Archive for the 'Allergies' Category

Children with severe asthma today have better control over their illness than children did a mere 10 years ago.

This is likely due to an improvement in asthma medications, according to a new study at National Jewish Health in Denver.

The study was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI).

Dr. Joseph Spahn and his colleagues reviewed cases of children with severe asthma, comparing patients from 1993 to 1997 against patients from 2004 to 2007.

Leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA) are used by about two-thirds of the present patients, along with the combination of inhaled glucocorticoids with long-acting bronchodilators (iGC/LABA). None of the children in the group from 1993 to 1997 were on these medications.

To compare how well these new medications control symptoms of asthma, the doctors looked at the number of patients who needed oral glucocorticoid (GC) medication. They also looked at the average dose of the medication, and how long the average course of treatment lasted.

The children in the 2004 to 2007 group had a lower percentage of patients who needed oral GC medication, and fewer children suffered from adverse effects of GC medication.

For some time now, people who have high cholesterol have been treated with a special class of cholesterol lowering medications known as statins.

These medications are known to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

They are believed to work by reducing inflammation of a particular type that has been linked to heart problems.

Turns out, this is good news for asthma sufferers as well. When asthma patients are on statin medications, they have fewer trips to the emergency room and fewer hospitalizations. There are a variety of asthma treatments, but controlling the disease can be difficult.

About 20 million Americans suffer from asthma, and half a million end up in the hospital because of asthma each year.

Studies show that statins not only reduce the inflammation that can cause heart problems, but it also reduces the inflammation that can trigger the spasms in the breathing passages that are a hallmark of asthma.

While it is too soon to know if prescribing statin medications just for asthma control is appropriate, if you have asthma and high cholesterol, that statin medication your doctor has already prescribed may be helping you even more than you realized.

Regular exercises can be the most difficult part of routine for those who are suffering from asthma.

Even though it can seem difficult, regular exercise should be a part of your routine with asthma.

However, if you are really worried about exercises and have an asthma problem, here are a few helpful tips for you.

1. Warm-up exercises are very crucial in regular exercise routine, but ensure that you make it slowly and in the same way you should cool down slowly after exercising.
2. Ensure that you use pre-exercise asthma inhalers or necessary asthma medications before you start exercising to avoid an unexpected asthma attack.
3. Practice tolerable exercises for short intermittent periods. When you are doing activities like baseball, wrestling and gymnastics for regular exercise ensure that you take enough periods of rest in between.
4. Cold weather is the most common trigger for an asthma attack. So, try to avoid exercising outdoors or other outdoor sports in cold weather conditions.
5. When you are suffering with viral infections like colds, restrict yourself from regular exercises and allow yourself to take enough rest.
6. Always maintain comfortable and tolerable paces of exercise and practice at a level that is suitable and also safe for you.

Do you love to enjoy the weather of spring but worried about your seasonal allergies? Spring brings a lot of fun and excitement.

Everyone would love to enjoy the weather in springtime. But, for people with seasonal allergies, spring will be tough time to manage.

But, there is no need for you to worry about your seasonal allergies. Little care can help you to prevent those irritating symptoms of seasonal allergies. Here are few tips that will certainly help you to manage allergies in spring.

1. Most common triggers of allergies in spring are ragweed, molds and other weed pollens. So, know your triggers and stay away from them as much as possible.
2. Don’t forget to wear a protective mask when you are out in the garden or doing any other yard work.
3. Check the pollen count in the air when you are coming out from your home. You can check local weather report to ensure that the pollen count is low.
4. Exercise early in the morning or in late evenings because pollen count will be low at these particular times of the day.

Along with avoiding asthma triggers and staying generally healthy, asthma medications are crucial for you to gain control over your condition.

As we all know, asthma is a chronic disease that mainly involves inflammation of the airways. With decreased airflow, cough and mucus production, you can really face lot of discomfort with asthma.

Asthma medications work effectively by reducing the inflammation present in your airways.

Many types of asthma medications and devices are used to control asthma, including long-term relievers, symptom controllers, quick relief medications, etc.

so, depending on the severity of the disease, your doctor will recommend different options for you. Some of the most common asthma medications include:

Inhaled corticosteroids

If you have persistent asthma, long-term medications is critical. Inhaled corticosteroids are anti-inflammatory drugs recommended for long-term use. These drugs reduce the inflammation in your airways and also prevent blood vessels from leaking the fluid into your airway tissues.

These specific inhaled asthma medications act directly on inflamed airways and air muscles. The influence of the medications on the rest of your body is minimal. Therefore, side-effects of using inhaled medications are very few.

