Monday, August 31, 2009

Natural Treatments / Asthma

Asthma can result from a preexisting condition such as allergies. Often if the allergies are aggressively treated, asthma will not become a factor. Adverse affects are suffered by those individuals that smoke. These include the symptoms becoming more severe due to increased inflammation causing lung function to decline and a lessening response to medications designed to prevent flair ups.
The severity and frequency of each individual asthma case dictates the overall treatment regime for each case. Overall the choice of treatment for asthma includes pharmaceutical and non-medical arenas. Bronchodilators relieve shortness of breath and wheezing and most often utilized within an inhaler. Much of the asthma natural treatment choices are frowned upon as unconventional therapies, but they are still used by about 50% of asthma suffers. Such therapeutic strategies include chiropractic, acupuncture, osteopathic, respiratory and physiotherapeutic.
When an individual's lungs become chronically inflamed and the airways narrow asthma likely is the cause. There are various strains of asthma, but no matter the severity there are choices for asthma natural treatment.
The severity and frequency of each individual asthma case dictates the overall treatment regime for each case. Overall the choice of treatment for asthma includes pharmaceutical and non-medical arenas. Bronchodilators relieve shortness of breath and wheezing and most often utilized within an inhaler. Much of the asthma natural treatment choices are frowned upon as unconventional therapies, but they are still used by about 50% of asthma suffers. Such therapeutic strategies include chiropractic, acupuncture, osteopathic, respiratory and physiotherapeutic.
Asthma can result from a preexisting condition such as allergies. Often if the allergies are aggressively treated, asthma will not become a factor. Adverse affects are suffered by those individuals that smoke. These include the symptoms becoming more severe due to increased inflammation causing lung function to decline and a lessening response to medications designed to prevent flair ups.
When an individual's lungs become chronically inflamed and the airways narrow asthma likely is the cause. There are various strains of asthma. With steady-state asthma and individual may experiencing some coughing especially at night, constant throat clearing, feeling of tightness in the chest and upon exertion some shortness of breath. These symptoms can gradually worsen into acute asthma exacerbation if not properly diagnosed and treated. Treatment can include over-the-counter medication, prescription medication and even asthma natural treatment.
Is it a common misconception that everyone that has an asthmatic condition has wheezing, whereas often an asthmatic will never wheeze. If wheezing does occur with an asthmatic, it likely is due to an asthma attack. This is an acute exacerbation of asthma that has the symptomatology of tightness in the chest, possible wheezing and shortness of breath. If air is restricted greatly, there is no room for wheezing.

Some Asthma Relief Tips

People have their own triggers. If you have asthma, you can minimize your symptoms by avoiding the factors that trigger your symptoms and by working with your physician to develop an effective management and treatment plan.

In order to help you, before you decide to go to the doctor, here are a few tips on how to prevent, foresee and minimize the risk of asthma.

Caffeine and Asthma

If you feel an asthma attack coming on and don't have your inhaler handy, try a couple cups of coffee, tea, hot chocolate or chocolate bars. The caffeine will help open your airways.

Controlling Your Asthma

If you find yourself using your quick-relief inhaler to stop an asthma attack more than twice a week, it may be time for a different medication. In fact, if you have to refill your inhaler more than two times a year or are awakened by asthma symptoms two nights or more per week, you also probably need a change.

Correct Inhaler Use

If you use an inhaler to treat your asthma, remember that it's not a breath freshener. You must deeply inhale the medication into your lungs and hold it for three to five seconds before exhaling slowly.

Dust mites

Dust mites can be especially troubling when traveling away from home, take your own pillow with an allergen-proof cover and request down-free pillows if staying in a hotel.

Homemade food

Carry self-injectable epinephrine in case you accidentally eat a food to which you are allergic. Homemade items do not have ingredient lists and can be contaminated with trace amounts of allergenic foods through contact with storage containers, baking sheets and utensils.

Exercising with Asthma

If your asthma is bothered by air pollution, cold or damp air, exercise indoors. A stationary bicycle is a good example of indoor activities. Cover your mouth and nose with a scarf when exercising outdoors in cold weather.

Loving your pet

Decide which areas of the house will become your exclusion zones. I recommend you never allow your pet into at least two rooms, the bedroom and lounge. You may want to add other rooms to the list. If your pet once slept in those rooms, wash as much of the bedding or upholstery as possible and consider buying a new mattress and duvet. Keep the animal’s bed in another room, perhaps a utility room or lobby. For a cat, sprinkle some catnip there to make the area seem more attractive. However, if your asthma is severe and triggered by pet allergens the best advice is to find a new home for the animal.

It may not be possible to 100% cure your asthma, but by putting the above into practice you should be able to alleviate it quite considerably.

Asthma is the seventh-ranked chronic health condition in the United States and the leading chronic illness of children. It is a chronic inflammatory disease that makes airways (bronchial tubes) particularly sensitive to irritants.

During an asthma attack, tightening of the smooth muscles around the bronchial tubes causes them to become inflamed, narrow inside, and produce excess mucus. This makes it difficult for air to pass in and out of the lungs and decreases the oxygen levels in the blood. A person suffering from an asthma attack has a sensation similar to drowning.

It is currently estimated that as many as 300 million people world wide suffer from asthma, and that number continues to rise

Here are a few symptoms of asthma:

· Cough

· Chest tightness

· Shortness of breath

· Wheezing

· Triggers of asthma

And some triggers:

· Allergens

· Irritants such as tobacco smoke, strong odors

· Weather changes

· Viral or sinus infections

· Exercise

Cardiac Asthma Treatment - Get The Facts Right

Cardiac asthma is wheezing due to congestive heart failure and in the true sense it is not asthma. Clinically it is a condition caused by severe reflexive blocking and or by edema of the lungs. It is an asthmatic-type breathing caused by sudden blockage of the pulmonary circulation. The bronchial spasm in cardiac asthma is caused by back pressure from the left side of the heart to the lungs. Symptomatically cardiac asthma is quite similar to lung asthma.

The key to effective management of cardiac asthma is right diagnosis, which includes differentiation between patients who wheeze only due to acute heart failure and those who wheeze from other disorders, such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Treatment is directed at improving the pump function of the heart along with medications.

In some patients who suffer from asthma and heart failure simultaneously, treatment is required for both conditions. A combination of bronchodilators, supplementary oxygen is generally effective in controlling the asthmatic symptoms in addition to treating heart failure in such patients. Corticosteroids are prescribed only when the patient with acute cardiac asthma has not responded well to initial therapy. Corticosteroids usually take long hours to give peak effect. If the asthma is caused by a heart valve that is not working properly or a hole between the heart chambers, surgery or other procedures may be suggested.

Treatments mainly focus on controlling the night coughs, control of the edema, control of inflow load and the amount of residual blood in the left ventricle. Diuretics (water pills) free the lungs of excess fluid and other medications such as morphines, nitrates help the heart muscles pump more effectively. The wheezing gradually stops when the heart failure has been well controlled.

Patients with heart failure or heart valves that do not open properly experience shortness of breath not necessarily accompanied by wheezing, coughing, increased rapid and superficial breathing, increased blood pressure and heart beat rate and a feeling of uneasiness. Symptoms usually occur with exercise or at night after going to bed. Cardiac asthma is usually due to a major mechanical fault of the heart. The reduced pumping efficacy of the heart leads to a build up of fluid in the lungs. This build up of the fluid causes the air passages to narrow up and eventually cause wheezing and other related symptoms. It is a life-threatening condition and one must seek medical advice immediately on experiencing any symptoms.0388847131, 0388847181 & 0388849487