Control The Humidity In Your Home
When the humidity in your house climbs higher than sixty percent, the chance for mold growth greatly increases. That’s why you should try to keep your home’s humidity levels between thirty and fifty percent.
You can do this by using a dehumidifier when the weather is especially humid outside. You can get small, portable dehumidifiers that work for a single room, or you can invest in whole-house units that pull moisture out of all the air in your home.
Running the air conditioner in the summer is another effective way to reduce moisture in the air, as long as the humidity isn’t too high. It also helps to vent appliances like dishwashers and dryers outdoors, and to make sure you always open your window or turn on your vent fan when you take a shower.
Have Trouble Breathing Through Your Nose Kaplan Sinus Relief Offers Lasting Relief For Nasal Obstructions Allergies Chronic Sinusitis And More
If youre finding it hard to breathe through your nose and are unsure of whats causing it, the next step may be scheduling an appointment with an ENT. A stuffy nose can be the result of a pesky cold, allergies, or a sinus infection or it may be due to a bigger issue like a deviated septum or nasal valve collapse requiring additional treatment from balloon sinuplasty or LATERA implants.
Looking for the best ENT in Houston? Dr. Kaplan, the founding doctor of Kaplan Sinus Relief, is one of the few ENT doctors that offers both balloon sinuplasty and LATERA implants to patients suffering from a blocked nose.
To find out if youre a good candidate, call us at 713-766-1818 or contact us online today!
More Helpful Articles by Kaplan Sinus Relief:
Where Exactly To Massage
The main muscles of respiration are:
And heres one more minor respiratory muscle in the low back that could be clinically significant:
- The quadratus lumborum is a sheet of muscle spanning from the pelvis to the lower rib. A crampy quadratus lumborum can pull down on the lower rib like an action hero clinging to the landing skid of a helicopter. It may painfully resist elevation of the rib cage during inhalation and/or hurt when contracting to pull it down during exhalation. Read more about quadratus lumborum massage.
It is also well worthwhile to massage other muscles throughout the neck, shoulders, and chest. Even the upper back! Soothing them may indirectly help the actual respiration muscles. And even if they dont control breathing themselves, they often produce sensations that feel related to breathing in a way that is hard to describe. Feeling stiff in the upper back often has a lot of sensory overlap with shortness of breath they are similar and probably related sensations.
For instance, its startling how much trigger points between the shoulder blades can feel related to breathing . After professional massage of this area, patients often say something like, I feel like I can breathe again! Even if they didnt feel short of breath to begin with!
Read Also: Robitussin For Congestion
Questions To Ask Your Health Care Provider
Making notes before your visit and taking along a trusted family member or friend can help you through the first appointment with your doctor. The following are questions you can ask your health care provider:
- I have hypersensitivity pneumonitis from workplace dust. Is it safe for me to continue working?
- Are there things I cant do at work?
- Do I have to give up my pet birds?
- Should I stay out of hot tubs?
- Can my family members get the disease if I have it?
- What tests will I need to find out if I have hypersensitivity pneumonitis?
- How often should I get lung function tests?
- How often should I get chest X-rays and CT scans?
- Do I need to be on medications ?
How To Treat It
Consult your physician before buying over-the-counter remedies for allergens. Some products may worsen your reaction and make it even harder to breathe. You may need a prescription-strength medication to control your allergies. Allergy medicine often contains decongestants, antihistamines or steroids. For some allergies, you may need immunotherapy treatment. When you have an intense allergic reaction that obstructs your airways, you may need an epinephrine injection.
Only a medical professional can diagnose and treat your asthma or allergies, and you should use prescribed medications exactly as directed for the best results. However, there are steps you can take to make your environment more comfortable.
Recommended Reading: Clartin
When Are You Most Vulnerable To Shortness Of Breath Allergies
During hot summer days, airborne allergies may become dangerous. High pollen counts indicate that there are tons of allergens into the air that can enter into your home and cause you to sneeze, itch and have difficulty breathing. If you have asthma or allergies that cause shortness of breath when you exercise, its even more important to protect yourself by making precautions to avoid allergens, as purifying the air that you breathe.
