December 29, 2007

Proper Asthma Management Can Save You from an Attack

Every asthma patient wishes to lead a normal life, free from symptoms and the fear of lung damage. This can be achieved through proper asthma management.

Before going for steps towards asthma management, let us look at the alternative methods of controlling asthma.
 
There are many people around you, who are eager to advise you on your condition. Not every advice is worth its weight in gold. Besides, there is always a risk factor, while going by such advices without consulting your doctor. What if the advice doesn’t work?

Alternative Asthma Treatment

While going for alternative medications or practices, you need to combine them with the regular prescribed medication. And always let your doctor know about them.
 
If you are not interested in alternative medications, then alternative practices are a good thing to try. They include acupuncture or chiropody. There have been reports of a reduction in the frequency of asthma attacks through regular chiropractic sessions.
 
Acupuncture is a well-known treatment for a large number of diseases. Many asthmatic patients have been quite satisfied with this therapy. They experienced a drastic reduction in the frequency of attacks. Although, it has not been approved completely by any local medical body as a treatment for asthma, people are opting for this therapy due to its positive results.
 
Remember; do not stop your prescribed medicines while going for alternative treatments of asthma.

Steps of Asthma Management

  • Identification of asthma triggers – once you are able to do this, half the battle is won. Triggers constrict your air passages and lead to an asthma attack.
  • Controlling the triggers – you can control the triggers present at your home by keeping it dust free and clean. However, for outside triggers such as, air pollution, pollens, and trees, you can only avoid them. Refrain from going out during fall and springs, which are the peak seasons for pollen in the air. If your job involves working with hazardous chemicals, fumes, and other irritants, switch to another job or change your work environment.
  • Catching the symptoms of asthma – your doctor can give a list of instructions to be carried out during an asthma attack. In addition to this, watch out for shortness of breath, wheezing, and tightness in the chest. These are signs of an approaching attack. Keep an inhaler handy while outdoors.
  • Taking prescribed medication religiously – there are two types of medications for asthma. One is rescue medication and the other is controller medication. Opting for an alternative therapy doesn’t mean you can stop the prescribed medicines. Over-the-counter drugs, herbal formulas, and home remedies cannot replace your doctor’s prescription. In case of an asthma attack, you need an instant reliever, which herbal remedies cannot provide.
  • Increasing your knowledge about asthma – ignorant patients are the worst sufferers. Read books and articles on this medical condition; ask your doctor, questions about it; gain as much information as you can about this respiratory disease. There are organizations working for asthmatic patients. You can even join local support groups that serve as a source of motivation and impart more confidence to tackle the condition.
Although, there is no perfect cure for asthma, it can be improved largely. With asthma management tips, it will be a hard time for asthma to stay with you!

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December 27, 2007

Using Psychotherapy To Help Reduce Asthma Symptoms

I believe that everyone with a medical condition should talk to someone about it—a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, church leader, your mother, or your spouse, anyone who will listen and who you trust. Consider talking with someone who gets paid to listen, such as a psychiatrist or psychologist, who can provide useful advice and insight. Unlike your mom or spouse, therapists are usually objective and have your interests in mind.
 
I strongly encourage psychotherapy, not only to help you deal with the emotions associated with having a chronic medical condition, but also because what goes on in the mind can have a definite impact on what happens in the lungs. This is especially true for children; multiple studies document that family-related stress has a devastating impact on childhood asthma. In fact, there is evidence that family therapy can dramatically improve asthma symptoms and lung function and is a useful adjunct to medication for asthmatic children. Give analysis a try. If after a few sessions you are not getting results, you can start talking to your mom or spouse.

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December 26, 2007

Asthma And Yoga - Can Yoga Reduce Your Symptoms?

Yoga, a practice of mind/body unity, is built on the idea that easing the mind and reducing stress can improve your health. Though we do not understand the exact mechanisms behind the mind/body connection, yoga has proven beneficial for many asthmatics. Yoga works by combining breath control with meditative and therapeutic physical postures. Of all the complementary therapies, yoga is my personal favorite.
 
Multiple studies have established that yoga can reduce asthma symptoms, decrease medication use, improve exercise tolerance, and increase peak flow. One randomized, controlled study compared fifty-three asthmatics who performed an hour of yoga daily to a control group. The authors found that there was "a significantly greater improvement in the group who practiced yoga—in the weekly number of attacks of asthma, scores for drug treatment, and peak flow rate." Specifically, in the yoga group, the mean peak flow before yoga was 290.1 L/min compared to 362.8 L/min after yoga, a statistically significant difference.
 
