The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes’ of Health (NIH) describes asthma in their index of diseases and conditions as a chronic disease that affects your airways. The bronchial tubes are the air passages to your lungs, and when you have asthma, these tubes can become inflamed. The bronchial tubes tighten and less air is flowing to your lungs. An asthma attack can include breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness and coughing. Severe asthma attacks can be life life-threatening.
Most often, people develop asthma if it runs in their family. Environmental factors can also factor in, if an allergic or potentially asthmatic person is exposed to allergens in their environment. When allergies or asthma runs in the family, it can be helpful to minimize allergen exposure to dust mites, pet dander, molds, pollens, cockroaches, tobacco smoke, smog, air pollution or other allergy triggers. While these steps don’t ensure that asthma will develop, any decrease in allergen exposure will help avoid allergy triggers.
Asthma is not curable, but learning to manage your asthma can lessen asthma attacks and allow you to lead a healthy, active life. People with asthma should work closely with their physician in order to keep asthma under control. Asthma treatment can include learning about and understanding this respiratory disease, environmental control to minimize allergens that can trigger symptoms, drug therapy, regular monitoring of symptoms and reviewing your condition with your physician. When asthma is not under control, it can lead to missed work days, school days and the inability to participate in some everyday activities. Asthma is a leading cause of missed school days in children.
Improving Life Indoors With Healthy Steps Toward Asthma Relief:
Learn about your condition and see your doctor regularly. Follow your physician’s directives.
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Avoid allergy triggers. These triggers may include dust mite, pet dander, molds, tobacco smoke and other allergy sources. Tobacco smoke can be especially irritating and asthmatics should not be exposed to smoking.
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Monitor respiratory rates with a peak flow meter, and inform your doctor of any changes.
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To make asthma treatments easier for children, consider a specialized respiratory compressor/nebulizer that is geared to make treatments more enjoyable for kids. Also use a pediatric face mask for small children to minimize the loss of aerosolized medication.
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Include a DOSER monitor on your metered dose inhaler to keep track of the remaining inhalations in your MDI.
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Use allergy encasings on the bed to avoid exposure to dust mites and/or pet dander allergens that are found in the bed.
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Run HEPA air cleaners to remove airborne allergens, and if asthmatics must be exposed to second-hand smoke, run a HEPA air cleaner with odor control to minimize the airborne smoke and associated smell. Keep in mind that a HEPA air cleaner does not minimize the health risks associated with second-hand smoke and exposure should be kept to an absolute minimum.