Daily Precautions For Asthma Patients

[jacob london]

Asthma is a chronic disease of the respiratory system and may turn
even fatal at times. It is therefore important for the asthma patients
to take proper care and precautions regularly. Asthma patients suffer
from attacks that enforce the system to breathe with difficulty.
Wheezing, choking, gasping for breath and suffocation are the symptoms
of asthmatic attack.
The attacks may last up to several minutes and leave a person
thoroughly exhausted. There can be severe organ damage due to problem
in respiration during the asthma attack. Also the system may suffer
from lack of oxygen for a longer duration of time. It is therefore
imperative to exercise proper caution and avoid the onset of an attack
to the extent possible.
Some easily followed precautions everyday may keep an asthmatic
without suffering an attack. These precautions are:
1. An asthmatic needs to follow routines. This is because it is
generally seen that people do not suffer the agony of an asthmatic
attack if they continue to live their life in a regular way. The
problem arises mainly when the people go out of their way and break
all the routines. The system thus gets unnecessarily pressured and
reacts badly by manifesting the symptoms of the disease in the oddest
of ways and without many warning signs. Sometimes the body does give
the warning signs but the person may ignore them completely.
2. Daily morning walk does wonders to the system. But in the case of
asthma patients the benefit from early morning exercise is enhanced
manifold. This is because the early morning is the time when the air
is pure and at its best. Exercising the lungs with the early morning
air does wonders to the asthmatic lungs and respiratory tract.
3. Daily morning exercise schedule needs to be followed religiously in
case of an asthma patient. Not only does this help in exercising the
whole system but it also makes a person live a more disciplined and
regularised life. This is because if a person gets into the habit of
getting up early, in all probability he would try and sleep early too
and his routine will automatically be set and fixed.
4. The daily diet of an asthma patient should be kept simple and
nutritious. He should take care of not eating heavy meals as they
would tax the system unnecessarily. Care should be taken to keep the
meals small and frequent if need be, rather than consuming standard
heavy meals at set hours. Also the food should be cooked with less oil
and spices to keep it easily digestible. The diet should be mainly
vegetarian with less of fats and carbohydrates. Sweets should best be
avoided at night time. Dinner should be consumed at least two hours
before sleeping so that the stomach is almost empty before sleeping.
Dietary intake of fruits and vegetables should be enhanced. Snacks
should be mainly in the form of fresh fruits and vegetables only and
fatty, oily and salty or sweet snacks should be avoided completely.
5. Asthma patients should avoid smoking completely. Smoking fills the
system with many toxins and the respiratory system gets flooded with
them. These toxins are major irritants to the respiratory tract and
create an undue pressure on the system that may be too much for an
asthmatic to handle. An asthmatic may get more bronchial spasms and is
more likely to be affected with respiratory infections if he continues
to smoke.
6. An asthmatic person should also not indulge in drinking too much.
This is because drinking causes a person to lose sense and become more
prone to breaking disciplines of routine and diets. An asthmatic may
become careless with his diet and may tend to overeat to counteract
the influence of alcohol if he indulges in drinking too much.
7. Asthma patient's surroundings should be kept neat and tidy. As far
as possible clutter should be completely avoided to steer clear of
dust induced allergies that may create an attack. Clutter in the
surroundings inhabits several mites and allergy causing organisms. It
is therefore necessary that the furniture and other stuff should be
arranged in such a way, which allows proper dusting and cleaning on a
daily basis.
8. Asthma patients may have difficulty with the atmospheric pollution
also. It is very important to assess whether the patient may be
allergic to any particular kind of allergen present in the atmosphere
around his place of dwelling or occupation. Sometimes certain
professions support the excessive usage of one kind of toxin or the
other, in which case a change in profession or occupational conditions
may remain to be the only option.
9. Asthmatics should also be very careful of not getting mentally
excited too much. This is because the mental aggravation may lead to
appearance of asthmatic symptoms in patients. On a daily basis it is
better not to accumulate taking decisions, whether in the personal
life or in the professional life. The work should also be handled as
far as possible on a daily basis to avoid excess stress and anxiety.
10. In order to manage asthma it is very necessary to accept the
disease and the limitations attached with it in one's daily life. If
proper discipline is maintained a patient can have a long and problem
free life.