Right Breathing

Sometimes it hurts to breathe. Sometimes it is hard to breathe. Sometimes it is an ASTHMA attack. This article is for those who know and those who do not know about ASTHMA.

Wind, cold, pollen, smoke, worries, pressure, food and more, can be the trigger that sets fire to the lungs and causes the bronchial tubes (the pipes that carry air to our lungs) to go into spasm. When that happens, breathing becomes a full time job. Sometimes it becomes virtually impossible to breathe. Sometimes Asthma kills. Asthma is not to be braved, ignored or tolerated.

When we are born our lungs are only a third of the size of our adult lungs. Lungs keep growing until we are nine or twelve. The number of air sacs in our lungs at maturity ranges from 200 million to 600 million. The pipes— bronchial tubes and trachea continue to develop up to age fifteen.

Heredity, illness, and toxins can block healthy development. The consequence can be ASTHMA. Still, inflammation and spasm of the large and small air pipes can be improved. Progress to severe inflammation and spasm and chronic states can be slowed down.

The first rule is to get rid of anything that will make breathing difficult. Good air conditioning filters pollen and dust. Plastic liners over mattresses and double casing pillows reduce mite reactions. Frequent painting of home walls reduces exposure to roach saliva. Pets can be a real problem. Animal hair and dander, tics, plant pollen, and dust are all brought to bear when a pet causes a breathing crisis. Some say daily bathing of the pet can markedly reduce the danger beloved pets can cause. Others recommend outside pets only, or no pets. I strongly favor no pets if there is any evidence of a person with asthma reacting with even mild breathing problems in the presence of a pet. Many asthmatics smoke or are engulfed in smoke in their own household. This exposure is catastrophic. These assaults accelerate the change from nice soft bronchial tubes to thick stiff bronchial tubes. The tiny hairs that have the job of whuffing out the bad things that get into the lung become brittle and unable to work. The bronchial tubes get inflamed, swollen and hurt. Spasm and irritability set in. Coughing, wheezing, pain and panic result.

Medical help is needed for asthma. Every asthmatic should have a peak flow meter to monitor how the breathing is each day. A chart with each meter shows what is normal for each height and weight and age. For adults, a level at 200 on the peak flow meter indicates trouble. If the home rescue treatments do not help, a call to the physician is in order.

If discomfort from asthma occurs more than two times each week, then each person from the age of four needs to be on inhaled steroids. Inhaled steroids can block the .5% to 1% lung loss that occurs each year from untreated asthma. Indeed inhaled steroids begun within two years of asthma can restore up to eight percent of lung function. Inhaled steroids after five years can restore up to two percent of lung function and slow or even halt further bronchial damage. Leukotriene inhibitors as Accolate and Singulair also quiet inflammation in the lungs and even help sinuses.

Inhalers, such as albuterol, Proventil, or Maxair Autohaler, open up the bronchial tubes so that breathing becomes much less work. Intal can stabilize the cells that make the bronchial tubes irritated. Sometimes home nebulizer treatment with albuterol is needed to open up the lungs. But no one should hesitate to seek emergency treatment when peak flow is 150 or does not rise above two hundred despite home treatment.

Remember also, treating teeth and stomach problems reduces asthma.