One study of forty-two moderate to severe asthmatics concluded that yoga therapy resulted in a significant increase in lung function and exercise tolerance, with fewer symptoms and reduced drug use. In another trial, which examined Sahaja yoga in moderate to severe asthmatics using inhaled steroids, methacholine sensitivity declined and participants reported improved mood after four months of weekly yoga. The authors concluded that yoga had a beneficial effect on both objective and subjective measures of asthma. Not surprisingly, these benefits disappeared after discontinuing yoga.

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December 25, 2007

Can Music Therapy Help Asthmatics?

Music therapy uses music to treat conditions like chronic pain. Despite famous asthmatic musicians like Beethoven and Leonard Bernstein, the scientific literature on music therapy and asthma is scant at best. One randomized, controlled study of music therapy involved seventy-two asthmatics who underwent eight music-therapy sessions. Lung function both improved and deteriorated during different treatment phases, but the authors concluded that "listening to music did not produce any specific therapeutic effects on asthma."
 
There is, however, something to be said for playing a wind instrument. One study examined playing wind versus non-wind instruments in eighteen teenagers and found that the wind instrumentalists had a significantly more positive "asthma health" picture, perceiving themselves better able to cope with the disease. Because serious vocalists and wind instrumentalists must develop precise breath control, it is suspected that this musical training, like breath training, can benefit asthmatics. According to experts, the pursed-lip expiratory breathing exercise common in breath training bears a remarkable resemblance to wind-instrument playing. There are even anecdotal reports that asthma-related chest deformities (pectus carinatum and pectus excavatum) can be improved by playing a wind instrument. Whether or not you should buy a saxophone remains to be determined by additional studies.

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December 24, 2007

Can Chiropractic Care Treat Asthma Effectively?

Chiropractic is based on the premise that the alignment of joints and muscles with each other and the spine influences health. Chiropractors treat disease by manual manipulation of these structures. While people who suffer from musculoskeletal pain often benefit from chiropractic manipulation, the impact of chiropractic on conditions like asthma is highly controversial. With respect to asthma, some chiropractors claim that manual manipulations reduce nervous system irritation, thereby relieving asthma symptoms.
 
Several studies have demonstrated that asthmatics feel better following chiropractic spinal manipulation. One study examined "active" versus placebo chiropractic spinal manipulation on thirty-six asthmatics undergoing standard medical therapy. The subjects received twenty treatments over a three-month period, after which the "active" group reported a 20 percent reduction in beta-agonist use, with a 10 to 28 percent improvement in quality-of-life scores. Researchers also found that asthma severity scores dropped 39 percent. Despite these promising results, the authors cautiously concluded that "the observed improvements are unlikely a result of the specific effects of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy alone, but other aspects of the clinical encounter that should not be dismissed readily."
 
A randomized, blinded, crossover study from Copenhagen compared one month of twice-weekly chiropractic spinal manipulation to placebo in thirty-one asthmatics who used bronchodilators and/or inhaled steroids. Though researchers did not report any change in objective lung function, they did find that airway hyperreactivity improved 36 percent and patient-rated asthma severity decreased 34 percent. While these results were encouraging, there were "no clinically important or statistically significant differences" between the active and placebo chiropractic interventions. The authors concluded that "the results do not support the hypothesis that chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy is superior to sham spinal manipulation in the management of pharmaceutically controlled chronic asthma in adults."Nevertheless, the participants did subjectively feel better following therapy. Depending on your perspective, this can be just as important as finding objective clinical improvement.
 
So far, trials on chiropractic manipulation and asthma have failed to find any significant benefit despite reports of subjective improvement. A possible explanation for these findings can be found in studies that have observed that the simple act of touching can be therapeutic. This observation is especially true for therapies that involve a significant amount of manual manipulation.
 
The research on chiropractic and asthma offers an example of the placebo effect, with multiple studies demonstrating that the results of chiropractic manipulations equal those of placebo. Despite a lack of scientific validity, some asthmatics will benefit from chiropractic. This relief may occur because the act of being touched is relaxing, and relaxation can help people with asthma. Almost any therapy that results in stress reduction can potentially cause a subjective improvement in asthma symptoms. Not a surprising conclusion considering how emotions and anxiety often feed into the asthma equation.
 
As with other relaxation therapies, what works for one person may not work for another. If you feel better following chiropractic treatment, by all means continue visiting your chiropractor. Again, if it works, use it.

