Archive for January, 2009

According to Ohio-based doctors, scrubbing the kitchen floor or doing other household cleaning chores may trigger a spike in breathing problems in women with asthma.

Dr. Jonathan A. Bernstein, of the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine says that “we certainly know that exposure to cleaning agents or cleaning as an occupation are major risks for asthma exacerbations and asthma.

Therefore we wanted to see what was going on in general population because it is quite obvious for people to clean their homes”.

In a study for 12 weeks, Bernstein and his colleagues compared the health effects of household among 25 asthma affected individuals and 19 non asthmatics, who reported that they are primary cleaners in their homes.

After cleaning, the researchers noticed statistically considerable rise in number of respiratory symptoms in asthmatic women when compared to non asthmatics. This result indicates that cleaning chores are major triggers for aggravating asthma symptoms.

Actually, according to researchers, despite of the fact whether they have asthma problem or not, all women exhibited respiratory problems as a result of exposure to cleaning agents.

Ultimately, the researchers suggest that women without or with asthma, particularly must be very cautious about potential respiratory health effects of exposure to cleaning agents and cleaning activities.

According to largest study led by Dr. Francine Ducharme, assistant director of clinical research at the Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center and a pediatrics professor at the Université de Montréal, high doses of inhaled corticosteroids is effective for reducing the duration and severity of asthma attacks in preschoolers that is triggered by common cold.

The team of researchers found that high doses of corticosteroids when taken at the onset of common cold for almost 10 days continuously can reduce the number of severe or moderate asthma attacks, which may require emergency oral steroids.

This is the first study to clearly demonstrate the treatment efficiency or efficacy in preschoolers requiring of oral corticosteroids or hospital admission because of serious asthma attack.

Even through viral induced asthma attack is frequent in preschoolers, optimal management of the disease remain subtle and that’s the reason for the researchers to focus their research on enhancing the effectiveness of the treatment for asthma affected young children.

The basic asthma treatment that includes administering a 7 day doses of oral steroids on daily basis, has not proven effective for children with viral induced asthma.

Even though it is hard to differentiate between common cold and sinusitis, there are few symptoms of sinus infection through which you can easily make the difference.

Whether is it is due to inflammation in respiratory tract or some other reason, it is very essential for you to control sinus infection in early stages to prevent major problems.

Here are few effective ways that can hopefully help you to prevent major problems with sinus infection.

Treat cold or allergies in early stages

A sinus infection actually starts with cold or allergic nose. If allergies or cold left untreated or ignored, there is chance to turn into major sinus infections. Whenever you encounter signs of cold or allergies, treat them in initial stages to prevent further sinus problems.

Avoid exposure to pollution

Whenever you go out, particularly in well populated areas, ensure that you wear masks to cover your nose. This can help to reduce aggressiveness of the condition and further prevent major sinus infection.

Give up smoking and alcohol consumption

This is most important thing that you have to consider to prevent major complications, particularly if you have allergic nose or slight sinus infection.

According to researchers, giving oral steroids for children suffering with viral induced wheezing or other infections is ineffective than a placebo.

An experimental treatment designed to prevent viral induced wheezing may be effective, but it appears to pose too many adverse effects to be recommended.

It has been estimated that almost one-third preschoolers are developing viral induced wheezing, which has become a worrying issue for parents.

In any case, almost 75% of overall kids develop wheezing problem by 6 years of age. Earlier doctors used to treat wheezing with asthma steroids and often use corticosteroids for the treatment.

According to Dr. Jonathan Grigg of Queen Mary University in London, “if your little kid is sick it doesn’t essentially mean that you shouldn’t give medications or steroids.

But giving steroids to children with wheezing either at home or at doctor’s clinic with moderate wheezing that doesn’t require many days in the hospital will not be beneficial for solving the problem. However, it would be extremely beneficial if steroids works, but wheezing in preschool children is very different from allergic asthma attack in adults or children”.

Read more at Reuters

According to a study, children who suffer physical abuse, death of a parent or other childhood adversity and are anxious or depressed are at increased risk of developing asthma in adulthood.

“This is interesting,” Dr. Kate M. Scott told, “because, although it has been known for a long time that people with asthma are more likely to also experience some anxiety disorders and possibly depression, it is usually thought that these mental disorders occur as a consequence of asthma.”

“It is also well understood that psychological influences like stress or anxiety can exacerbate asthma, but it is rather novel to find suggestive evidence that they may increase the risk of its initial development,” added Scott, who is with the Department of Psychological Medicine, at the University of Otago School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Wellington, New Zealand.

“Our research suggests that psychosocial stressors like childhood adversity and mental disorders occurring earlier in life actually increase the risk of the later development of asthma,” said Scott.

The findings stem from information gathered from more than 18,000 adults in the Americas, Europe and Asia who were interviewed between 2001 and 2004 as part of the World Mental Health surveys.

