Sacred Hour Before Bed
Youve probably heard this one before, because its true. Staring at screens, watching intense television or playing video games right up until bedtime can leave you too wired to fall asleep. Instead, try to come up with a relaxing routine you enjoy for the last hour before bed. If you absolutely cant give up your screen , then try some computer-reading glasses that block out blue light. We found and they work pretty well.
Youre Using Your Inhaler More Than Usual
If youve been having to use your quick-relief inhaler more often than usual, or youve started to feel like it doesnt help as much when you do use it, your severe asthma may be getting worse.
It can be hard sometimes to keep track of exactly how many times you use your inhaler during a given week. You may want to start keeping track of your usage in a journal or in the note-taking app on your phone.
Keeping a log of your inhaler usage can also help to identify what may be triggering your severe asthma symptoms. For example, if you mainly use your inhaler after being outdoors, an outdoor trigger like pollen may be causing your asthma to flare up.
Managing Your Asthma Flare
Am Fam Physician. 1998 Jul 1 58:109-113.
See related article on asthma.
To keep your asthma under control, you need to know what to do when you have a flare-up of symptoms . First, you need to know the symptoms that tell you your asthma is getting worse . Second, you need to know how to treat your asthma when it gets worse. Early treatment of flare-ups works the best and will help get your asthma under control quickly.
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How Do I Know If My Morning Cough Is Serious
Generally speaking, a morning cough is not something to be concerned about on its own. A persistent morning cough could be caused by a number of different things, including postnasal drip, reflux, asthma, allergies or smoking. It is a good idea to see your doctor for any morning cough that becomes chronic, meaning it lasts longer than eight weeks, just to make sure there are no other medical concerns contributing to your cough. However, if your morning cough is accompanied by any of the following symptoms, you should see your doctor right away.
- Chest pain
- Weight loss
- Wheezing
If you have more than one of the symptoms above, there is cause for heightened concern. Certain symptomslike frequently coughing up blood or bloody mucus or coughing up more than a teaspoon of blood, high fever, serious chest pain and sudden onset of weakness or breathlessnesswarrant immediate medical attention. When in doubt, it is better to be safe than sorry and get medical attention. If you are wondering, Why do I cough in the morning, see your doctor.
How Do You Calm An Asthma Attack
A reliever inhaler is the best treatment for an asthma attack, but in case one isnt on hand, sit upright and force yourself to take long, deep breaths. It improves lung function, wont irritate airways, and slows your breathing, preventing hyperventilation. If symptoms worsen, seek emergency medical help immediately.
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What Are The Signs Of An Asthma Flare
Asthma flare-ups can vary in strength and length. They can happen without warning, causing sudden coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing.
Flare-ups should be treated right away. So it’s important to know their early warning signs, including:
- restless sleep or coughing that prevents sleep
- mild chest tightness or wheezing
If the flare-up is severe, a kid might:
- struggle to breathe or have fast breathing even when sitting still
- be unable to speak more than a few words at a time without pausing
- have retractions while breathing in
Because they can be life-threatening, flare-ups demand attention. Your child might need to take quick-relief medicine , visit the doctor, or even go to the hospital.
Following the instructions in your child’s asthma action plan can help you know what to do when a flare-up happens.
Asthma Patterns In Children
Every childs asthma is different. Some children have mild, occasional episodes of asthma or only show symptoms after exercising, or when they have a cold. Some experience daily symptoms, while others have symptoms continuously, which limit their level of activity.
Each pattern of asthma requires a different treatment approach. It is important to remember that children can still have a severe and even life-threatening attack, even if they generally have mild or occasional asthma.
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Chest Pain After An Asthma Attack
So its 24 hours later. My breathing is normal, but my chest is sore and stiff. This is normal after an asthma attack, especially if it was bad enough that your accessory muscles were utilized to help yo inhale. They hurt because they normally arent used, and when they are used small muscles fibers on these muscles are torn, causing pain and stiffness the next day.
This is no different than the pain and soreness you feel after a good, strong workout, the kind of workout you do to make your muscles bigger and stronger. Of course, in our case, we dont want our accessory muscles getting bigger and stronger. Still, because I used them yesterday, they hurt today.
What is the treatment for this? As with the pain and soreness due to any other workout, this pain and soreness will go away in a day or two. If you want to take a Tylenol or something that is up to you and your doctor to determine. As for me, I just wait it out. Actually, as for me, I dont let myself get this bad anymore. Of course, if you are as familiar with this thing we call asthma as I am, sometimes it happens even when we dont plan on it. So thats why we take our daily asthma controller medicines, have asthma action plans, and avoid our asthma triggers the best we can.>
So, I shared my experience with asthma-related chest pain. For me, it is a common early warning sign. Every asthmatic is different. So, do you ever experience it? Let us know in the comments below?