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December 23, 2007

Using Biofeedback To Treat Asthma

Biofeedback trains people to influence bodily functions not normally under conscious control, such as breathing and blood pressure. Biofeedback uses machines to translate these biological functions into signals that the participant can recognize. For instance, in people who have had a stroke, a machine can recognize a muscle twitch in the affected limb and send a signal (such as a "beep") every time the muscle is twitched. By exerting conscious control over moving the limb with "feedback" from the beeps, the stroke victim may learn to use that limb again.
 
Biofeedback appears to be especially useful in medical conditions in which psychological factors play a significant role, such as chronic pain, anxiety, insomnia, and asthma. Biofeedback can help asthmatics with relaxation and breath control by training participants to take slow, deep diaphragmatic breaths to reduce anxiety.
 
Studies demonstrate that biofeedback reduces asthmatic symptoms, improves lung function, reduces medication use, and decreases emergency-room visits. In one study, participants reported decreased asthma severity, with a 50 percent reduction in bronchodilator use, following biofeedback training. Researchers also recorded an improved FEV1/FVC ratio, an important objective measure of lung function. According to the authors, "significant differences were observed in the numbers of neutrophils and basophils in the trained group compared to controls, which supports the concept of decreased inflammation." These findings, though limited by the study size, suggest a positive role for biofeedback-assisted relaxation in non-steroid-dependent asthmatics.
 
There is also evidence that biofeedback can improve immune function. One study reported that, after eight sessions of biofeedback and relaxation therapy, subjects experienced significant increases in T-cell function, with decreased neutrophil and white blood cell counts—results that indicate reduced inflammation.
 
Authorities suspect that decreased vagal tone and cholinergic activity are responsible for the observed effects of biofeedback on asthma. Vagal tone and cholinergic activity are part of the autonomic nervous system; decreased vagal tone may limit bronchial reactivity, and reduced cholinergic activity inhibits bronchoconstriction. There appears to be a downside, however, to reduced vagal tone in asthmatics. One study found that lung function actually decreased during therapy. While the decrease was short-lived, it did prompt researchers to conclude that it may be unwise for asthmatics to relax during an acute attack, because relaxation may produce a short-term decline in lung function and potentially exacerbate the asthma.
 
While the ultimate role that biofeedback may play in asthma remains a topic of intense investigation, it is fair to say that biofeedback probably causes beneficial physiologic alterations that contribute to improvements in symptoms and lung function. Nonetheless, asthmatics should proceed with caution when using biofeedback, especially during an acute attack.

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December 22, 2007

Do Not Ignore Occupational Asthma

Occupational asthma is a common problem in America. There are certain work places that trigger asthma. This is mostly the case in factory professions. The smell of chemicals, dust, and fumes come in contact with the people working in such environment, either directly or indirectly, through the ventilation systems. It is spread throughout the workplace.

But, the people working in such an environment don’t realize the hazards. This is because the level of pollutants that you breathe is minute. Thus, people suffering from occupational asthma don’t know that they have got the disease from their workplace.

What To Do In Case Of Occupational Asthma?

If you suspect your case to be that of occupational asthma, then there are two things you can do: either change your job, or change the environment of your workplace. Once you do this, your condition will improve. However, if you ignore the work environment, you will make your asthma severe. Then a day will come when you will continue to have asthmatic condition even after leaving your workplace. Therefore, ignoring asthma is not a wise thing to do. You are making things worse for yourself.

Is Your Job The Real Culprit?

If your job is such that you are exposed to pollutants, then it’s not just you who will be affected. Your colleagues will also show symptoms of occupational asthma. However, if everybody at your workplace seems to be fine, and it’s only you who are coughing and wheezing, then it’s too early to lay the blame on your job for the condition.
 
There might be other veiled factors working behind your condition. Maybe it’s work stress. Then why leave your job? You simply require an alteration of your lifestyle. You have to observe your condition carefully to know what exactly triggers your asthma. Is it the pollutants outside your office that worsen your condition while driving to and from the office? Or is it the exposure to the air-conditioner in your chamber for hours together? It can be anything, and the sooner you find it, the better it is for your health.
 
If you feel better while on a vacation or weekends, then it’s certainly a case of occupational asthma. Do you work in a bakery, or in a pharmaceutical company? The flour and the chemicals used in making medicines, respectively, are asthma triggers. Besides this, if you work in a poultry farm or with other animals, then you should be extra careful. Animals are known to cause asthma.
 
The dust of wood, textile dyes, plastic molding, polyurethane paints, and others are all enemies of an asthmatic person. Besides, those working with electronics are also affected. The job of soldering can trigger an attack.
 
