreast of this progress through a good support group.

If you or a friend has asthma, it's essential to stay away from any physical activities which could trigger an attack, unless your doctor has signed off on it. You may regret it if you make the choice to take on the physical activity without proper supervision. You could end up in the hospital with a severe asthma attack.

Use a mop that's wet to clean your floors instead of a broom. Sweeping stirs up irritants that can trigger an asthma attack. When you need to dust, do so with a damp rag instead of a feather duster so that you reduce spreading around anything that will trigger your asthma.

Know situations and conditions that cause asthma attacks for you, and stay away from them in the future as much as possible. Asthma triggers will vary greatly between individuals. If you have allergy related asthma, you will want to avoid pollen and dust. For others, certain physical activities may be the trigger. It is important to determine what triggers your asthma attacks so you can try to avoid those things.

If you have asthma, get a dehumidifier for your home. Lowering humidity will reduce the amount of dust mites in your home, and help your asthma improve. Dehumidifiers remove the humidity by drying out the air that flows through your house.

Mold and mildew can thrive in a humid home environment. Both of these substances are known to trigger asthma attacks. Therefore, try and keep the home dry. When you are heating your home during the winter months, a dehumidifier can be used to control the humidity. In the summer, use an air conditioner to maintain dry air.

If you find your asthma requires you to use your fast-relief inhaler more than once or twice weekly, or if you have night-time attacks more than once or twice per week, tell your doctor it's time to switch to a better medication. Talk to your doctor about it.

Asthma usually takes an extended interval of time to fully develop, and the warning signs are rarely obvious. There have been a few cases where a person dies from their first attack, because they didn't know they suffered from the condition. Therefore, if you find yourself having difficulties breathing or with a chronic cough, it is essential that you see a doctor and get tested for asthma. The sooner you get the needed treatment and medication, the better.

When you are making an effort to control asthma, do not smoke. Sometimes smoke can cause an asthma attack. Avoid any kind of chemical fumes, vapors, and tobacco smoke as much as you can. They can easily increase your asthma symptoms. If you live with or near a smoker, find a way to politely ask that they not smoke around you or your living spaces.

If you decide to paint a room in your house, purchase a mask in order to keep yourself from inhaling fumes. Paint could irritate asthma greatly, but using a mask will act as a protective shield needed to fight this issue. In general practice, in fact, it is best to avoid fumes that will likely trigger an attack.

If you suffer from asthma, a great piece of advice is to always ensure that you do your warm-ups prior to a strenuous exercise and your cool-downs immediately following the exercise. Being vigilant about warm-ups and cool-downs greatly lowers the probability that you will suffer an asthma attack in the course of exercising.

You should open a window when you are cooking foods that smoke so as to not trigger an asthma attack. Smoke that results from cooking food can sometimes trigger ashtma attacks, making it difficult to breathe properly. If opening the window and having your ventilation running still isn't enough, you can always step outside until the smoke clears.

If you do not have your inhaler or medication present when you have an asthma attack, find some caffeine. An asthma attack can be partially mitigated by coffee, chocolate or black tea. It works by constricting blood vessels, thus opening your airways.

Using four or more cleaners in your home can contribute to asthma attacks. Organic cleaning products should be selected due to their lack of irritating chemicals.

A place you can set aside in your home can help you reduce asthma symptoms in your home. A dehumidifier will control your home's moisture. If you strive to keep the levels of humidity in your residence consistent, you will not have as many asthma attacks.

If you are an asthma sufferer, be sure to get the recommended daily dose of Vitamins C and E. It is widely believed that these vitamins can help control asthma symptoms by improving lung function. These vitamins can be easily obtained, either through your diet or a supplement. You can help out your immune system that can help stave off asthma triggers!

If you've been diagnosed with asthma, be sure to get flu shots every year. This is doubly important for asthmatic children. Get yearly vaccinations to keep these potential infections at bay.

If you are having an attack that is not severe, push as much air out of the lungs as possible. Breathe out fast and hard. This will force the air from your lungs. Then take three quick breaths, next a deeper breath till your lungs fill with air, then repeat the forceful exhalation again. This creates a rhythm to your breathing, making you pay attention to the breaths you take. By repeatedly forcing air out, you make room for new air so that your breathing can get back on track. This may cause you to cough or it may cause phlegm, but your breathing will be back to normal again.

As you read in the beginning, asthma is an extremely severe medical problem that needs to be taken seriously. Be sure and protect yourself against the very risky symptoms of asthma with preventative measures, and always get professional help if necessary. Utilize the advice in this article to help make your asthma symptoms more manageable and take back control of your life.

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