An allergic reaction called anaphylaxis can affect more than one part of the body and have a long list of reactions, including obstruction of your airways and make it difficult to breathe. Typically, insect bites, food allergies and medications are the allergies that cause anaphylactic reaction. However, you can decrease the amount of dust, pollen and dander from your home to prevent your immune system from going into overdrive and releasing histamines and other compounds responsible for respiratory distress.
If you value your gym time, consider not leaving the house and working out at home when your allergies are at their worst. That way you can be more attentive to your symptoms and also use an air purifier in your home gym to avoid shortness of breath and other severe allergic reactions.
When To Get Medical Attention
Trouble breathing, for any reason, is a serious medical concern.
If you have shortness of breath after eating and you have a known food allergy, use your Epi-Pen or other medication and call 911. You may be having a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction.
Other health problems, such as COPD or GERD, may also be related to your trouble breathing at mealtime. See your healthcare provider to find out exactly why you are having respiratory issues and how to treat them.
If you’ve already been diagnosed with a condition known to cause breathing difficulties, but you still experience shortness of breath after eating, still see your provider. You may need a change in your treatment plan or additional lifestyle modifications.
Read Also: Soybean Dust Allergy
What Nasal And Sinus Problems May Lead To Breathing Difficulty
Breathing difficulty can be caused by numerous factors, including sinus and nasal conditions that lead to restricted, congested or inflamed nasal passages.
Sinus and nasal problems that cause breathing issues may include:
- Chronic sinusitis, which can cause nasal congestion and post-nasal drip
- Deviated septum
- Enlarged nasal turbinates
- Allergic rhinitis
Simply put, any sinus or nasal problem that leads to potential nasal obstruction, either due to a physical, structural issue or due to an inflammatory sinus condition can be the source of breathing difficulty.
How Air Purifiers Can Help
An air purifier removes some of the contaminants and improves the quality of indoor air. Airfree products may help allergy sufferers by reducing contaminants such as organic particles that cause odor and other allergens.
Choose Airfree for a natural solution to reduce allergens and mold in your home. Our purifiers do more than cleaning the air you breathe. An Airfree purifier can help reducing the number of bacteria, dust mites, fungi, pollen, viruses, allergens and microorganisms, leaving behind noticeably fresher air.
Find a dealer today to determine the product that works best for your allergies.
Read Also: Loratadine Allergies
How Are Breathing Problems Treated
Things that cause breathing problems are known as triggers. Avoiding triggers is the No. 1 way to control allergies and asthma. It may help to wear a dust mask when doing housework or yard work, limit contact with a furry pet, wash bed linens at least once a week, stay indoors during peak pollen times, and change the filter on your air conditioner often.
Continued
Medications are also important in treating breathing problems. Oral or nasal allergy drugs such as antihistamines and may make it easier to breathe.
Inhaled steroids can help. These drugs reduce inflammation in your airways. Allergy shots lower your sensitivity to allergens and may ease some breathing problems.
For asthma, inhaled or oral drugs help open airways and fight inflammation. These medications help ease or even prevent airway blockage and extra mucus. People who have asthma must control inflammation in order to keep their airways open and lower sensitivity to asthma triggers including:
- Irritating pollutants in the air
- Fragrances and fumes
Identify The Early Signs Of Possible Breathing Allergies
Posted 9:23 pm | by test design team | Blog
Breathing allergies affect your daily life, but early detection can limit the impact and help you breathe easy. Learning the early signs and symptoms of an allergy to mold, dust, pollen or other airborne irritants helps you recognize when to call an experienced pulmonary doctor for testing and treatment.
The Development Of Respiratory Allergies
Respiratory allergies develop when your body reacts to specific irritants in the air. Not everyone reacts the same way to the same substances. Some common triggers for breathing-related allergies include mold, dust mites, pollen and pet dander.
