Asthma Attacks and Allergies, a Dangerous Link

The spring is close; we can feel it in the air. And many of us, we feel it in our lungs. There are a lot of people who suffers asthma, in any of it forms, chronic, severe, or mild. In the spring, allergies can trigger very bad asthma attacks.

Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system. The bronchial tubes, which carry air to the lungs, get inflamed, and the simple fact of catch a breath becomes torture. The pollen and some natural substances that travel in the air can give us an allergic reaction. That allergic reaction can be the trigger for an asthma attack. New medical studies prove the link between allergies and asthma attacks, and doctors recommend that the people who suffer from asthma get tested for allergies. Get the allergens that can trigger the asthma attacks under control improves the lungs health. The symptoms of the allergies are well known: watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing. In a patient with asthma, coughing will be a symptom that will alert them of the possibility of an asthma attack. That would be the moment to go seek for medical attention.

We can do some things to prevent or minimize asthma attacks. Always under medical supervision, there are medicines and procedures that can help. Generally, people diagnosed with asthma, is treated with daily doses of corticosteroids. Some "puffs" with a spray in the morning and at night will prevent the inflammation of the bronchial tubes. In more critical season, as spring, may be necessary to increase the dose of the corticosteroids, and it is important to keep in mind that this medication does not treat asthma attacks, but helps prevent them.

Another important way to prevent asthma attacks is to keep an asthma diary and monitor the lung function. We can do that using a peak expiratory flow, a little machine that measures our lung capacity. We inhale and exhale on it and it gives us a result. We write it down in a graphic that would make the asthma diary. This is very important, because helps the doctor to know about how our lungs "behave" in different moments of the year, and can identify the triggers that cause our asthma attacks.