Do you rely on numerous drugs and sprays for your allergy problem? Most of these pharmaceutical drugs and sprays relieve you from sneezing, itching and various other allergic symptoms.

In addition to this, at times you can also experience various negative side-effects such as nasal irritation or drowsiness because of these over-the-counter drugs.

So, if you want to get better allergy relief with less or no side effects, you can use natural ways to cure your allergy symptoms.

Here are certain most effective ways to get allergy relief naturally:

Essential oils!

Peppermint oil is best suited to treat various allergic reactions. It can be easily applied on your throat, crown, back of neck and also temples of your head to get better allergy relief. Inhale a drop of oil from cupped palms to get relieved from tension, stuffiness and also headaches instantly.

Pine and spruce essential oils are also used to treat allergic reactions. A drop of pine or peppermint oil applied on your throat or thymus gland significantly boosts your immune system.

Are you aware that even sunshine causes allergy? Though it is rare, it is quite possible for anyone to have sun allergy.

If you are sensitive to direct exposure to sun, it can trigger your immune system and stimulates the inflammatory cells and proteins of your skin.

As a result, you can experience itchy skin, hives or red rashes on your skin (skin rash).

Mostly, certain medications which you use to treat your general health conditions or chemicals can significantly develop sensitiveness in your skin to sun exposure.

Which one of these do you have? Most common types of skin allergies!

There are many types of sun allergies, which mainly cause damage to your skin [Skin allergy]. Some of the most common sun allergies can mainly include:

Polymorphous light eruption (PMLE): This is one of the most common types of sun allergy that mainly affects children. With this type of sun allergy, you can experience irritating and itchy skin, which usually appears in spring season.

If you develop PMLE, it can potentially make your skin to become more sensitive to regular sun exposure.

Are you feeling miserable with sinus problem? If you are diagnosed with sinusitis or inflammation in sinuses, you can suffer with frequent headache, runny nose, breathing difficulties and also with constant sneezing and mild fever some times.

Sinus infections are very painful to experience and for most of you these sinus infections can become common health conditions that occur frequently.

More often, sinus infections are treated with antibiotics. At times, using these antibiotics can result in negative side effects along with better sinus relief.

So, if you want to avoid these negative side effects, you can use natural ways to cure your sinus problems (sinus relief).

3 Ways to treat your sinus problems naturally

1. Nasal wash:

Salt water is one of the best things to use for your nasal and sinus problems. If you are in reach of salt water or beach, you can go for a swim with necessary precautions. You can also prepare your own salt water solution with one tea-spoon of salt in a glass of water and use it for cleaning your nostrils [Nasal spray].

Can you imagine estrogen and progesterone, two most important hormones of your body, can lead you to breathing problems? Estrogen and progesterone, these are the two most critical hormones, which play a vital role in a woman’s reproductive cycle.

But, several evidences indicate that these hormones can greatly help in improving the functioning of lung and possibly control your asthma.

How does it happen?

As we already know, asthma is mainly characterized by the inflammation and narrowing of your airways. This inflammation in your lungs mainly results from hyper immunity.

Whenever your body immune system tends to overexcite or stimulate, progesterone starts to suppress your immune system and acts as protective substance against the inflammation of your airways.

In addition to this, estrogen and progesterone, in combination potentially relaxes your bronchial muscles and also reduces the constriction of your lungs.

As progesterone is mainly responsible for relaxing or soothing your uterine muscles, in the same way it also works in relaxing the muscles of your airways.

Hoe does female hormones show its effect on respiratory system?

Many researches have found that these essential female hormones are mainly involved in gradually reducing the symptoms of asthma and also to improve the functioning of the pulmonary organs in women.

Did you ever try to think why are you becoming sick from eating specific foods? Although many of you experience adverse reactions by consuming certain foods, it doesn’t mean that you have food allergy.

Illness, which is caused due to eating specific foods, is mainly because of the reason that your body fails to process or digest properly.

A true food allergy, which results from adverse reactions triggered by your body immune system, is very uncommon. Only about 6% of adults and 2% of children can have chances to experience a true food allergy.

Don’t confuse between food allergies and food intolerances!

More often, food allergies and food intolerances are usually confused by many people. But, these two health conditions are quite different from each other with respect to its symptoms, treatment and origin. So, to avoid confusion between food allergies and food intolerances, here are few points which can help you to distinguish between food allergies and food intolerances.

Involvement of immune system:

Usually, true food allergic reactions mainly involve your body immune system. When your body identifies any specific kind of food that is harmful for you, immediately it produces certain antibodies against potential food allergens.