You should not continue to suffer in silence. You can ignore a common cold, but not asthma. It’s not something that will pass away by it self. Instead, it will get worse with time, if not treated. Therefore, it’s prudent to consult a doctor. Besides this, you can also discuss it with your boss. In case he or she is ready to incorporate certain changes in the work environment, it’s good for you. You won’t have to leave your job or compromise with your health. Nowadays, companies pay special attention to the health of their employees. After all, it’s a matter of their productivity too.
 
Beat occupational asthma now. It’s possible.

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Using Acupuncture To Treat Asthma

Acupuncture has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over 3,000 years and employs needles strategically placed in "points" on the body. These needles balance the yin (passive) and yang (active) forces and attempt to restore health by increasing energy (known as qi) flow through the body's meridians or channels. Sometimes a small electric current is passed through the acupuncture needle to enhance this effect. There are about 365 specific acupuncture points— with several thousand additional points located bodywide—located mainly on the hands, head, and ears. While acupuncture is used in China to treat virtually any illness, in the West it is primarily employed in the treatment of chronic pain and substance abuse.
 
Studies have found that acupuncture can help people with asthma; however, results are mixed. One study from Denmark examined acupuncture versus placebo acupuncture in seventeen patients with stable bronchial asthma. The treatment group experienced an average 22 percent increase in morning peak flow, with a 53 percent reduction in beta-agonist use. These results differed significantly from the placebo group for the first two weeks of this study, but after two weeks similar results were observed. Of particular interest, the authors reported a significant decrease in IgE antibodies in the treatment group.14 The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, an evidence-based medical database, published an examination of seven studies involving 174 subjects, which concluded that "there is not enough evidence to make recommendations about the value of acupuncture in asthma treatment." The author continued to state that "further research needs to consider the complexities and different types of acupuncture."
 
There remains a lack of consistent findings regarding acupuncture and asthma. While a strong recommendation cannot be made, if you have successfully used acupuncture, continue your treatments.

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December 21, 2007

Improve Your Asthma By Learning To Relax

Almost every asthmatic knows from personal experience that anxiety, stress, and panic play important roles in asthma. Feeling their lungs tighten, many asthmatics become anxious and set in motion the vicious cycle of increasing anxiety and worsening symptoms.
 
Making the transformation from panic to calm can take months or years. How you make this transition is a matter of choice, as there are many paths to choose from. Known as complementary therapies, these paths encompass a wide range of non-pharmacological treatment options, from acupuncture to yoga. These therapies fall into three, often interrelated categories: breathing exercises, relaxation therapy, and analysis. Ideally, you can choose one that encompasses aspects of all three.
 
  • Breathing therapies concentrate on breath control and are found in disciplines such as yoga and Buteyko breathing.
  • Relaxation therapies include massage, chiropractic, biofeedback, and listening to music.
  • Analysis involves thinking rationally about asthma and realizing that asthma can be controlled. While exercising, eating right, and making other lifestyle changes are critical to healing asthma, it's equally important to think about how emotions impact your life. You can ponder these thoughts while walking the beach or rock climbing, or with the aid of a therapist—it's up to you.

It's probably going to take some trial and error to find which techniques work best for you, but that's half the fun. Which technique you choose is not as important as making a choice, since choosing forces you to pay attention to the mind as well as the body. Paying attention to your feelings will not only help alleviate your asthma but also heal old wounds and rid your mind of negative emotional baggage. Each of us deserves to live a good life and be happy with who we are.

The Placebo Effect

Before we look at individual therapies, let's examine an area of potential confusion, a problem frequently encountered in research studies on complementary therapies: the "placebo effect." The placebo effect occurs when study subjects receive a placebo (an inert treatment or substance) and nonetheless report improvement because they believe the treatment is helping them. This is a common phenomenon in many placebo-controlled trials.
 
Scientists expect the placebo effect and use statistics to determine when outcome differences between treatment and placebo groups become important or "statistically significant." In other words, what researchers look for is an outcome difference between treatment and placebo groups that demonstrates that the treatment provides a measurable benefit beyond what would be expected from the placebo effect alone. By demonstrating this "statistically significant" difference, scientists can assert that the treatment actually works. Sometimes the outcome difference between placebo and treatment groups is so small as to be statistically insignificant; that is, the treatment offers no benefit beyond what would be expected from the placebo effect.
 
Not surprisingly, there is a substantial body of literature affirming that the placebo effect is a potent part of many therapies and that believing something will work can actually influence the outcome. Perhaps one of the best examples of this mind/ body phenomenon relates to the immune system: several studies have documented that suggestion under hypnosis can influence immune function in certain individuals.
 
