Asthma Prevention
How do I prevent getting asthma?
Although asthma is for the most part an inherited disease and tends to be genetically determined, there are some factors that make asthma worse and may make asthma show up earlier. Maternal smoking certainly is a major risk factor and if you have a family history of asthma and you are a woman about to have a baby, not only is the smoking going to be dangerous to your lungs, but it's also going to be dangerous to the baby's lungs and I can't urge you enough to stop smoking. Paternal smoking also is a risk factor. Another risk factor is early introduction of highly allergenic foods. You might want to talk to your doctor about which foods you should hold off introducing in the diet. These things can be things such as peanuts and shellfish and tree nuts that for many patients cause an allergic reaction. Patients also who develop RSV - Respiratory Syncytial Virus - during the first year of life are at much higher risk to go on to develop asthma symptoms. So if you think you have an allergic or asthma family history, talk to your doctor. There are certain things you can do that might help prevent or delay the onset of your child's asthma.
What are the most common asthma triggers?
There are many triggers of asthma symptoms in patients who already have asthma and are trying to do their best to avoid those triggers. In very young children, up until the age of five, viral infections are the most common triggers of asthma symptoms, causing coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. As you get older, allergies tend to really be a problem for asthma sufferers. Pollens such as grasses, trees and weeds, in addition to dust, dust mites, molds and animal danders, all trigger asthma. There are also non-allergic triggers, such as exercise, infections, such as sinus infections, and even heartburn, what we call reflux-Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. These can all cause asthma symptoms. That's why it is important to not only get the diagnosis of asthma, and get the proper medication, but to properly identify your triggers, which can help prevent the occurrence and severity of asthma symptoms.
How do I prevent asthma triggers?
Avoiding asthma triggers, although something that I recommend to my patients, are very often difficult to achieve. It's certainly hard to avoid pollens, such as grass pollens and tree pollens and wheat pollens, that are in the air that you breathe. Even more difficult to avoid are indoor allergens such as dust mites and animal dandruffs, which make up a greater part of the air that you breathe, and in many patients are almost unavoidable. Many patients also find that exercise, especially in cold air, tends to trigger their asthma. So we suggest that patients who have exercise-induced asthma breathe through their nose instead of through their mouth, because the nose tends to warm and humidify the air. Infections, again, very difficult to prevent, but it's very important for patients to know, if they have an infection, that they're at a higher risk to develop asthma symptoms, and may want to increase the frequency of their dose of their medication, with their doctor's recommendation.
Why do I get asthma when I exercise?
