Spring Asthma: An Inconvenience with a Solution
Spring asthma and allergies occur because pollen in the environment can cause inflammation in the bronchi in people who have allergies.
This concentration of pollen in the environment can also result in certain acute episodes of asthma.
The differences between asthma and spring allergies
The two conditions (asthma and allergies) are related. Allergens, such as pollen, significantly affect asthmatic patients.
However, the problem isn’t that they’re one of the main causes of asthma. It’s also that they trigger asthma attacks among patients affected by the disease.
You shouldn’t confuse the term “asthma” with “allergies”.
- Asthma is a chronic disease that is caused by the swelling of the bronchi. This causes the bronchi become irritated and narrow, causing difficulty in breathing.
- On the other hand, allergies are an immune or defensive response to different substances, which normally don’t cause reactions in most people.
Read more: 8 Tips to Treat and Control Asthma
Incidence of asthma
- Asthma is a common disease and is even considered as a major public health problem because of high mortality rates.
- The risk is high among children under 15 years of age, as it’s the most frequent disease in childhood.
- In addition, asthma caused by allergies is more common among children than among adults.
The importance of getting treatment
It’s important that asthmatic patients take the necessary precautions during spring time, especially in anticipation of allergies that crop up during this season, due to pollen, among other factors.
Experts warn that drugs shouldn’t interfere with the lives of people with asthma.
So, the patient should adapt the dosage of these medications to fit with their daily life.
There is widespread use of inhalers, which are the most common form of treatment. At the same time, given that the most modern models allow the asthma sufferer to adjust their dosage accordingly, they make inhalers easier and simpler to use.
Tips for Controlling Spring Allergy and Asthma
- You should find out pollen level forecasts for the area where you live or the place where you’re planning to go.
- People prone to asthma and spring allergies should also avoid exposure to pollen, and hence should minimize trips to fields or parks, etc.
- Likewise, they should limit the time they stay outside, especially, if there sufficient environmental concentrations of allergens that will cause symptoms on those days.
- When there are high environmental levels of pollen, you should avoid using contact lenses and should wear a mask.
- Furthermore, you should ventilate your home properly. The greatest risk of pollen entering your home is at dusk.
- Check that the pollen filters in your car and the air conditioning have been well installed and are working properly.
Diagnosing spring asthma
Asthma can be diagnosed by specific respiratory function tests, where a doctor will analyze the air blockage.
Among these tests are respiratory function, bronchodilation, and bronchial provocation tests, as well as skin studies and analysis, and the evaluation of allergenic principles in the blood, etc.
Read more: Can You Control Asthma and its Symptoms?
Treating spring asthma
The first thing you should do to treat asthma is to control the triggers that cause asthma attacks. So you should avoid contact with allergens as much as possible.
People who suffer from asthma can use medicines to alleviate the symptoms that asthma attacks cause. They are called symptomatic medications.
Although they don’t have the ability to make the cause of the disease disappear, these medicines serve to alleviate the symptoms.
You can use drugs of two kinds:
- Medicines for chronic asthma alleviate glucose inflammation and prevent asthma attacks.
- There are also medications to use for an acute spring allergy crises, such as corticoids, bronchodilators, theophyllines, etc.
Allergy and immunotherapy vaccines
These well-known vaccines consist of progressively injecting doses of the allergen in the patient. This is to decrease, or even eliminate, their sensitivity to it.
This prevents or minimizes future asthmatic reactions.
- The treatment lasts between 3 and 5 years in most cases.
- This immunotherapy alleviates cases of allergic asthma due to pollen, dust mites, animal epithelia or certain fungi.
- The WHO recognizes this treatment as an effective treatment for allergies and asthma.
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All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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