http://www.cure-your-asthma.com Asthma-related articles en-us © 2005 Karon Beattie - http://www.cure-your-asthma.com Wed, 01 Jun 2005 16:12:24 EDT One of the main reasons why asthma is so widespread and difficult to control is that it is a very individual disease. While one asthma sufferer might not have any ill effects when faced with a high pollen count, another could be getting rushed to hospital. The stimuli that cause asthma attacks are called triggers. These can be cold air, exercising, pollen, pollution, and yes, household pets are on the list, too. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma01.htm Karon Beattie 2005-10-17 Everyone knows that cockroaches are disgusting little insects (make that disgusting big insects), but did you also know they are a prime suspect in the triggering of asthma attacks? Several separate studies have been made in recent years and their results have been far from reassuring. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma02.htm Karon Beattie 2005-10-10 If I were to tell you that every night you sleep with thousands of insects right there in the bed with you, you would probably like to believe I was crazy. I'm not. Sorry. These insects are called dust mites. I know, I know, you've never seen one in your bed. You can't, as they are microscopic entities. A hundred of the little pests wouldn't fill up a speck of dust. Now before everyone takes a long sigh of relief that could cause a tornado in Texas, let's get something clear; Dust mites can be a health hazard, especially if you suffer from asthma. The problem that they cause is because of a protein they create that can trigger an asthma attack. Just one of these mites can make two hundred times its body weight in waste, waste containing this protein, so you don't need to be Einstein to do the math. Suffice to say that there's a lot of dust mite protein in every house in the entire world. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma03.htm Karon Beattie 2005-09-25 Asthma is the disease of the twenty-first century. If Typhoid and Cholera have had their day, then they only made room for a new epidemic. The fact that asthma doesn't make the news headlines all the time is simply because it is not as dramatic as the two former diseases. It still kills, but because hundreds at a time aren't falling down dead, the media doesn't really want to know about it. Believe me, asthma has the potential to be even worse than both Typhoid and Cholera put together. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma04.htm Karon Beattie 2005-09-20 Asthma is a strange disease. Though it effects over 20 million people in the US alone, no two cases are exactly alike. Doctors now know that it is a genetic condition, meaning it is passed down from generation to generation (see it was your father's fault all along), but what varies greatly are the triggers which set off an attack. A trigger can be any external effect (such as cold air, animals, dust, etc) which our bodies react to. Each sufferer has different tolerance levels to different triggers, which would be great if we knew what our own particular triggers were. But we don't, and herein lies the problem. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma05.htm Karon Beattie 2005-09-16 Asthma cases are still rising. Compared to studies made twenty years ago the difference is amazing and frightening. We as people tend to want to find someone or something to blame when things go wrong. But in the case of asthma, do we blame the governments for not doing enough to lessen its impact on society, or do we blame ourselves for not knowing enough? http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma06.htm Karon Beattie 2005-09-10 We now know (and even governments are beginning to admit it) that pollution is growing daily and is a key factor in the explosion of the number of asthmatics around the world. There is practically no country that hasn't seen a rise in pollution levels and the amount of asthma sufferers in the last twenty years. Whether it is the black smoke coming out of car exhausts, large chemical plants or smoke from cigarettes, people are feeling its effects on their health in an increasingly alarming number. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma07.htm Karon Beattie 2005-08-06 When summer is here an asthma child's parents are usually getting prepared for the worst. It is the time for high pollen counts that can cause havoc to an asthma sufferer. But the winter months can be just as bad, if not worse. Winter is the cold and flu season when everyone should be on their guard. If you or a family member has asthma, you need to take special precautions during these months to watch out for any symptoms developing that could increase the severity of an attack. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma08.htm Karon Beattie 2005-08-01 In many countries scuba diving for asthma sufferers just isn't possible owing to it being prohibited, but in other countries it isn't. So what's the problem here? Basically what's going on is insurance. Insurance company policies differ from one country to the next, so scuba diving schools have to play it safe or risk not getting covered. The fact that very few asthma sufferers have died while scuba diving doesn't really play a part in the equation. As with all other insurance policies, the question is a hypothetical 'if' and not based on any real world facts. Last year, which saw some 5,000 scuba diving related accidents, only one was attributed to having suffered an asthma attack whilst underwater. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma09.htm Karon Beattie 2005-07-18 If ever you needed a good reason to stop smoking, developing asthma would be the most dramatic and unfortunate. We all know that smoking causes cancer of the lungs, chronic bronchitis and will also complicate viral infections. For the asthma sufferer the effects are ten fold. A person who is allergic to peanuts doesn't eat peanut butter for breakfast every morning, and if you have or develop asthma the cigarettes should be the first things thrown out the window. http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma10.htm Karon Beattie 2005-07-17 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma11.htm The main problem with diagnosing asthma is that the typical asthma symptom can easily be confused with a common cold or flu virus. If you suspect yourself or your child to be displaying one of the following symptoms, go straight to your doctor. It's amazing how many people don't bother making an appointment with their GP, preferring to put it down to 'just a cold'. DON'T! This is a big mistake and can have serious repercussions, especially for children. You can risk anything you want, but never your child's health. Karon Beattie 2005-07-09 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma12.htm Let's imagine that your child has just been diagnosed as having asthma. After the initial shock has passed, the first thing you will have to start thinking about the best possible asthma treatment available. No, that's the second thing. The first thing you have to do is stop panicking. With the right treatment and armed with the right knowledge, your child will be able to have a normal, happy life with their asthma under control. Karon Beattie 2005-07-03 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma13.htm Go to any school in the United States or Europe these days and along with the mobile phones and gameboys, you will almost certainly find asthma inhalers. So why is asthma in children becoming so widespread? If we remember that asthma is a genetic disease that our forebears could have developed, it doesn't take a genius to work out that something has changed over the years. Studies show that there are various factors involved and none of them are good. Karon Beattie 2005-06-26 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma14.htm Many asthma sufferers are starting to notice that there is more choice available than going from one inhaler to the next. A lot of research is currently being carried out regarding alternative forms of dealing with asthma relief. Unfortunately most doctors don't want anything to do with them. Karon Beattie 2005-06-20 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma15.htm In order to keep asthma under control and lead an ordinary life you need to learn to deal with your illness. An asthma attack can be a terrifying ordeal, and not only for children. Every year, thousands of people -young and old alike- have to be taken to hospital to have their asthma treated under emergency conditions. What is worse, thousands of people are still dying annually and it is estimated that 90% of these tragic deaths could easily be avoided. In the United Kingdom for example, it is estimated that around 1400 people die each year from an asthma attack. That is nearly four people every day. Karon Beattie 2005-06-14 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma16.htm An asthma trigger is some kind of environmental element that brings on an asthma attack. When you come into contact with a certain element, an allergic reaction takes place and makes your airways narrow. Because no two cases of asthma are exactly alike, you have to learn which kind of triggers are best to avoid and which are bearable for you. Sometimes it may be very difficult to pinpoint the trigger. This is when you need to put on your detective hat and go looking for clues. Karon Beattie 2005-06-07 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma17.htm It has long been thought that a child or adult who is suffering from asthma should never exercise. The asthma kids at school had to sit on the bench watching while their friends who were asthma free had all the fun. While exercise induced asthma does exist, we now know that it is no where near as bad as we once thought it was. Karon Beattie 2005-05-23 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma18.htm What did people do before the advent of global pharmaceutical companies? It's amazing anyone survived at all. But survive they did. Now I'm not one who usually goes in for conspiracy theories, but I have to say there is something extremely fishy about the drug industry. Are they really researching and developing new drugs for our benefit or theirs? What place do governments have in the drug market? Pharmaceutical companies actively work on new drugs to relieve the symptoms of illness, but what are they doing to actually cure them? I have a sneaky suspicion that they want to keep us all ill, keep us all drugged up to the eyeballs and keep us all coming back to buy more. Would it be the billion dollar industry it is otherwise? If you have asthma, you buy the drugs and try not to add up how much it is costing you each and every month. Sadly, there is no alternative. Or is there? Are there really alternative therapies for asthma? Your doctor will obviously say no. But then again he's part of the pharmaceutical company drug chain. Karon Beattie 2005-05-20 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma19.htm When you discover that your child is suffering from asthma your doctor will undoubtedly reach for the prescription book. If he is a particularly good doctor he might hand you a couple of leaflets on how best to cope during your child's asthma attack. What he probably won't do is mention the possible side effects of all the drugs your child is going to start taking. And taking. And taking. Do you really want your kids to have go through this day after day? Isn't there a better way? There is. Pediatric asthma does not have to begin and end with drugs. Drugs which could cause more harm in the longer term than good. Karon Beattie 2005-05-18 http://www.cure-your-asthma.com/articles/asthma20.htm It is most unpleasant to have to watch your child develop and then try to cope with asthma. They are just too little to understand what it means and why they have problems breathing. The feeling of being useless in helping a child understand their illness better is common in all patients whose children suffer from asthma. This is precisely why Zoey asthma has been developed. Karon Beattie 2005-05-17