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.
How To Avoid Surprise Allergy Attacks
Tried-and-true methods to keep allergens from making you miserable.
Out of nowhere — a sneeze attack. Who knows what caused it? An assortment of indoor and outdoor allergens can launch a surprise assault. Pollen‘s a biggie so is mold. Whatever you can do to tame those plagues will make your life sweeter.
Allergy attacks are the body’s overreaction to an irritant. An allergen is normally a harmless substance in the environment, such as pollen, which causes the immune system to react as if the allergen is harmful.
Pollen, dust mites, mold, animal dander, and insect stings are common allergens — triggering a range of symptoms, if you are sensitive to them. Mild reactions might be a rash, eye irritation, and congestion. With a moderate reaction, there’s itchiness or difficulty breathing. A severe reaction, called anaphylaxis, is a rare but life-threatening emergency in which the whole body reacts.
It’s a jungle out there. But here are tips to survive allergy triggers:
Allergy Sore Throat Treatment
So, you have a sore throat, cough, runny nose and congestion. Have you caught a common cold or do you have allergy symptoms? Sometimes, it is even difficult for doctors to distinguish between the two, because their symptoms can be so similar. If you have persistent throat discomfort accompanied by other allergy symptoms, consider that you may have a sore throat due to allergies.
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Treatment For Drug Allergies
In most drug allergy cases, your doctor should be able to prescribe an alternative medication. Antihistamines, corticosteroids, or epinephrine may be needed for more serious reactions.
Otherwise, your doctor may recommend a desensitization procedure. This means taking small doses of the medication until your body can handle your dosage.
Kill Dust Mites With A Hot Wash
One of the biggest causes of indoor allergies is the dust mite. These microscopic insects love to live on your bedding and stuffed animals. Hong advises washing all of your bedding in hot water and drying it in a hot dryer to kill dust mites. Keep stuffed animals off the bed, and wash sheets and blankets at least once a week in water that’s 130° F or higher to limit the effects of this indoor-allergy culprit.
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Learn First Aid For Someone Having A Severe Allergic Reaction
With regard to the current coronavirus crisis, guidance can be found here. Please always consider your own personal safety first when delivering first aid.
1. The person may develop a rash, itchiness or swelling on their hands, feet or face.
Their breathing may slow down. They may also vomit or have diarrhoea. Common causes of allergic reactions are pollen, stings and bites, latex and some food items, such as nuts, shellfish, eggs or dairy products.
2. Call 999 if you see these symptoms.
They need urgent medical assistance because an allergic reaction can affect someone very quickly, and is potentially very serious. The reaction may cause swelling of their airway, causing them to stop breathing.
3. If they have a known allergy, use their auto-injector.
If someone has a known allergy, they may have been prescribed an auto-injector. Follow the guidance on the packaging.
4. Reassure them and make them as comfortable as possible while you wait for the ambulance.
Tell the ambulance crew if the auto-injector has been used.
How Do You Monitor Asthma Symptoms
Monitoring your asthma symptoms is an essential piece of managing the disease. Your healthcare provider may have you use a peak flow meter. This device measures how fast you can blow air out of your lungs. It can help your provider make adjustments to your medication. It also tells you if your symptoms are getting worse.
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Actions For This Page
- In an emergency such as a severe allergic reaction or an asthma attack, and when breathing is difficult, call triple zero and ask for an ambulance.
- Severe allergic reactions and asthma attacks need emergency first aid.
- If your doctor says you are at risk of a severe allergic reaction, be sure to carry a device to inject adrenaline and a mobile phone to call for help.
Clean Trouble Spots Well For Indoor Allergy Control
Windows, curtains, and blinds are the preferred hiding places for dust and mold. These indoor allergy culprits can also set up shop in poorly ventilated laundry rooms, basements, refrigerator drain pans, and old books. Hong suggests wiping down bathroom and kitchen areas with diluted bleach, and vacuuming your floors often. If you have an allergy to cleaning products in addition to the mold and dust, wear a mask when cleaning and get out of the house for a few hours afterward to let the air clear.
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What To Take With You When Going To Hospital With Asthma
If youre at home when you have an asthma emergency and need to go to hospital, it would ideally help if you could take a few things with you. These include:
- Your asthma inhalers
- Your spacer, if you use one
- Any other medications you currently take, for your asthma and other conditions
- A copy of your asthma action plan this will help medics see your asthma triggers, your peak flow and other relevant
Taking these items with you will help the medics to treat you. However, they are not essential, so dont worry if youre not able to take them with you.
