Archive for October, 2007

Several types of medications are used for the treatment of asthma

Most of the people use the combination of quick relief medications and long term medications to control asthma.

Your doctor will be suggesting the best medications which are suitable for you depending on severity of your symptoms and age.

Natural or herbal home remedies which works as treatment for asthma:

• Drink daily ¼ cup of onion juice, 1/8 tablespoon black pepper and a table spoon of honey to reduce the asthma.
• Turmeric works well for treating asthma. If you have asthma, you should drink the milk by mixing a teaspoon of turmeric in it. You should take this two to three times a day and it works best or acts best on an empty stomach.
• Don’t eat dairy products. Dairy products are not good for asthmatics. Those products will be too mucus forming and cheddar cheese can be given exception. This cheese contains “tyramine” as an ingredient in it which helps to open up the breathing passages.

Dust allergy is the allergy obtained due to microscopic organism that lives in the dust.

These dust allergens are found in all dwellings and workplaces. There is no particular treatment for the allergy obtained due to dust.

Avoidance is one solution and in some cases your doctor may suggest or recommend for the usage of allergy medications and injections.

The factors which increase the risk of developing dust allergy are heredity, exposure and age.

There are more chances to develop dust allergy with in you, if it runs in your family.

There are lots of chances to develop dust allergy within you if you are exposed to high levels of dust mites. Most probably these allergy symptoms will be developed during childhood and early adulthood.

You have to seek medical advice when you experience with persistent wheezing, watery eyes, sneezing and runny nose. Allergy skin tests can help your doctor to determine whether you have dust allergy or not. There are more chances of developing complications due to asthma because of this dust allergy.

Asthma attack occurs when your bronchi and bronchioles become inflamed.

The inflammation reduces the airways through which air travels through the lungs.

This causes the sufferer to work hard to move air in and out of their lungs.

Once you have the complete idea of asthma attack information, you can prevent the symptoms of asthma.

Asthma attack begins with cough and chest heaviness. When the attack grows, wheezing develops.

Your breathing becomes more difficult and your cough produces thick, stringy mucus.

Airway irritation prevents the oxygen from reaching the lungs and cells of the body start to burn oxygen at a higher rate, which increases the need for oxygen.

Frequency of attack varies from sufferer to sufferer. Some have daily attacks while others can have attack in a month or even years without an attack.

Asthma attack information on narrowed airways:

People suffering with asthma have extra responsive or hyper responsive airways. When their airways become irritated, they react by contracting or obstructing. Therefore it makes difficult to move air in and out of the lungs.

The narrowing of airways is caused by airway inflammation and broncho-constriction.

Cardiac asthma is less common and refers to wheezing associated with heart failure.

It is a condition brought by severe reflexive blocking and can be edema of lungs.

Cardiac asthma is a type of breathing caused by sudden blockage of the pulmonary circulation.

Earlier, people mistook this disease as pulmonary edema or fluid in the lungs but later it became clear that cardiac asthma can occur without fluid in the lungs.

Cardiac asthma and pulmonary edema are symptoms of coming heart failure. It usually occurs in older people who have wheezing and shortness of breathe that are due to heart failure.

Cardiac asthma is a life threatening condition and you should seek medical advice if you experience any symptoms. This disease is caused due to the major fault of the heart and poses life threatening condition.

Fault in heart occurs when left part of the heart has a disproportion between its work load and work capacity suddenly, which causes additional stress to the heart. This inconsistency can lead to cardiac asthma.

Therefore fluid in the lungs is built up due to the reduced pumping effectiveness of the heart. Fluid build up causes narrowing of air passages and leads to wheezing and other symptoms.

Skin asthma makes your skin dry. During asthma attack, the dry skin becomes even thicker and drier and sometimes visibly cracked.

These cracks in the skin are access for entry of skin that infects the skin causing more problems.

Apart from dry skin, people who have skin asthma have itchy skin. You tend to scratch the skin a lot.

The scratching of the skin results in darkening and thickening of the skin, especially in areas behind the knee and in the crease of the arm.

Scratching also causes more cracks and breaks in the skin providing entry for bacteria and fungi.

Cracked skin becomes more porous to allergens. Defects in the skin barrier can lead to eczema and psoriasis. People with eczema are likely to develop hay fever and asthma.

A lotion should be developed which blocks allergens from getting through damaged skin. Keeping allergens out of the skin keep your immune system from over-stimulating cell growth giving the skin time to re-create a normal barrier.

Asthma, allergic rhinitis and atopic dermatitis are related. If a family member suffers from one of these, the rest of the members suffer from any of the two. More children are diagnosed with skin asthma these days.

Find out the relation between bee pollen and asthma. Many allergies such as asthma and hay fever are caused by inhaling pollen.