Sometimes allergy symptoms are seasonal, so you may notice that they only develop at certain times of year. Situational allergies might develop only when youre in the presence of the trigger, so you may notice breathing problems when around pets, for example, but the symptoms go away once you leave the room or the pet owners home.
Your allergy could be quite different from a friends allergic reaction, so dont rely on someone elses symptoms to diagnose or rule out your own allergies. Some people have seasonal allergies in the fall or spring, while others might experience allergy symptoms year-round. Symptoms might exist at a consistent low level throughout the day or get worse when you go outside or move indoors, depending on the particular allergen setting off a reaction.
Common Early Symptoms Of Breathing Allergies
You May Like: Zyrtec Vs Claritin D
Seasonal Or Environmental Allergy Treatments
The best approach depends on the allergen, which may include:
- Pollen. A reaction to pollen is called hay fever or allergic rhinitis, and allergy medications can help.
- Dust. The best way to treat wheezing that stems from an allergy to dust mites is to clean carpets, bedding, and furnishings and reduce household humidity.
- Pet hair. The saliva, skin flakes, and urine that collect when pets shed their hair can cause allergies. Regular vacuuming can help.
- Certain foods. An allergist can help determine which food is responsible, and a person usually needs to eliminate it from their diet.
Get A Hepa Vacuum Cleaner
A regular old vacuum can get a lot of the pollen, dust, and other allergens out of your carpet and furniture, but it can only do so much. Sometimes vacuuming can even scatter these particles into the air and actually make your allergies worse.
In order to allergy-proof your home more effectively, you can get a vacuum with a HEPA filter that removes at least 99.97 percent of particles that are 0.3 microns or larger. A regular vacuum can only filter particles that are 50 microns or larger.
Just make sure you get a HEPA filter-compatible vacuum that’s large enough to fit the size of your home. Otherwise, you’ll end up having to change the filter quite often in order to keep it working properly.
You May Like: What Does Claritin Do For Allergies
What Causes Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
There are more than 300 known allergens that, when inhaled as a fine dust, can cause hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Some breathing problems have names based on where the allergen comes from:
- Farmers lung. Seen in farmers and cattle workers, this condition is caused by inhaling mold that grows on hay, straw, and grain.
- Bird fanciers lung. Also called pigeon breeders disease, this condition is caused by inhaling dust specks from feathers or droppings of many types of birds.
- Humidifier lung. This condition can develop by inhaling a fungus that grows in humidifiers, air conditioners, and heating systems, especially if they are not cleaned regularly.
- Hot tub lung. This condition may develop by inhaling germs found in the water mist coming from indoor hot tubs.
Can A Wheat Allergy Cause Breathing Problems
Wheat allergies are caused by a misguided immune system. Even though wheat is harmless, there are some proteins in wheat that trigger an allergic person’s body to fight back. When you eat or breathe in wheat flour, your body releases an antibody called immunoglobulin which then sets off other chemicals in the body to attack the wheat allergen. The fight between your body and the allergens can result in a variety of allergic symptoms.
A common symptom of wheat allergies is difficulty breathing. This difficulty ranges from a stuffy nose to a swollen throat to anaphylaxis. The most dangerous is anaphylaxis, which has the potential to be fatal. With anaphylaxis, your throat can swell up or tighten, and your chest can start to hurt. In addition, you suffer from a severe difficulty to breathe and trouble swallowing. Anaphylaxis is also accompanied by paleness, dizziness and a weak pulse. If anaphylaxis sets in, immediate medical attention is required. If there’s an epinephrine injection nearby, the person having the allergic reaction should use it.
Read Also: Can You Eat Twix With A Peanut Allergy
Theres Definitely Hope For Some Breathing Troubles
If youre short of breath for any of those reasons, easy relief is possible. Its safe, cheap, and almost fun to experiment with self-massage for trigger points. Results are hardly guaranteed, but its a sensible thing to try.
Changing bad habits is always tricky, but its a more likely path to relief, and increasing your respiratory strength is possible with a little oomph456 and its a worthwhile fitness goal in any case.
