Does steam help with asthma: Some Tips To Avoid Asthma Attacks During Winter Weather

18.08.202326.06.2023 by alexxlab

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Some Tips To Avoid Asthma Attacks During Winter Weather

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Jan. 30, 2023, 7:48 p.m.

Our asthma specialists are experienced in helping to manage asthma conditions and can provide detailed treatment plans to keep you healthy.

Asthma is a chronic condition affecting the lungs, making breathing difficult. The symptoms of this condition can be exacerbated by the winter, as cold air can irritate your airways and allergies can further complicate breathing, making you feel like you are struggling to take that next breath. These circumstances can lead to difficulty carrying out daily activities and potential hospital visits if not appropriately managed. At Premier Medical Associates, we want you to breathe easy all year long. so we’ve come up with some tips to help you manage your asthma during this time of year.

By taking some precautions, those with asthma can comfortably survive the winter months without their condition becoming too problematic. If you or a loved one suffer from asthma or other allergies, visit the specialists at Premier Medical Associates. Our allergists and asthma specialists are experienced in helping to manage these conditions and can provide detailed treatment plans to keep you healthy all year round.

Premier Medical Associates is an affiliate of the Allegheny Health Network and is the largest multi-specialty physician practice in the Greater Pittsburgh Area. Our highly experienced care team provides services like allergy/asthma management and primary care for you and your loved one’s needs. If you would like more information, please follow up with your primary care physician.

A preventer inhaler is used daily to help prevent asthma symptoms. You must use it regularly, especially during winter, as this will help to reduce the chances of an attack. Take your preventer inhaler as prescribed by your doctor to keep your airways clear and reduce inflammation in the lungs.
The cold air can affect those with asthma, so make sure you always have a scarf with you when you are going outdoors. The fabric will help to create a barrier between the cold air and your lungs, allowing for easier breathing
.
Where possible, limit your time outside in the cold weather. Opt do to activities indoors instead if possible, and try to stay warm with jackets and other layers when necessary. This will help avoid triggering an asthma attack while helping to keep you warm and healthy in the colder months.
Steam is a great way to relieve symptoms of asthma. It works by reducing inflammation in the lungs and improves airflow by clearing out mucus and congestion from the chest area. You can do this at home with a bowl of boiling water or by taking a hot shower. This technique is perfect for days that feel particularly difficult due to high pollen counts or cold weather outside.
Air quality can worsen during the winter, so make sure to check the air quality index before you go outside if you have asthma. If the levels are too high, stay indoors as much as possible and use an air purifier if needed.
Exercise is a great way for those with asthma to build up lung capacity and reduce inflammation in the lungs, which will improve breathing overall. Make sure that you talk with your doctor about what type of exercise will best suit you during the winter months so that you don’t trigger an attack while trying to stay fit!
Make sure that you always have access to medications such as reliever inhalers or nebulizers if necessary so that you can be prepared for any flare-ups throughout the winter months. It’s also important to understand what triggers an asthma attack for you so that you can avoid them where possible, such as avoiding areas with high pollen counts or keeping away from strong fragrances which may irritate your lungs further.
See your doctor regularly for check-ups to ensure that you are managing your asthma properly during the winter months. They may advise on particular medications or lifestyle changes which can help to reduce any flare-ups. They can also provide good advice for keeping you well during this time of year.

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Does Steam Help Asthma? How To Use Steam Therapy To Soothe Your Breath

Content

Overview
How steam alleviates asthma
How to do simple steam therapy at home
Factors to consider
The lowdown

Do you experience asthma symptoms like wheezing, clogged sinus, shortness of breath, tightening in the chest, and dry cough? Steam inhalation¹ may be an effective quick-fix solution for alleviating pain and pressure.

Although most attention is focused on drugs used to control asthma, steam therapy is also increasingly getting recognized as an effective way of loosening up congestion in your airways and making it easier to breathe.

So, whenever you experience asthma symptoms and need to clear your airways, you can take a hot, steamy shower at home, use a humidifier, or spend time in a steam room.

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Asthma makes you more susceptible to inflammation due to your delicate airways. Cold air can dry up the airways, tighten the muscles around them, and limit their ability to release inhaled particles.

At this time, blood vessels around the nasal cavity usually swell, causing a feeling of irritation. The swelling makes the bronchial tubes that carry air to your lungs collapse and leave a small passage for breath, making it difficult to breathe and causing irritation.

More than that, you may also experience pain and pressure behind and between the eyes and above the nose.

Steam may not be an asthma treatment, but it can significantly soothe your breathing problems and improve your condition.

It eases nasal congestion

One main symptom of asthma is having a stuffy nose due to nasal and chest congestion. If you are asthmatic and often find yourself wheezing due to the buildup of mucus and phlegm in your airways, breathing in hot water mist may help break up that mucus and make it drain more easily.