Random Allergy Attacks: Why Am I Having Them
According to the urgent care in Katy, TX, more and more adults are arriving in the urgent care with symptoms they cant explain. They are quickly diagnosed with allergy attacks, but this leaves them confused because they have never had any problems with allergies before in their life.
Does this sound familiar and frustrating? If you have been left searching urgent care near me in a panic because youve suddenly broken out in a rash and found your throat swelling shut, then perhaps you have developed adult onset allergies.
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You Encounter A Trigger
These are the things that set off your symptoms. And they can be anywhere. Some of the most common are pollen, ragweed, grass, pet dander, dust mites, and mold. If you’re allergic to any of those, it means your immune system, which protects your body from threats, is sensitive to one or more of these usually harmless things.
What Is Allergic Rhinitis
Allergic rhinitis is the medical term for hay fever or allergies. You have an allergy when your body overreacts to things that dont cause problems for most people. These things are called allergens. Your bodys overreaction to the allergens is what causes symptoms.
There are 2 forms of allergic rhinitis:
- Seasonal : Caused by an allergy to pollen and/or mold spores in the air. Pollen is the fine powder that comes from flowering plants. It can be carried through the air and is easily inhaled. Symptoms are seasonal and usually occur in spring, late summer, and fall.
- Perennial: Caused by other allergens such as dust mites, pet hair or dander, or mold. Symptoms occur year-round.
Hay fever is the most common form of allergy. Symptoms of hay fever are seasonal. You will feel worse when the pollens that affect you are at their highest levels.
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Anatomy Of Allergy And Anaphylaxis
Allergies typically develop for two reasons: first, genetic predisposition and second, environmental factors, especially in early childhood. According to the “hygiene hypothesis,” the immune system in people who aren’t exposed to a wide variety of germs early in life is more likely to incorrectly develop an allergic immune reaction to harmless foreign antigens.
Having an allergy means that your immune system reacts to an allergen as a threat and mounts a defense against it each time it comes in contact with it. Your first contact with the allergen may produce no obvious symptoms, but it stimulates the production of large amounts of an antibody protein called immunoglobulin E, or IgE. In allergy-prone people, IgE is produced in response to generally harmless substances, such as a food or medication. IgE locks onto immune cells to prepare for the next encounter with the allergen a process known as sensitization. Now, whenever you’re subsequently exposed to the allergen, IgE signals the mast cells and basophils to disgorge inflammation-causing chemicals called mediators. The symptoms depend on the mediator and the tissue in which it’s released for example, the mediator histamine can cause blood vessels to dilate and airways in the lungs to narrow.
Certain cardiovascular medications can lower the effectiveness of epinephrine, the key treatment for anaphylaxis so if you’re taking one of those medications and have allergies, consult your clinician.
First Aid For Anaphylaxis
Many people who are aware of their severe allergies carry a medication called epinephrine, or adrenaline. This is injected into the muscle through an auto-injector and is easy to use.
It acts quickly on the body to raise your blood pressure, stimulate your heart, decrease swelling, and improve breathing. Its the treatment of choice for anaphylaxis.
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Adjust Home Humidity To Control Mold
Mold thrives in moisture. To help control indoor mold, use a dehumidifier or your air conditioner to keep your home humidity close to 50 percent. Take the guesswork out of measuring indoor humidity with a device called a hygrometer. It’s also important to clean up water spills promptly, fix any leaks, and change the filters in your air conditioner and heating ducts regularly.
Can Allergies Occur Unexpectedly
Yes. Its important to know that some allergies are linked to others.
For example, if youre allergic to latex, its possible that youll also react to avocados, kiwifruit and other tropical fruit. And if youre allergic to birch pollen, its possible that youll react to apples or peaches as well.
Its important to note that what seems like a food allergy can sometimes be food intolerance instead, notes Dr. Faltay.
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Will Asthma Go Away
Asthma is chronic, but it may improve over time in some cases. While it may not go away entirely, management techniques can help minimize the impact it has on your life. Actively employing preventive techniques can help you avoid asthma attacks for months or years at a time. It is important to routinely see a doctor to ensure you stay ahead of health problems that could exasperate asthma symptoms.
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The Role Of Asthma Action Plans
An Asthma Action Plan can help. It has green , yellow , and red zones that help you know how to treat your asthma. You can and fill it out with your doctor.
With my kids, we learned that sometimes it is best to let the hospital take over medical care for our kids. They are fully trained and have all of the equipment to monitor them.
For those of you with small children that have asthma, pay close attention to their symptoms! Have a plan of what to do if your kids have any of the symptoms listed above â whether to call your doctor, call 911 or head to the hospital.
