Last June my son developed a nasty habit of gasping for air with a hiccup sound. Every morning when he woke up, this nasty habit would disappear, but as soon as he arrived home from school, it would start. When school ended and summer began, this habit seemed to magically disappear. My asthmatic mother said it sounded like asthma. Needless to say, I took my son to the doctor.

The doctor informed me that not only did my son have activity-induced asthma, but a heavy coat of smog was intensifying it. I was advised to keep my son from running around in 90-plus-degree temperatures, from playing outside when the smog was visibly heavy and to make sure that he took his medicine 20 minutes before going out to play.

To be truthful, I never knew the severity asthma had on one’s life until last year. I took my daughter to the doctor and I saw a grown, 240-pound man crying. He was having trouble breathing. His airway had swollen so badly that the machine they had him on didn’t seem to be doing its job.

Then about six months ago, my mother’s asthma nearly took her life. Her asthma became so severe that she was literally suffocating to death. The strain of trying to breath caused her heart to shift and caused a heart attack.

Needless to say, finding out my son had asthma was not something I wanted to hear.

According to the Asthma Channel, asthma affects an estimated 14 million people in the United States and kills an estimated 5,000 people each year.

The Childhood Asthma Foundation defines asthma this way: “Asthma is a disease that causes the muscles surrounding the bronchial tubes in the lungs to contract more than they should, narrowing the air passages. The lining of the air passages becomes inflamed and swollen. Increased mucus production begins to block the passage of air into the lungs.”

Knowing this, I wondered if asthma was curable. The answer I found was that although asthma is not curable, people can either outgrow it or find it gets worse with age. The good news, according to the Pulmonology Channel, is that out of all the children who develop asthma between the ages of two and 10, half will outgrow their asthma.

There are many things that can trigger an asthmatic episode; such as strenuous exercise, allergies, smoking, fumes from cleaning products as well as car exhausts, pollens, dust mites, pet dander, smog (air pollution), medications, and yes, even cockroaches. While some people seem to have no effect to the cold, others will have bad asthma attacks during cold weather.

With proper medications and awareness, asthma can become manageable, resulting in a long and otherwise healthy life. The key to managing asthma is to learn what triggers the episodes and follow that up with preventative measures.

For instance:

Dust mites can be controlled with special pillow coverings. Removing all carpeting and replacing with tile or wood floors can also control them. And by dusting and vacuuming on a daily (or near daily) basis, washing bed dressings on a weekly basis, and getting rid of any and all stuffed animals can help the problem.

Pet dander is not as easily managed, so it may be best to find a new home for pets. If this is not an option, consider keeping pets outdoors.

Mold also plays a key role in triggering asthma attacks, so it’s important to bleach the bathrooms on a weekly basis. If mold is growing on the outside walls, it can seep through the walls causing problems for the asthmatic person living inside. The best prevention would be to pour bleach on the mold.

From perfumes to pollen to food, Allergies can also trigger asthma attacks. For instance, my mother cannot eat pixy sticks because there is something in that particular candy that causes her asthma to kick in.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at 8:15 am and is filed under Asthma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.