When you hear the word “stuffy nose”, you might not actually understand how painful it could be.

But, if you are suffering with it, you probably understand the pain. Stuffy or allergy nose is quite tough to handle as it can stay for longer periods.

Here are few ways through which you can easily handle allergy nose.

Consider nasal irrigation

This is one of the best ways to get better relief from allergy nose. You can practice this personal hygiene by simply washing your nasal cavities with warm saline water.

Use nasal sprays

Nasal sprays help to heal swollen nasal membranes. But, it is not recommended to over use which can create reverse effect of constricting blood vessels in your nose.

Inhale steam

Inhalation of steam helps to loosen up your nasal congestion and helps to breathe easily. If you add few drops of lavender or rosemary or even eucalyptus oil to it, it will be very effective for you.

Eat well balanced diet

A well balanced diet is beneficial in many ways including clearing out your nasal allergies. Even though you use over-the-counter medicines, it will be effective only when you eat well balanced diet. So, prefer well balanced diet with B & C vitamins and lot of protein.

Air travel for people with sinus infection and cold can be quite hard and painful to experience.

Even if you don’t have sinus infection, if you travel by air regularly, you are more likely to develop sinus infections further in life.

Here are few steps that you have to follow while traveling by air to prevent serious sinus problems.

1. Use decongestants

Actually, most of the doctors suggest not traveling by air when you have serious sinus infections or ear infections. But, if it is compulsory for you to travel, try to use decongestants before taking flight to overcome the problems of air blockage in ear and nose.

2. Try chewing gum

It is believed that chewing gum or swallowing something frequently during ascent and decent of flight can help you to get better relief from sinus. Try it once and notice the difference.

3. Use earplanes

Earplanes are the devices used by most of pilots to get relief from blocked ears and nose. You can use these ear plugs to make the changes in air pressure milder for you and they also help to alleviate severe discomfort of sinus while traveling.

4. Drink enough water

Ensure that you drink enough water prior getting into flight. This helps you to retain your body moisture and keep your nasal cavities moist as much as possible.

Mayo Clinic research shows adults with asthma are at increased risk of serious pneumococcal disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, the most common bacteria causing middle ear infections and community acquired pneumonia.

It also causes blood stream infections and brain infections. According to the Centers for Disease Control, pneumococcal infection is one of the leading causes of death from a vaccine-preventable disease.

The researchers recommend including asthma as an indication for pneumococcal vaccination in adults.

“We found that adults with invasive pneumococcal disease, a serious, potentially fatal disease, are seven times more likely to be asthmatics. Our study also showed that 17 percent of the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease can be attributable to asthma at a population level.

This is quite a significant impact on the burden of invasive pneumococcal disease,” says Young Juhn, M.D., a pediatric and adolescent medicine physician-scientist at Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study.

“Invasive pneumococcal disease is a vaccine-preventable disease. The implication is that we have the ability to significantly reduce instances of this potentially fatal disease by expanding the indication for the pneumococcal vaccine to include adults with asthma.”

Read more at ScienceDaily

If you’re an asthma sufferer, make sure the medical history at your doctor’s office includes your employment and recreation plans.

A new screening tool developed by Tel Aviv University researchers may save you a trip to the emergency room later on.

It has long been suspected that physical exertion itself, as part of work or play, can trigger an asthma attack, but little medical evidence has been found for this conclusion ― until now.

A study by Dr. Shlomo Moshe from Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine gives doctors a new way of advising those who may be at risk.

Dr. Moshe’s research, reported in Occupational Medicine, will also help young asthmatic adults find safer and more suitable employment. It could also save lives.

America’s New Epidemic

Asthma now reaches epidemic proportions in America and has become the leading chronic disease in children. Eleven people die from the condition daily, and about 40,000 people miss school or work due to asthma, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.

Asthma, an inflammation of the air passages that narrows the transport of air to the lungs, can be treated by inhalers, but it can never be cured.

As most of you know, obesity is linked with many chronic health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and also asthma.

Obesity and asthma are related with each other and recent studies have shown that people with obesity are more likely to develop asthma.

Even, it has been shown that people who have lost excess weight are having decreased levels of asthma symptoms.

If you are overweight and suffering with asthma, here are few tips to lose weight.

4 tips to manage overweight and asthma

1. Know your portions and eat consistently. Don’t try to over eat and prefer smaller portions as much as possible for you. Stay away from fried foods or food that contains excess oil.
2. Foods rich in essential vitamins and nutrients are very useful for controlling asthma and also for those who are trying to lose weight.
3. Proper hydration is most important factor when it comes to both asthma and weight loss. So, drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water every day to lose weight and also to control asthma.
4. Eat healthy diet. You can include lean fish and meat in your diet. But, don’t forget to include at least 5 fresh fruits and vegetables in your routine diet in turn to lose weight and control asthma.