November 24, 2007
Catch Those Asthma Triggers!
Once you know the asthma triggers, asthma will be under your control. Say, if dust allergy triggers asthma in you, you can stay away from dusty environment and reduce the severity as well as frequency of attacks. Read on to find out more about the triggers.
Common Asthma Triggers
- Respiratory diseases – common cold and flu, sinus infections, bronchitis, and such problems can lead to an asthma attack.
- Allergens in and outside the house – most of the people complain of allergies that worsen their condition. The common allergens present at home are dust, mites, cockroaches, pets, and others. The allergens found outside are grass, trees, mold, weed pollens, animal dander, and others.
- Food – some people are allergic to certain foods. Actually, it’s one of the ingredients present in the food that causes an allergy.
- Medications – aspirin and anti-inflammatory medicines such as naproxen (Aleve, Naprosyn), ketoprofen (Orudis), ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) might trigger asthma. Besides, meta blockers that are used to treat heart disease, glaucoma, high blood pressure, and migraines can also cause asthma.
- Strenuous exercise – it constricts the air passages in most of the asthmatic patients.
- Irritants – they include smoke from burning wood, cigarette smoke, strong perfumes, make-up products, cleaning agents, and others that are responsible for worsening asthma. In addition to this, dust, fumes, chemicals, and other irritants present at your workplace contribute to your condition.
- Weather change – extreme cold, chilly winds and such drastic change in temperature as well as humidity can trigger the symptoms of asthma.
- Strong emotions – laughing or crying hard, screaming, excessive anger, stress, and anxiety aggravate your condition.
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease is also one of the asthma triggers.
Asthma triggers produce different reactions in different people. For example, you might be allergic to pollens and suffer an asthma attack while your friend, also an asthmatic, would escape unharmed. Some people are allergic to multiple triggers while some have only one trigger to watch for. The catch is to identify the trigger and avoid it as much as possible. This way, you can keep asthma under control.
How Do Asthma Triggers Work?
Asthmatic people have sensitive and inflamed bronchioles, the small air passages in lungs. Hence, they easily react to the external triggers. When they come in contact then, their bronchioles undergo further constriction and inflammation. This stimulates the production of more mucus, which blocks the passages. As a result, there is difficulty in breathing and an asthma attack is on the way!
An important thing to note here is that it’s not necessary that you get an asthma attack as soon as you come in contact with the triggers. The attack can occur even after a few days or weeks of coming in contact.
Identifying Asthma Triggers
You need to talk to your doctor. He or she may recommend a blood or skin test and also enquire about any reactions in the past. There is a device known as peak flow meter. It is designed to measure the velocity of air coming in and out of the lungs. This device is helpful for asthma patients, as it alerts about the beginning of an attack when there is any change in breathing pattern.
It’s time you took asthma in your hands. The first step towards doing this is catching the asthma triggers. So, get ready!