How To Treat Morning Cough
If you go to the doctor asking, Why do I cough in the morning?, your doctor will ask a variety of questions and do a thorough examination todecide when and how your morning cough should be treated. How much you are coughing in the morning, the type of cough you have, how much it affects your daily life and whether or not you are able to productively clear the mucus are all factors that could affect how and whether your cough is treated. For many people with COPD, coughing in the morning is a helpful, productive way to clear mucus from the lungs and airways. However, if your coughing is caused by something else, or if your coughing becomes painful, difficult to control, keeps you up at night or causes bronchospasms, you may require treatment.
If you have a cough in the morning, but are still having trouble clearing the mucus that is blocking your airways, your doctor may prescribe expectorants to help make the mucus easier to cough up. If your cough becomes painful or you are having trouble controlling your coughing, you may be prescribed a cough suppressant to help you rest and recover. If you are experiencing bronchospasms, also called COPD coughing attacks, which cause the muscles surrounding your airways to tighten and constrict your breathing, you may need treatment to relax your airways so you can breathe easier. In that case, a bronchodilator or inhaled steroid may be prescribed to ease your cough in the morning.
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Tablets To Open Up The Airways
Most people do not need tablets, as inhalers usually work well. However, in some cases a tablet is prescribed in addition to inhalers if symptoms are not fully eased by inhalers alone. Various tablets may be used which aim to open up the airways. Some young children use liquid medication instead of inhalers.
Why Are Asthma Symptoms Often Worse At Night
Asthma symptoms are often worse at night because:
- lying down can trigger a cough, especially if your child also has a blocked nose or sinuses. Or if they have post-nasal drip due to hay fever, allergies or a cold.
- your childs body isnt as good at controlling inflammation – including in their airways – while theyre asleep.
- your child may be exposed to asthma triggers at night such as dust mites in bedding or pets sleeping in their bedroom.
But dont accept night-time asthma symptoms as normal. Your childs GP or asthma nurse can help get their asthma under control.
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Who Can Get Asthma
Anyone can develop asthma at any age. People with allergies or people exposed to tobacco smoke and secondhand smoke are more likely to develop asthma.
Statistics show women tend to have asthma more than men, and asthma affects Black Americans more frequently than other races.
When a child develops asthma, healthcare providers call it childhood asthma. If it develops later in life, its adult-onset asthma.
Children do not outgrow asthma. They may have fewer symptoms as they get older, but they could still have an asthma attack. Your childs healthcare provider can help you understand the risks.
Side Effects Of Steroid Tablets
Oral steroids carry a risk if they are taken for more than three months or if they are taken frequently . Side effects can include:
- easy bruising
- muscle weakness
With the exception of increased appetite, which is very commonly experienced by people taking oral steroids, most of these unwanted effects are uncommon.
However, it is a good idea to keep an eye out for them regularly, especially side effects that are not immediately obvious, such as high blood pressure, thinning of the bones, diabetes and glaucoma.
You will need regular appointments to check for these.
Want to know more?
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Diagnosing The Underlying Cause
If youre dealing with a chronic cough, a doctor will likely ask you questions about your medical history. Theyll also likely perform a physical exam and listen to your breathing with a stethoscope.
The doctor may also order a blood test or send a sample of your mucus to a lab to search for a viral infection.
If they expect you may have COPD or asthma, they may measure your lung function with a spirometry test.
If none of the previous tests identify the cause of your cough, a doctor might order imaging tests like an X-ray or a CT scan to check for lung cancer, pneumonia, and other lung diseases. They may also consider a scope test called a bronchoscopy to look inside your lungs with a small camera.
The best treatment option for your cough depends on the underlying cause.
Vaping And Lung Damage
- Talk with your teen about the dangers of vaping.
- Vaping can cause severe lung damage. It can become permanent.
- Vaping can even cause death .
- Vaping tobacco also causes nicotine addiction.
- For these reasons, the legal age to purchase vaping products is 21 in the US.
- Encourage your teen to not start vaping or to give it up.
- Warning: home-made or street-purchased vaping solutions are the most dangerous.
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What To Expect When You Visit The Doctor
Your doctor may ask whether you have any family history of asthma, eczema or hay fever.
In children, doctors assess the severity of the asthma based on the pattern and frequency of the symptoms.
Lung function tests are difficult to perform in children younger than 5 years and so are usually only used to diagnose and assess severity in children 5 years and older.
It is recommended that a paediatrician or paediatric respiratory specialist diagnose and manage asthma in infants under 12 months. If your infant is wheezing your doctor should refer to you one of these specialists.
Why Strong Asthma Attacks Occur Early In The Morning
It is known that there are changes at night in the functioning of organs and systems that could contribute to the appearance of bronchospasms.
First of all, this phenomenon is due to the reduced production of hormones and also the type of nervous system of the individual. Typically, these changes can reach their maximum at 4 am to 6 am. There is such regularity: the worse a person feels during the day, the more pronounced will be the seizures of bronchial asthma in the early morning hours.