Consequently, the steam may clear any stubborn mucus in your windpipe, relieve respiratory discomfort, and make it easier for you to breathe.

It provides moisture to the airways

Does dry air often trigger your asthma? Our respiratory tract is always lined with a thin layer of mucus. Dry air makes the mucus evaporate quickly, leaving your airways dry and susceptible to an asthma attack.

Steam is an expectorant that prevents the mucus membrane from drying. The hot mist provides moisture that initiates mucus production from the lungs and throat glands.

It reduces stress

Stress and anxiety are common asthma triggers. You are likely to react to asthma triggers when you are under stress. With or without asthma, stress is an inevitable part of our daily lives.

Yet, according to studies,² the heat of a steam room triggers the release of hormones, specifically endorphins. These feel-good hormones will help reduce stress.

On top of that, being in a steam room can also cut the cortisol level, a hormone that is secreted in response to stress. A drop in cortisol production leaves you feeling relaxed, in control, and rejuvenated.

If you have a stuffy nose or feel like you can’t catch your breath, you can easily perform a simple steam therapy from the warmth of your home in a few simple steps.

The easiest way to carry out steam therapy would be to sit in a steam room or hot shower. However, the procedure below is known to be more straightforward and more effective.

Fill 3/4 of your bowl with boiling water.
Position your bowl on a table where you can comfortably sit and lean over it.
Add 2 to 4 drops of essential oil to boost the expectoration effect.
Bend over the bowl and cover your head with a towel, forming a tent-like closure that ensures the steam is completely locked inside.
Close your eyes and inhale the steam slowly and deeply for 20 minutes using your nose and mouth.

When you do this, make sure you have tissues or handkerchiefs close at hand in case you release a lot of mucus.

Be careful not to knock over the bowl of steaming water nor allow contact with your eyes due to the risk of getting burned. Also, steam inhalation is discouraged for children due to the risk of burns.

If you do not mind spending a bit, consider investing in an electric steam inhaler, vaporizer, or steam inhalation system. These handheld devices use electric power to heat the steam before releasing moisture into the air or directly to your lungs through the mouth.

An important thing to remember is that you should never completely rely upon steam inhalation. Always adhere strictly to standard treatment guidelines.³

Steam can also be a trigger for some people and may worsen their asthmatic symptoms. If you’re asthmatic, make sure to know your triggers.

Besides steam, other common triggers include pollutants, tobacco smoke, exercise, stress, pet dander, perfumes, and cleaning products. Check your home thoroughly for these triggers and remove them.

Medical practitioners do not recommend steam therapy for the treatment of bronchial asthma. And if you add any medicine or additives to your steam therapy regimen, make sure they are nebulized. Nebulized substances have been broken down into tiny molecules that you can breathe in.

If you suffer from severe asthma symptoms, you can use steam therapy. It can be effective in easing your nasal congestion and loosen up your airways. Indeed, steam rooms may do much more than make you feel revived and refreshed.

However, you should always exercise caution when using steam therapy. Extremely hot temperatures combined with excessive humidity may aggravate asthma symptoms. Mild temperatures with moderate humidity are therefore a good option.

According to a study,⁴ a room temperature of 20 to 22 degrees Celsius is optimum for persons with asthma. Under this temperature, the airways will not be irritated because it is neither too hot nor too cold.

Steam may not fix your asthmatic and respiratory issues, but it will help alleviate breathing issues, bolster your respiratory maintenance regimen, and relieve asthma symptoms.

Treatment of bronchial asthma in Israel

Wheezing, characteristic of asthma, is observed in half of children under the age of three.
Not all of these children will grow up with asthma, many of them will be completely cured.

When is it suspected that a child has asthma?

Professor Bentour: “If a child has two or three cases of coughing accompanied by wheezing and shortness of breath (the first case is due to a viral infection), this arouses suspicion, and therefore it is worth getting tested for asthma. ”

What is known about the causes of asthma?

There are several factors that contribute to the development of asthma. They are usually divided into genetic and acquired.
There is a clear genetic link between a family history of allergies and asthma and the onset of asthma in a child.
If a child has other allergic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, called “skin asthma” and allergic rhinitis, this can also contribute to childhood asthma.

Other risk factors for asthma include various viruses, allergies, secondhand smoke in childhood, and maternal smoking during pregnancy.

Another theory – the “theory of excessive hygiene” explains the frequent incidence of asthma indulgence, the so-called Western way of life. This means too much hygiene, too much vaccination during childhood, too much medication during pregnancy, and too much antibiotics in the first year of life. Each of these factors causes a shift in the immune system and increases the risk of asthma.

Who is at risk for asthma?

