Asthma, Lifestyle factors, Support & Prevention

     

Life and home remedies

In addition to keeping a good compliance on their regular anti-asthmatic medications, most of asthmatic patients can take control of their health situation by changing their daily routine. This will not only maintain a good control on their life but also minimize the frequency of severe attacks.

Avoid your triggers

You should know what starts an asthmatic attack in you or causes a triggering effect. It is in no way possible that what other asthmatics have stimulant factors for their asthma can be the same as yours. Once you know, you can learn to keep away from or take necessary precaution against that/those triggers.

·           Avoid smoke and smoking:  At your work place, inside your home,  your car and at public gathering. Keep away from tobacco smoke when you have identified it to be strong stimulating factor for your asthma. All your friends and family members should have the knowledge about your asthmatic condition therefore, at no time when you are sitting with them, anyone should smoke. If you are involved in work which exposes you to fumes of any kind, wear protective mask.

·              Maintain hygiene of décor:     Keep your house décor dust and mites free. Use mattresses and pillow encases  which will prevent dust to settle and keep away dust mites,  identified triggers. At no time you should get your house carpeted, as this harbors mould and dust. Better to have marble or wooden flooring.

·                  Make use of air-conditioning inside your house on regular basis for two reason. One is the filters installed in system keep  pollens, dust particles out, and humidity at bay. Secondly, the dryness brought on by air conditioning prevents growth of mould and fungi. Thus you can avoid these triggers of asthma. One more measure you should adopt is to plan outdoor activity, whether work related or recreational according to weather prediction. This will prompt you about the temperature and low level of pollution. Air conditioning also helps dehumidification.

·                      Minimize pet dander:  Pets with fur, especially cats, are very common triggers. They should be kept away from asthmatic members of the family, whether a child or an adult. One way to do that is to find another safe home for it. But if attachment is deep, regular bathing of pet will minimize pet dander and help to control asthma.

·                           Keep your home clean by regular  vacuuming or damp cloth dusting. Always wear a mask while you are engaged in cleaning the house or hire someone for that purpose.

·                       Careful in cold :     Extreme cold or snow can be trigger for your asthma. For a child with asthma, winter months are gloomy and depressing. Going out or taking your asthmatic child during winter season is not prohibited but going outdoors covering the mouth and nose and breathing warm air will help minimize cold trigger for asthmatic condition.

Stay healthy

·                        Be strong and active: It is not appropriate to remain inactive just because you are an asthma sufferer. With modern medicine and regular follow-up with your doctor to plan asthma control, even your child with asthmatic symptoms can involve more in games and most of physical activity. Start your exercise with warm up to build your stamina for more strenuous work out. Physical activity will strengthen your lungs and cardiac status.

·                                Focus on weight:    Overweight asthmatic adults and children should work out all ways and means to maintain healthy weigh standards. Other than making your asthma tough to control it may add to more health problems like diabetes. Studies have shown association with overweight child and asthma.

·                    Change diet composition :    Developing habit of eating more of fresh fruits and vegetable will improve the function of lungs. This is because of the strong anti-oxidant property of these food items, and potentiating your immune system. It can also have an influence on controlling your weight with even marked improvement in your asthma symptoms.

·                          Gastro-esophageal reflex with symptoms can damage respiratory passages and make asthma more severe and frequent. It is better to consult your healthcare provider and treat GERD for better asthma control. But if your GERD is asymptomatic it is better not to take medicine for it.

Alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is gaining grounds for controling as well as preventing asthma symptoms. But still, these remedies cannot be replacements of conventional treatment, more so when symptoms are severe. Deciding to treat your asthma with herbs on your own is not advisable. You should consult your doctor beforehand and let him decide your asthma treatment plan. The reason being that they may interact with your regular medications.

Although some alternative medicines are being used to control asthma, research is still going on to establish the efficacy and side effects of most of these.

·    Breathing techniques: Breathing techniques can be the best way to minimize medicine dosage and symptoms of asthma. The most popular of all such breathing styles is Yoga. It involves slow exhaling with five count lapse and  inhaling. Another breathing exercise is called Buteyko, which has its Russian origin. This technique encourages nose breathing, involving the lower part of chest and relaxation of muscle tone. Both these help asthmatic patients in easing stress, enhancing fitness, and brings in more energy.