If preventative measures are ineffective and suffering from suffocation continues, keep calm, sit or get upright and use your inhaler. It is essential that at this point not to panic, do not take indiscriminately different medications, observe dosages and correct inhalation techniques, or otherwise, you will not achieve the desired result.
For patients suffering from frequent shortness of breath, it is advisable to leave a thermos with a hot drink at their bedside to drink some warm tea or water. If asthma attacks occur in the early morning hours and are repeated regularly, you should consult your doctor. Consider also that allergens may cause bronchial asthma attacks at night. In the presence of such allergens, seizures can occur late at night between 1 am, and 3 am.
Pooh and feathers contain a large number of mites a major allergen in house dust. These ticks are not visible to the naked eye, but they are at places where dust is accumulated.
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The Biggest Change That I Believe Reversed My Sons Asthma Was
I noticed a significant reduction in my sons asthma when we made the switch to raw goats milk. Actually, that was one of the major reasons we decided to raise and milk goats. Since goats milk has smaller protein and fat globules than cows milk, it digests in about 30 minutes compared with 3 hours. So much easier! My son also had a lot less phlegm from drinking goats milk, which I believe is an indicator that it helped with his asthma. Phlegm = inflammatory response.
Before you comment: You may think this milk sensitivity was just a tendency in my son, but in fact MANY asthmatic children have undiagnosed milk sensitivities allergies and improve greatly on raw milk.
When our goats were dry and we had to purchase milk for a few months, we bought raw cows milk and he did fine on that too. When we decided to buy some store-bought organic, cows milk, I noticed him coughing right away. Even I felt like I personally had a stuffy nose and phlegm in my throat. Homogenization makes the globules even bigger and harder to digest, which causes a lot of problems.
What I think made the asthma go away altogether was our huge reduction in processed foods. I dont purchase any processed food anymore, although being kids, they get some probably a couple times a month from a soccer game or birthday party. I let them make their own decision whether or not to partake in that food because I dont believe in depriving them.
A Typical Treatment Plan
A common treatment plan for a typical person with moderate asthma is:
- A preventer inhaler , taken each morning and at bedtime. This usually prevents symptoms throughout the day and night.
- A reliever inhaler may be needed now and then if breakthrough symptoms occur. For example, if symptoms flare up when you have a cough or cold.
- If exercise or sport causes symptoms then a dose of a reliever inhaler just before the exercise usually prevents symptoms.
- The dose of the preventer inhaler may need to be increased for a while if you have a cough or cold, or during the hay fever season.
- Some people may need to add in an LTRA and/or a long-acting bronchodilator if symptoms are not controlled with the above.
At first, adjusting doses of inhalers is usually done on the advice of a doctor or nurse. In time, you may agree an asthma action plan with your doctor or nurse.
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Nocturnal Asthma And Children
Asthma is more common in children than in adults and is the most common chronic disease in children worldwide. Accurately diagnosing and treating nocturnal asthma in children is especially important because the effects of nocturnal asthma, like loss of sleep and daytime sleepiness, are associated with behavioral and developmental difficulties.
Unfortunately, nocturnal asthma often goes undiagnosed in children because they tend to underestimate or not report their nighttime symptoms. For this reason, its helpful for parents to monitor and report back to the doctor any concerning symptoms in children. These symptoms may include wheezing, disturbed sleep, daytime sleepiness, and difficulties concentrating at school.
Why Do I Cough In The Morning
Many people wonder, Why do I cough in the morning and should I be worried about it? If you have found yourself thinking, Why do I have phlegm every morning? and want to find out which causes of persistent cough are affecting you, talk to your doctor. Your cough in the morning could be caused by a number of factors, including illness, exposure to irritants, disease and more. Your doctor will ask about your exposure to smoke, pollution and other lung irritants, and about other symptoms you may be experiencing, to learn more about why you have a morning cough.
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Signs Your Asthma Is Worsening
Over time, asthma often progresses. Knowing the signs of worsening asthma is the first step to getting your condition under control.
If you have asthma, you know an attack can come on suddenly, literally taking your breath away. But asthma, a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways, can also gradually exacerbate over time even if youre avoiding triggers, following your treatment plan, and doing everything youre supposed to do.
A number of factors can worsen asthma, including prolonged exposure to dust, pollen, mold, pollution, and other irritants in the air, says Sharon R. Rosenberg, MD, co-director of the asthma and COPD program at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
But for some people, asthma gradually worsens without any exposure to triggers. Symptoms get worse as inflammation builds over time, explains Guha Krishnaswamy, MD, director of allergy and clinical immunology at Wake Forest Baptist. The mucus membranes become more swollen, smooth muscle becomes a little twitchier, and the airways produce thick mucus, he says. These changes lead to worsening asthma symptoms.
Anyone who has asthma needs to be on the lookout for signs that the condition is getting worse. The reason is simple: Uncontrolled asthma can be a severe, life-threatening disease.
Signs of Worsening Asthma
Here are six signs your asthma may be getting worse:
1. Increased difficulty breathing.
2. A drop in peak flow meter readings.