For some people asthma is just a small nuisance, but for others it can be a real serious problem. Asthma is a condition where a person’s airways both narrow and swell and make extra mucus. When this happens it can not only trigger symptoms like coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath but it also causes an actual asthma attack. There is no cure for asthma, but its symptoms can be managed.
Asthma symptoms can vary from person to person but some of the most common symptoms, in mild cases, are but to shortness of breath, chest tightness or pain, sleep troubles due to shortness of breath, and even flu like symptoms like extreme coughing and wheezing. For some people though the symptoms are much more severe. For people with sports induced asthma it can be a little bit harder to do other things that keep you healthy like working out. And people with occupational asthma have to deal with various triggers at their workplace.
Severe asthma attacks can be really dangerous and even fatal. Work with your doctor to see what treatment plan works best with you and your body:
1. Asthma diet
Once you have been diagnosed with asthma there are a few different ways to go about treating it. Most of the time your doctor will give you one or two asthma inhalers to do on a daily basis. Some people say that eating an “asthma diet” can help improve the symptoms. While there is no hard evidence that eating specific foods help with asthma, eating fresh and more nutritious foods may help in other ways.
2. Maintain a healthy weight
If you eat to maintain a healthy weight then chances are your asthma symptoms will not be as bad as a person who struggles with obesity and also has asthma.
3. Avoid allergy triggers
Food allergies can also play a big part in managing your asthma symptoms. If you eat too much of a certain food that your body doesn’t tolerate normally, then it can actually trigger an asthma like reaction.
4. Environmental factors
One thing that many people with asthma on all levels have an even harder time dealing with are seasonal allergies. When a non-asthmatic person has an allergy flare up they normally just have to deal with a runny nose or itchy eyes, but when a person with asthma has the same reaction it can also trigger their asthma symptoms and make it extremely difficult for them to breathe. Now don’t worry, while most treatments are done specifically for either asthma or allergies there are a few that are actually made to treat both at the same time. There are medicines like Leukotriene Modifier, Allergy Shots (immunotherapy), and Anti- immunoglobulin Therapy. With all these medications there is a chance that you might need some further testing to see if they will be a good fit for you. Most of the people that have a higher risk of dealing with both allergies and asthma tend to be the people that have a family history of severe allergies and or having hay fever or allergies themselves.