·          Acupuncture: Acupuncture is one way of inserting needles at pressure points on your body.  This method is still under research as for its benefits in asthmatic patients. Although its placebo effect can influence if one believes it is worth trying.

·          Relaxation techniques: Asthma is known to be more troublesome during stress. The best way to cope this is to adopt biofeedback, meditations, hypnosis and muscle relaxation. All these techniques reduce stress and ease the asthma symptoms.  

·          Herbal remedies: Herbal agents may induce comfort in asthma. Of these butterbur, Indian frankincense and pycnogenol have shown to improve asthma symptoms. They are better used in combination in Indian, Chinese and Japanese medicine. More research is going on to prove their authentic application in asthma.

·          Omega-3 fatty acids: Omega -3 fatty acid is long been in use in asthma and other ailments. Its anti-inflammatory effect in asthma is well documented. It is extracted from fish, flaxseeds, and few other foods.

Coping and support

Like any other chronic illness, asthma can at times get over your mode. You start feeling gloomy and depressed with day-to-day limitation when you want get on with routine work and recreation. This may happen when you have to be compliant with the timing of medication, trying to avoid pollutants and extreme weather conditions. At times it may become a situation of shame and embarrassment.

The only and the best approach you should be taking is to understand your condition and try to manage it accordingly, ignoring and deny will complicate. You will not find yourself to be alone in this, as your family and healthcare provider will be at support most of time. Some tips are given to get more organized in coping with your problem.

·          Pace yourself: It is not advised for asthmatic patient to stop getting involved in work or other activities. But don’t exhaust yourself. Don’t take multiple tasks at one time. Finish one assignment and take short break before you move on to start another

·          Make a daily to-do list: Do not try to take advance tasks. Feeling happy about ending tasks listed for particular day will make you feel relax and minimize stress.

·          Talk to others with your condition: Make communication with individuals and groups having similar chronic ailment like you. Get to know how they are coping and managing their stuff and treatment schedule together. Join asthma group, internet chat forums and more so with family relative having asthma. See your asthma management challenging and not as problem that will not be solved. Be positive in your approach.

·          If your child has asthma, be encouraging: Who can be the better caretaker than parents when the children are sick? Whether at studies, joining gym, or being with friends, your communication with each concern will make them understand.

·          Become an expert on your asthma: Get all the information from your doctor about your condition, educate your family and friends about the minor details of asthma, become an expert!

·          Realize but be creative: Suffering from asthma does not mean you are handicapped. Don’t give up your dreams and goals, but change the ways to get to those.

Prevention

The best part of asthma management is to adopt all necessary preventive measure. You and your doctor together can achieve that pretty easily.

·          Follow your asthma action plan: Having a chronic condition like asthma clearly means a continuous treatment strategy. You will have to join hands in co-operation with your doctor and assisting staff to write down details of regular medication as well as those to be taken during sudden attack of severe asthma. That will easily enable you to manage your lifestyle more comfortable and symptom free. This will also enable you to identify your triggers and  avoid them.

·          Get yourself vaccinated: On-time vaccination against prevailing seasonal virus like Haemophilus Influenzae and pneumococcal infection will eliminate one major stimulant of your asthma attack.

·          Know your asthma triggers and avoid: With each new episode of asthma you will start knowing what caused it. Take note of all and don’t expose yourself to those triggers. From mould to pollens, smoke to cold weather take precaution to avoid such asthma stimulants.

·          Make assessment of lung functions: Your asthma can slowly result in reducing your lung capacity. A regular assessment of FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in one second) by your home peak flow meter will keep you updated of your lung functions. Keeping your breathing capacity to optimum will enable you to quickly judge warning signs of attack and take immediate treatment. Cough, minor wheeze or shortness of breath are major signs.

·   Recognize and treat impending attack: If you make use of peak flow meter regularly, you will know any decrease in your lung capacity. This can easily warn you to take immediate treatment and prevent an attack from occurring. Communicating with your doctor in such situation will help you control any severe attack.

·   Be compliant with medication:  It is not advisable to alter dosage and timing of your asthma medication without consulting your healthcare provider. Do not add any new drug or measure without your doctor’s advise. On your doctor’s appointment day, carry all medicines with you to let him keep track of  your medication and proper dosage.

·          Watch out for the frequency of inhalation: Be aware of the fact your asthma may get resistant to one inhaler. Do not keep increasing the frequency of inhalation. Instead consult your doctor for reviewing treatment.