Children and brothers of asthmatics. In other words, having a first-degree relationship with someone with an allergy or asthma increases the risk by 7 times. If the child has other allergic manifestations, such as skin asthma or allergic rhinitis, the likelihood of asthma is even higher.

Passive smoking increases the incidence and severity of the disease. A high concentration of allergens (dust, cats, dogs) increases the likelihood of asthma symptoms in allergic children.

How to diagnose asthma?

Asthma is easily diagnosed from the age of 6. In younger children, the history is often unclear and, as a rule, pediatricians refrain from making a diagnosis until the age of six.
Diagnosis is based on the family history and clinical picture of the health of the little patient.

In a child who suffers from characteristic asthmatic symptoms such as wheezing, shortness of breath in the transitional season, significantly relieved by inhalations with the drug Ventolin, it is not difficult to diagnose asthma.

For children older than six, there are objective methods for confirming the diagnosis and assessing the severity of the disease.

The main method is a lung function test. If lung function is impaired, then bronchial dilators, such as Ventolin, are prescribed and the degree of improvement is measured.
Since the course of the disease varies from day to day, it is not every day that lung function is impaired. Provocative methods are used to confirm the diagnosis.

There are two types of provocative methods: “stress test” and Methacholine inhalation test.

The stress test checks lung function after running on a treadmill.

When methacholine is inhaled, a child inhales a substance that irritates the respiratory tract, only with asthma, and does not affect a healthy child. A child with asthma will respond with a short-term decrease in lung function.

At the Rambam Hospital, lung tests are performed on some children from the age of three using a computer game program.

Recently, a new test was added to the medical services basket of the Ministry of Health – checking the level of NO particles in exhaled air, which is an indicator of the severity of bronchial inflammation. Tests are correct, as a rule, for children of school age. In young children, the diagnosis is based on a description given by the parents, a stethoscope test, a response to drugs, and a method of ruling out other conditions. For children under three years of age, there is no objective way to confirm the diagnosis.

What is the treatment for asthma?

There are two types of drugs. The first type is “relief drugs” such as Ventolin and Brikalin (Terbulin). Their function is instant relief of an attack.

The preparations are prescribed in the form of inhalation, the effect of which occurs almost instantly (within a minute).

The drugs treat the symptoms: they only relax the spasm of the smooth muscles of the bronchi, but do not cure asthma itself, which is a non-infectious inflammation of the bronchi.

Two types of anti-inflammatory drugs are used to treat asthma, not just relieve attacks:

Steroids – drugs “Budicort” or “Flixotide”, and more recently, QVAR are given by inhalation.
These are very powerful anti-inflammatory drugs that work great on all inflamed bronchial cells. They do not act as a prophylactic of inflammatory processes, but effectively suppress them during manifestation throughout the entire period of administration.
The duration of the intake is determined by the condition and well-being of the child: some children need medicine all year round, others only in a certain season.
The side effects of these drugs are very minor. There may be a slight delay in growth rate – less than half a centimeter in the first year of admission. The body of the child easily compensates for such a slight lag.
Even taking medication for many years, up to 20 years, does not cause stunting.
Antileukotrienes – Singulair is taken in the form of sweet pills up to two years of age or as chewable tablets intended for older children.
The drug acts on one of the signs of the disease – the formation of leukotrienes, and has an effect only on the day of administration. In a large number of children, the medicine prevents seizures. If Singuleira is not enough, you should switch to steroid drugs. “Singulair” is not effective when the child suffers from particularly severe seizures.

What is the probability of recovering from asthma?

Most (about 80%) of children under three years of age are cured of asthma. The older the age of the sick child, the lower this probability. If a child has asthma at the age of ten, then his chances of recovery are much lower than those of a sick child before the age of three. The more asthmatics and allergies in the family, as well as smoking family members, the lower the likelihood of recovery.

Are there natural remedies for asthma?

There are many natural remedies on the market – salt rooms, homeopathy, acupuncture, airway training, massages – none of them have proven effective. They certainly benefit those who sell them, but by the standards of Western medicine, only inhalers and Singulair are really effective.

Is there a test that will show that the child is cured of asthma?

The best test is the disappearance of symptoms.
You can perform a provocative test with Methacholine, and if the child does not show a reaction, then we can say that at the moment he is healthy. But if there is no asthma at 10, this does not mean that it will not appear at 18.

How to help a child with asthma?

