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Asthma-Chest Lungs Swell Disorder
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What Is Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic lung
condition in which the airways of the lungs are extra sensitive.
Whenever they are irritated from the outside, such as by pollens or
pollution in the air, or from the inside, such as by eating food you are
allergic to, they respond by tightening up, making it difficult to
breathe. Symptoms of asthma include coughing, wheezing, shortness of
breath, and a feeling of tightness or even pain around the chest. In
very severe cases, the airways can close up completely, making breathing
impossible.
Though deaths from asthma
do occur, they are mercifully rare. According to expert Elliott Pearl,
MD, only about 4,000 people a year die from asthma in the U.S., which
sounds like a lot until you take into account that 15 million people in
the U.S. suffer from the condition. Most of the people who die of the
disease do not have it under good control with available medication.
Pearl is an allergist and immunologist at ENTAAcare, a collection of
ear, nose, throat, allergy, and asthma specialists working in the
Annapolis-Baltimore, Md., area.
Asthma is treated with two
types of medication. Short-acting "rescue" medication, usually in the
form of an inhaler or bronchodilator containing a drug that opens the
airways, can be taken to stop an episode of asthma in its tracks.
Longer-acting "maintenance" medications, such as pills or inhalers that
have an anti-inflammatory action, are taken every day to prevent an
attack from occurring.
Don't hop up and run to the
bathroom right after you make
love. Lying down for at least a
few minutes (some fertility
experts say five minutes) after
intercourse increases the odds
that the sperm will be able to
keep their date with the awaiting
egg and that you'll win at baby
roulette.
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Make love often during your
fertile period (the five days
leading up to ovulation). If
you've got the stamina to make
love at least every 48 hours, you
will ensure that there's
a fresh
shipment of sperm waiting in the
fallopian tube at any given time.
Of course, you can get too much of
a good thing if your partner has a
low sperm count, so if you're
aware of a pre-existing fertility
problem, you'll want to talk this
issue over with your fertility
specialist.
Are you currently taking any
prescription or over-the-counter
drugs? Be sure to ask your doctor
if it's safe for you to continue
taking them once you start trying
to conceive.
It is generally believed in the
medical reproductive community
that once an egg is released and
enters the fallopian tube that it
is able to be fertilized for
approximately 24 hours. Research
has shown that sperm also has a
“shelf life”, however it is
different for the male and female
sperm. Female sperm swims slower
but is stronger and lives longer,
while male sperm is faster but
weaker and will die earlier than
female sperm.
Try to book the last
appointment of the day for your
preconception checkup. That's when
your doctor or midwife is most
likely to be able to take the time
to answer your questions and
address your concerns without
feeling rushed to go on to the
next patient.
The Alternative
Approach
Asthma is caused by an
inflammation of the lungs, and Jerome Greenberg, DC, a chiropractor and
clinical nutritionist in Manhattan, says that most conditions caused by
an excess of inflammation, like asthma, arthritis, and diabetes, are
made worse by improper diet. He says that eating healthy, natural oils
like fish liver oils, which contain omega-3 fatty acids, and avoiding
unhealthy oils, particularly the hydrogenated oils found in many baked,
fried, and prepared foods on supermarket shelves, should help
inflammation considerably.
Greenberg, who is former
president of the Chiropractic Federation of New York, former director of
the New York State Chiropractic Association and current director of New
Millennium Medical Services in New York, also says that drinking plenty
of water is also very helpful for asthma.
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