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Allergic Signs And Symptoms
Not everyone will respond to the same allergen in the same way. Some allergic reactions are relatively mild and localized, while others are severe and affect many different body systems. The following are example of how different body systems can be affected:
- Skin– redness, itching, swelling, scaling, blistering, weeping, crusting, hives, welts
- Respiratory system– sensation of chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, feeling short of breath
- Circulatory system– rapid heart rate, low blood pressure , vasodilation
- Ears, eyes, nose and throat– itching, watering and redness of the eyes, nasal congestion, swelling/soreness of the throat, hoarseness, sneezing, swelling of the area around the eyes
- Gastrointestinal system– stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Other– anxiety or a sense of impending doom , fatigue
Treating Allergies On The Skin
For allergic reactions that cause skin symptoms, including those associated with allergens found in animal saliva, poisonous plants, drugs, chemicals and metals, additional treatment options include:
- Topical corticosteroid creams or tablets. Corticosteroids contain steroids that reduce inflammation and itching. Mild forms of these creams can be found online, and a doctor can prescribe stronger versions.
- Moisturizing creams. Emollient creams with soothing ingredients, such as calamine can treat skin reactions.
- Bite or sting medication. Medication targeted to reduce allergic reactions to insect bites or stings have a similar effect to other allergy medications.
- Ice pack. Applying an ice pack wrapped in cloth to the area for 10- to 15-minute intervals can reduce inflammation.
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Allergies That Last A Lifetime
Some childhood allergies can grow less severe over time. This is particularly true for egg allergy. However, most allergies last throughout life.
You can also develop allergies as a result of repeated exposure to a toxin, such as bee stings or poison oak. With enough cumulative exposures over a lifetime, your immune system can become hypersensitive to the toxin, giving you a severe allergy.
What Causes Allergic Rhinitis
You have an allergy when your body overreacts to things that dont cause problems for most people. These things are called allergens. If you have allergies, your body releases chemicals when you are exposed to an allergen. One such chemical is called histamine. Histamine is your bodys defense against the allergen. The release of histamine causes your symptoms.
Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen. Pollen comes from flowering trees, grass, and weeds. If you are allergic to pollen, you will notice your symptoms are worse on hot, dry days when wind carries the pollen. On rainy days, pollen often is washed to the ground, which means you are less likely to breathe it.
- Allergies that occur in the spring are often due to tree pollen.
- Allergies that occur in the summer are often due to grass and weed pollen.
- Allergies that occur in the fall are often due to ragweed.
Allergens that can cause perennial allergic rhinitis include:
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Ask A Friend Or Family Member
I donât care how much of an asthma expert you are, it is never easy to make such a decision on your own. It is far easier to tell someone else what to do than to make the same decision for yourself. I have done this many times, and so have many of my asthmatic RT and RN co-workers. They can usually tell if you are suffering and help you to make the decision.
How To Handle Anaphylactic Shock
More severe allergy attacks will not abate with home remedies, and its essential that you quickly recognize more serious symptoms, like abdominal cramps and breathing problems. What should you do in the case of anaphylaxis or anaphylactic shock?
If you are alone, immediately call 911. Anaphylactic shock happens quickly, and your throat could swell and cut off your supply of oxygen within minutes, causing permanent and serious damage. If you know you are at risk for severe allergic reactions, always carry an Epinephrine pen, or two, with you at all times. Epinephrine quickly reduces and reverses anaphylactic symptoms as its comprised of adrenaline. You can never predict when a bee will sting you or a food youre allergic to wind up on your plate, so take the appropriate steps to protect yourself. You should also make your close friends and family aware of your allergy, so that they can also be on the lookout for severe symptoms and be ready to take the appropriate steps if youre unable to.
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Whats An Asthma Attack
When you breathe normally, muscles around your airways are relaxed, letting air move easily. During an asthma attack, three things can happen:
- Bronchospasm: The muscles around the airways constrict . When they tighten, it makes the airways narrow. Air cannot flow freely through constricted airways.
- Inflammation: The airway linings become swollen. Swollen airways dont let as much air in or out of the lungs.
- Mucus production: During the attack, your body creates more mucus. This thick mucus clogs airways.
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Are Allergic Reactions Hereditary
Like many other issues related to your health, whether or not you become allergic tends to be determined by your parents. When one parent is prone to allergic reactions, a child’s chances of getting them stands at about 50%, and when both parents are affected, the child’s risk goes up to 80%.
With that said, anyone can experience allergic reactions, regardless of race, age, gender, or any other status. Children tend to be affected more than adults, however.
Whether someone develops an allergic reaction can depend on how much they’ve been exposed to a particular trigger. Some allergies can take years to develop.
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