Home remedies
An important way to manage asthma is to avoid allergens that trigger it, according to experts.
“People aren’t aware of some of the things they can do to prevent a moderate to severe exacerbation,” Block said.
Block, Murphy, Patel and Romanello offered the following tips to asthmatics in order to help them avoid triggers in the home:
- Eliminate all smoking in the home, both first-hand and second-hand.
- Make sure your house is mold free.
- Use an air filter, such as a HEPA filter, to reduce triggers in the home.
- Wrap your mattress in plastic to reduce dander. This is especially important for children suffering from asthma.
- Put your pillows in the dryer on hot once a week to kill dust mites.
- Keep your animals groomed and pet dander to a minimum.
- Remember that having short-haired pets that are nonallergenic, such as terriers, is preferable.
- Take out your carpeting, and install hardwood floors in your home.
- If removing carpets is not an option, clean your rugs often.
- Avoid coming into contact with specific food and perfume that you are allergic to.
- Get tested for allergies.
- Don't keep your ceiling fan on all the time. That will prevent dust from settling.
May, National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, marks the peak season for asthma sufferers in the Dayton and Cincinnati regions.
Asthma is a disease of the lungs in which the airways become blocked or narrowed leading to difficulty in breathing, said Dr. James Murphy, who works at Miami Valley Hospital and is board-certified in pulmonary medicine and critical care medicine. The four “cardinal” symptoms of asthma are shortness of breath, coughing, wheezing and tightness of the chest, according to Dr. Dale Block, a family physician at Premier Family Care of Mason. Allergic asthma, the most common form, is triggered by inhaling allergens like pollen, while nonallergic asthma is triggered by other factors, such as anxiety, exercise and cold or dry air.
Asthma affects 20 million Americans and is the reason for nearly 500,000 hospital stays each year, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. A report — published in 2011 that includes data collected in 2008 through 2010 — by the Ohio Department of Health indicated that 1,217,909 adults and 412,084 children in Ohio have been told at some time in their lives that they had asthma.
Donna Clauss, a 62-year-old resident of Clayton, is one of them. Clauss has suffered from severe asthma since she was 6 weeks old.
“My asthma was so debilitating that over the past 15 years, the only thing I really could do was sit in a chair,” she said. “ ... I couldn’t do much of anything. I couldn’t lay down to sleep. I felt like I had an elephant on my chest.”
Here is what four regional experts want you to know about asthma and how to manage it.
‘Sinus valley’
Asthma is a prevalent disease in the Dayton and Cincinnati regions, according to experts.
Dr. Marcus Romanello, the medical director at Fort Hamilton Hospital’s emergency department, said asthma is an inflammatory condition of the airways that is aggravated by local pollens, smoke and other particles in the air that could trigger an allergic response.
Dayton is situated within the Miami Valley, and Cincinnati is situated within the Ohio Valley, which means conditions are worse for local asthmatics, he said.
According to Murphy, triggers like pollen become concentrated in the region’s valleys during the spring season. For those with asthma, that pollen can get into their lungs and cause serious health problems, he said.
“Even though we don’t feel like we’re in a deep valley, for the purpose of air flow and for the purpose of climate, our weather and our air flow is different in the Miami Valley than it is in other parts of the Midwest,” Murphy said.
Block agreed, calling the Miami Valley a “hot bed for all different types of seasonal allergies.”
“We have a long period of time in this valley where we’re constantly exposed to high levels of seasonal type allergens, which act as triggers for all different kinds of allergic responses,” he said.
The Dayton and Cincinnati regions should continue to see an increased level of asthmatic triggers through the fall, when temperatures will begin to decrease, according to Block. The unusually warm 2011-2012 winter season caused triggers, including pollen, to come out earlier than normal this year, he said.
Romanello said his emergency department staff sees about 15 to 20 cases of severe asthma each month.
“The Dayton area is known to be the sinus valley,” said Dr. Rajesh Patel, a pulmonologist who works at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Managing asthma
While there is no cure for asthma, it can be managed, experts say.
“Asthma that is under control allows the individual to lead a restriction-free life,” Romanello said. “Without the control of your asthma, you’re extremely limited in the amount of activity you can pursue.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2122 or Jacqueline.Boyle@coxinc.com.
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