Anxiety is the toughest problem to beat, but anyone can benefit from trying.
These three issues may all get tangled up, each one complicating the others, but progress with one is also likely to help the others. Some simple and interesting ideas for self-treatment are suggested in this short article, plus links to much more information for those who want to delve.
Ways To Manage Your Springtime Asthma
If youre one of the 25 million Americans who suffer from asthma, the allergens of spring can make it difficult to breathe.
Asthma is a chronic condition in which the airways of the lungs become inflamed and narrow, often due to one or more triggers in the environment. Up to 80 percent of children and half of adults with asthma experience attacks when they come in contact with specific allergens.
During the spring, tree pollens, mold spores and grass all have the power to inflame and narrow the air passages of people who are sensitive to these natural triggers. Wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and coughing are some of the common symptoms that occur during an asthma attack.
Among the most common triggers for asthma are:
- Outdoor allergens
- Indoor allergens, including pets, dust mites and smoke
- Cold air
- Reflux disease
Also Check: Keflex Allergic Reaction Symptoms
How Seasonal Allergies Affect Healthy Lungs
Anyone who deals with allergies knows how miserable seasonal allergies can be. Symptoms of seasonal allergies can include wheezing, sneezing and coughing. Seasonal allergies can impact lungs by triggering asthma, allergic bronchitis, and other lung problems. Pollen is one of the most common triggers of allergies. Plants release pollen each spring, summer, and early fall. Exposure to the pollen can cause allergic reactions that can affect your lungs.
What Are Risk Factors For Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis
If you work in jobs such as the following, you may be more likely to get hypersensitivity pneumonitis:
- Farmers
- Paper and wallboard makers
- Inhaling certain chemicals produced in making plastic, painting, and the electronics industry
Most people who work in these jobs dont get hypersensitivity pneumonitis. If you work in one of these jobs and have a family history, however, you may get the disease.
Also Check: Claritin D Vs Zyrtec
Know When To Seek Medical Attention
If youre using two to three puffs of inhaler medicine every 10 to 15 minutes and are still struggling to breathe, seek immediate medical attention. Despite all of the medicines we have available, 3,000 people die each year from asthma. Dont wait to get help, Dr. Raub says.
For additional information on asthma and its treatment, Dr. Raub recommends the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, acaai.org, and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, aaaai.org.
This article was originally published in the spring 2017 issue of CenterPoint Magazine Mason under the title “A Breath of Fresh Air.”
Inflammation Of The Airways
When the body detects an allergen, it tries to reject it by producing antibodies and chemicals, such as histamine. Histamine causes the airways to become inflamed and constricted, and it also causes the body to produce mucus to help expel the allergen.
As a result, the airways become narrower. When a person breathes through narrowed airways, the air is forced through a smaller-than-usual space, and a whistling sound can result. This sound is wheezing.
Some causes of wheezing result in short-lived symptoms. Others can cause symptoms that are more serious or longer lasting.
You May Like: Do Twix Have Nuts
What Causes Wheezing In People With Allergies
Allergies occur when the body reacts abnormally to certain substances that are otherwise harmless. When the body comes into contact with these substances, the immune system begins producing antibodies. This leads to the production of other chemicals in the body, like histamine. These chemicals cause allergy symptoms along with inflammation. The reason the body attacks some substances in some people but not others isnt fully understood.
For some people, allergic reactions affect the lungs and airways. This can lead to asthma symptoms, including wheezing.
Wheezing can sometimes be a sign of a serious problem. Call your doctor if:
- youre experiencing wheezing, even mild wheezing, for the first time
- your wheezing is recurrent
- youre wheezing but have no history of allergies
You should get immediate emergency care if the wheezing:
- is accompanied by difficulty breathing, rapid breathing, or bluish skin color
- starts suddenly after youre stung by a bee, have taken medication, or have eaten an allergy-causing food
- starts after you choke on a small object or piece of food
- is accompanied by hives or swelling of your lips or face