When bee pollen is taken internally, it boosts the immune system. There is a big difference between inhaled pollen and bee pollen.

The high quality blended, multifloral collected pollen helps reduce airborne allergies and hay fever, because it helps to enhance the overall system and contains naturally occurring antihistamines including quercetin.

Bee pollen and asthma:

Bee pollen and asthma! Many people with asthma and hay fever take bee pollen safely and effectively. 73% of patients with hay fever averaged a 75 percent improvement when given bee pollen orally.

78 percent of asthma patients averaged a 75 percent improvement in taking the bee pollen orally. 17.8 percent patients with hay fever and 33.3 percent patients with asthma showed a complete hundred percent improvement with bee pollen.

Quercetin, which is present in bee pollen, releases histamine in the body. It is one of the contributing factors in decreasing asthma and hay fever condition.

You may know that, any substance that is foreign to your body can cause allergy reactions.

Most of the people do not have very severe reactions, while some people might find instant severe reactions to some foods.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD causes asthma attacks and some allergy reactions.

COPD is a group of diseases characterized by limitation of airflow in the airways which is called as “obstruction of the bronchial air flow”.

COPD causes to suffer chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, asthma and emphysema. This condition is mostly due to tobacco smoking and some airborne irritants such as coal dust or solvents. [Airborne Allergies]

When you are suffering with allergy reactions you need to consult your doctor. Doctor suggests some tests and he may know your symptoms and suggest some treatments that work for you.

Cause of allergy reactions:

• Most important allergy reactions causes include pollen, pet dander, dust mites, dust, smoke, harsh chemicals, mold, and mildew.
• The irritants come from latex can also cause allergy reactions. The allergy reactions can cause from bananas, cherries, apricots, nuts, chestnuts, kiwi, nectarines, and celery.

The latest asthma research is focusing on the inflammatory reaction that occurs as a response to an allergen because in over ninety percent of people in newly diagnosed asthma cases inflammatory reaction occurs as a response to an allergen.

According to the current asthma research, approximately 15 million Americans are suffering from asthma. Five million people affected are under the age of 18.

Asthma research has shown that most of the asthma cases are related to hospitalizations and all deaths are preventable.

The asthma research at university of Sydney in Australia is trying to stop the harmful cells responsible for the inflammatory reaction from being produced.

Chemical messengers, which are called cytokines, stimulate these cells and current medicines such as steroids act to reduce the concentration of cytokines and stop the inflammatory response.

But the steroids which are used to reduce the concentration of cytokines also affect a number of other tissues in the body and produce side effects.

The asthma research unit at the university is studying how cytokines are produced and how they can stop production and stop inflammatory response.

Is celiac disease a big problem for you? This is also known as gluten intolerance and it damages the lining of the small bowel.

It is a genetic disorder that affects 1 in 133 Americans.

According to recent studies an estimate of 2.18 million people in the U.S. are suffering from severe gluten sensitivity.

The one and only way to deal with this disease is to follow gluten free diet.

The symptoms of celiac disease range from mild to moderate. They include anemia [Anemia Information], bloating, cramping, diarrhea [Diarrhea in Children], fatigue, gas, stomach upset, vitamin and mineral deficiency, and weight loss.

Once you experience any of these symptoms, you need to follow gluten free diet in order to relieve from the symptoms.

Not all of you will experience those symptoms and some may simply be suffering from hidden nutrient deficiencies. Gluten is a protein part of barley, rye, wheat, and other grains.

To get relieved from the symptoms there is a wide variety of foods that you need to avoid. Instead of this a change in diet and careful observation leads to a successful and a healthy life without the symptoms of celiac disease.

The asthma pathophysiology is complex and not completely understood. Asthma is described as inflammatory response disease.

The main cause of breathlessness is due to airway wall constriction and airway wall inflammation.

There are three main asthma pathophysiology responses that characterize the disease.

• Airway inflammation
• Hyper-responsiveness and
• Obstruction of the airway due to the constriction of bronchiole

Hyper-responsiveness and airway obstruction are the causes known to have asthmatic episode but recently inflammation of the airways has been recognized as the third cause.

But, some of them consider inflammation plays an important role in asthma pathophysiology and much of the research carried out concentrates on this point.

Asthma pathophysiology:

To understand asthma pathophysiology, airway anatomy is required. Complex interactions among inflammatory cells, tissues and mediators in the airways cause inflammation.

The release of inflammatory mediators from mast cells, eosinophils, macrophages and other cells in the airways are activated by the stimuli. The other inflammatory cells are signaled by the mediators to migrate to the airways where they are activated.

This causes secretion of mucus, prolonged contraction of smooth muscle, injury of the epithelium, as well as swelling and changes in the involuntary control of the airway. Therefore inflamed airways become more narrow and obstructed.