Studies have also shown that a physician's attitude toward a particular therapy can influence the efficacy of that therapy. One study compared a group of patients who were offered a treatment by a physician who presented the information in a "positive manner" against another group who received the information in a "non-positive manner." The treatment itself was the same in both groups. After two weeks, there was a significant difference in patient satisfaction between the positive and negative groups, as "64 percent of those receiving a positive consultation got better, compared to 39 percent of those who received a negative consultation."
 
The placebo effect represents the healing power of your mind and may be one of the reasons why the treatments discussed in this chapter can help people with asthma. What does this mean for you?. Remember, what works for one person may not work for another. The only time you should abandon a therapy is if it may cause more harm than good. Bottom line: If the therapy works for you, use it.

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December 20, 2007

The Mental Issues Surrounding Asthma

Since the twelfth century, when Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides (1135-1204) first observed the link between asthma and emotions, a tremendous body of literature has accumulated examining how negative emotions increase asthma risk. One study followed 5,231 adults for thirteen years and found that anxiety and depression were "independent predictors of asthma." Negative emotions not only predispose people to asthma, they can make asthma worse. Multiple studies have documented that anxiety, depression, and inadequate social networks exacerbate asthma. Acute and chronic stress is particularly devastating; research demonstrates that some asthmatics feel worse when stressed. In fact, emotions can radically alter lung function, and it is estimated that 20 to 45 percent of asthmatics experience bronchoconstriction when stressed.
 
Children are especially susceptible. Asthma is the fourth-leading cause of childhood disability, responsible for an estimated ten million lost school days. One study from the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Colorado found that the "severity of asthma is related to increased emotional difficulties" in children. Asthmatic children also tend to have more anxiety and medically related fears than non-asthmatic children. University of Rochester School of Medicine scientists monitored lung function in twenty-four asthmatic children while they watched the movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. The researchers found that emotions were "associated with increased airway reactivity and decreased pulmonary function," which persisted even after the movie ended.
 
A study from North Dakota State University examined the relationship between lung function and social interactions in twenty asthmatics. While "mood and stressors" had the greatest impact on peak expiratory flow, social contacts had the most influence on symptoms; the authors concluding that "psychosocial variables were clearly related to [peak expiratory flow rate] and asthma symptoms." Another study examined the effects of final examinations on a group of twenty mildly asthmatic college students and found that the number of eosinophils (which cause inflammation) increased significantly with stress. The authors concluded that the stress associated with final exams acts as a cofactor to increase airway inflammation and may enhance the severity of asthma.
 

Not only can stress make the life of an asthmatic miserable, but there is also evidence that asthmatics are generally more depressed and anxious than the rest of the population. Poorly controlled asthmatics often experience depression and disruptions in their personal lives. One study of 230 asthmatics found that 45 percent were clinically depressed and that this depression directly influenced their symptoms. Another study found that "anxiety and depression levels were noticeably higher in asthmatic patients than in patients with chronic liver disease and healthy subjects." Does asthma cause depression or does depression cause asthma? It is reasonable to say that there is probably an element of truth to both of these assertions. Having asthma can certainly cause some people to become depressed and anxious, whereas depression and anxiety clearly appear to be risk factors for developing asthma. Regardless of what causes what, depression and anxiety take a devastating toll on asthmatics.

An even more dramatic reflection of this observation can be found in studies that examine asthma-related deaths. In a study on children who died from asthma, the authors concluded that these children had "exhibited emotional states of hopelessness and despair in the days immediately preceding their deaths."
 
Researchers have also found a strong association between asthma and panic disorder, as well as "passive" or "repressive" coping styles. It is believed that panic leads to hyperventilation, which creates nervous system imbalances that predispose a person to asthma. These imbalances involve the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for controlling bodily functions such as breathing and digestion. It is hypothesized that anxiety, panic, and passive-repressive coping result in a heightened autonomic sensitivity that leads to negative health consequences like bronchoconstriction. One study found that panic and repressive coping increase the risk of asthma morbidity. This report suggests that panic sufferers benefit most from "relaxation-oriented methods," whereas asthmatics who cope through repression and/or panic benefit from therapies that increase their awareness of respiratory symptoms.
 
Social support and emotions can even influence how asthmatics respond to viral infections; one study found that "negative life events were associated with increased episodes of colds and asthma, but only when levels of social support were low." Stress can also devastate immune function and increase the risk of infection in asthmatics. Multiple studies have documented the dramatic negative effects of acute and chronic stress on immune function, particularly impairing the effectiveness of natural killer cells and T lymphocytes. Finally, asthma symptoms are often worse at night, leading to sleep deprivation that results in an increased susceptibility to infection.

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