Smoking: the main advice is not to smoke in the house, as well as on the balcony and in the kitchen.
If you smoke in the yard – when you return to the house, change your clothes and brush your teeth.
Dust: Many asthmatics (about 80% of children over the age of 5) are allergic to dust mites (a microscopic creature that lives in house dust). Reducing the concentration of dust mites facilitates the course of the disease. Wet cleaning, washing at 60 degrees (the tick dies from high temperatures), regular use of a vacuum cleaner, frequent change of bed linen and regular ventilation, as well as the elimination of dust-collecting objects such as carpets, plush toys, etc. are recommended.
Cats and dogs: Not every asthmatic is sensitive to dogs and cats; a child born in a house where there are animals, as a rule, will be tolerant of them and will not show an allergic reaction. But if a cat appears in a house where there is a child with asthma and his condition worsens, allergy tests should be carried out or the cat should be transferred to other hands.
Antibiotic: Antibiotics do not cure asthma. Most asthma attacks are caused by viral infections, where there is no place for antibiotic treatment.
Physical activity: it is important that the child receives the same exercise as all children, and not left out. Physical activity is important for overall health and for hardening the body. Difficulty exercising is a symptom of asthma, so a child who has a hard time with any effort due to asthma needs preventive treatment. You can also think about inhalers before every sport. Of course, during an attack, the child must be released from physical education.
Swimming: Despite the high degree of exercise, swimming usually does not cause asthma attacks. However, the concentration of chlorine in the pool water increases the frequency of seizures. Steam inhaler: Steam does not usually help asthma. Steam is good to breathe with a runny nose or stridor.
Milk: Contrary to popular belief, milk does not produce phlegm in most children. Excluding milk from the menu does not relieve asthma, but it can hurt, because this product has a high nutritional value.
Of course, the exception is those children who have a severe allergy to milk, which can make breathing difficult and endanger life. And, of course, these children should not drink milk.

How to reduce risk factors at home for asthma in a child

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Asthma is often characterized by alternating periods of remission and exacerbation, which, as a rule, can be associated with the negative influence of risk factors or environmental triggers. What are the most common risk factors for an asthma exacerbation in a child, and how can you minimize their exposure at home?

Risk factors for exacerbation of asthma

To avoid the influence of triggers, you need to know them. Among the influential and common risk factors for asthma exacerbations in a child:

Passive smoking in asthma is one of the most important triggers of the disease. If your child has asthma, smokers should never be around him.
Dust mites are tiny, invisible arachnids that are found in almost every home. , other sources.
Cockroaches are one of the common risk factors for year-round allergies and asthma. Babies sensitive to cockroaches are more likely to need medical attention than babies with other triggers, according to research (1).
• Pets are among the most important triggers for asthma. Their fur or dander can be a powerful allergen.
• Mold – tiny fungi whose spores are found in the air of humid and warm rooms , food additives, flavors. Another risk factor for asthma is strong emotions. Excitement can contribute to increased breathing, hyperventilation of the lungs and, as a result, an asthma attack.
The list of triggers shows that provoking factors of bronchial asthma can threaten a child everywhere – on the street, at school, and, unfortunately, at home. To protect the baby, to try to prevent exacerbations, parents need to be attentive and careful. And one of the most important tasks is to ensure the safety of the child at home. We have prepared some recommendations on how to achieve this.
5 ways to make your home safe for a child with asthma0002
1. Develop a cleaning schedule and stick to it at all times
  One of the most effective ways to keep your child safe from asthma risk factors at home is thorough and regular cleaning. Ideally, wet cleaning in combination with vacuuming should be carried out weekly. First, it is recommended to clean the surfaces from dust with a vacuum cleaner with a filter that has small pores, after which it is necessary to carry out wet cleaning. Every 2-3 weeks, it is recommended to wash all bed linen and pillows in hot water and tumble dry or iron at high temperature*.
2. Clean the air
  A great way to keep your home clean is to use an ionized or HEPA filtered asthma air purifier. Both the first and second help remove impurities and allergens from the air. Purifiers with a HEPA filter pass air through the filter and capture the smallest particles of dust and pollen.
  The ionizer works by releasing negatively charged particles into the air, which form heavy complexes with dust, pollen and other allergens. These complexes settle on the floor, where they can be removed with a vacuum cleaner. Your attending physician will help you choose the best way to purify the air for your home.
3. Take care of your pets. To protect your child from allergens, it is recommended to keep cats or dogs outside. If this is not possible, you should at least keep the animal out of the child’s bedroom. A prerequisite for proper pet care in families with a child with asthma is weekly bathing of pets**, especially if they live indoors.
4. Get rid of mold. Regular ventilation of damp and warm rooms in the house helps to get rid of them or at least minimize their number. Wash shower curtains periodically, make sure that no wet laundry is stored in the washing machine, check the condition of pipes, faucets, etc.
5. Avoid exposure to irritants.
  Vapors of different chemicals are one of the important risk factors for asthma exacerbations. Sensitive children may experience an asthma attack when exposed to them. To prevent complications, it is important to control stimuli and make efforts to avoid their influence.
  Establish a no-smoking policy in the home and around a child with asthma. Do not buy products with a strong smell: scented soaps, cleaners and detergents, personal care products. This and other rules should become a habit – only in this case you can make your home safe for a child with asthma.