Asthma is a chronic condition that causes your airways to constrict, making it difficult to breathe. Asthma is a serious illness; it’s also very common, and millions of individuals throughout the world suffer from it. And this number is increasing every day.
Although there isn’t a cure for asthma, there are a variety of asthma treatments to help prevent or relieve the condition. It can be controlled to a point where they are able to live quite normally and not suffer from constant asthma attacks.
Asthma Attack Treatment
Preventing an asthma attack is your best line of treatment. Know the circumstances that trigger your symptoms, and avoid them. However, there will still be times when an asthma attack is unavoidable. So knowing how to treat an asthma attack is essential.
Keep in mind that when it comes to asthma, not all attacks are the same. Your symptoms might be worse during some episodes than others. During a severe attack the airways can become so constricted that they prevent your vital organs from receiving the oxygen they need. This qualifies as a medical emergency. People can even die from severe asthma attacks. So if you are one of the millions of asthma sufferers you need to realize just how serious your condition is.
Pharmaceuticals
Generally, medication is the preferred way to deal with asthma attacks. It enables those who suffer from asthma to manage their condition and stave off an attack that could become more serious. Asthma medications can be taken orally or inhaled in vapor form using a metered dose inhaler.
There are two kinds of medication available for treating the problem. A bronchodilator will help out by keeping spasms in check. Anti-inflammatory medications reduce airway inflammation. If your asthma is particularly severe, your doctor may suggest that you use a combination of both.
There are a number of highly effective medications that your doctor can prescribe, such as:
*leukotriene inhibitors such as Singulair and Accolade
*long-acting bronchodilators such as Famoterol and Serevent, and
*Aminophylline or Theophylline.
Your physician will be able to advise you which asthma remedies are best for you.
Filed under Health by on Oct 13th, 2009.
Jeffrey was a high school ninth grader who typically seemed to be living on the edge. Jeffrey had a daring personality and frequently wanted to do what his older brothers were doing to have fun. The basic problem with this was that all three of his brothers were at least 21 years old and were for than reason able from a legal standpoint to drive a car and to ingest alcohol.
Jeffrey, conversely, had a tough time accepting the reality that as a fifteen-year-old youth he should not be drinking alcoholic beverages. In fact, conversely, Jeffrey commonly drank with his buddies after school, especially on the weekends.
One weekend, Jeffrey decided to drive around with some of his older pals. One of his cronies was old enough to buy alcohol. After purchasing some wine coolers, wine, and beer, Jeffrey and his friends went to a public recreational area and drank for about three hours.
A Young Man Loses Consciousness
After drinking roughly ten bottles of beer, Jeffrey started to feel queasy and then vomited. When he became unconscious on the soccer field, one of his pals called 911 for help. It was fortunate that the call for emergency assistance was made because when his friends went to the hospital to see Jeffrey, they were informed that Jeffrey had been suffering from alcohol poisoning symptoms. More to the point, Jeffrey had overdosed on alcohol.
When Your Buddies Drink Abusively
Jeffrey had heard that drinking heavily can result in an alcohol overdose but he never thought that this could ever affect him. After all, some of his guy friends time after time declared that they could drink twenty or more bottles of beer at one sitting without suffering from any critical setbacks.
Based on this, Jeffrey was actually shocked to find out that he had overdosed on alcohol because he “only” had around ten drinks. When he told this to the attending doctor at the hospital, on the other hand, the healthcare professional told Jeffrey that drinking ten alcoholic beverages over a two or three hour time frame could surely be significantly more alcohol than can be processed by the body. The physicain further emphasized how too much alcohol can cause the brain to shut down a person’s respiratory system and that when this occurs, a person can perish.
The First Sign of Abusive Drinking
This was the first word of warning to Jeffrey that he was drinking in a hazardous fashion and that there are effects for such actions. The doctor told Jeffrey that he was a lucky young man because he almost died from an alcohol overdose the previous night.
The healthcare professional also talked to Jeffrey’s parents and suggested that they get alcohol counseling for Jeffrey. His parents were overjoyed that Jeffrey was safe and sound and told the healthcare practitioner that they would look into getting Jeffrey alcohol rehabilitation.
While chatting with his parents, Jeffrey notified them that there must be a solid reason why he did not pass away and that he felt grateful that he was still alive. He also informed his parents that the strangest part about the entire drinking situation was that he had learned about alcohol poisoning the previous six week grading period in health class.
When Paying Attention in Class Can Make a Difference
At the time, what his health instructor, Mr. Franklin, was teaching didn’t seem to make too much sense to Jeffrey. Since he almost died, conversely, he felt that he should have listened more closely in Mr. Franklin’s health class and applied what he had learned to his personal life.
Jeffrey informed his parents that he couldn’t wait to go to Mr. Franklin’s classroom and make an apology to Mr. Franklin for not showing more attention to a topic that was as important as learning about alcohol abuse and how to keep away from alcohol poisoning.
His parents smiled at Jeffrey and said that they were thrilled with the way he was being accountable for his unsafe drinking actions. All he had to do now was to let this near-death experience impact his life in a productive way so that he would never again suffer from an alcohol overdose.
Filed under Health by on Oct 13th, 2009. 2 Comments.
Many enthusiasts claim that sauna health benefits include relief from arthritis, headaches, colds, hangovers and other ailments.
There’s some truth about many claims, but there are also many exaggerated claims. Still, there appears to be a good amount of research that proves there are real health benefits you can gain from “sweating it out” in a sauna.
Sweating & Health
We live in a very sedentary age and many people just don’t sweat enough. That only highlights the importance of using saunas and steam rooms.
Sweating is as important to your health as eating and breathing. Yep, it’s that important.
Without sweating, your skin pores become clogged up by stuff like artificial environments, antiperspirants, smog, etc.
Many health and wellness professionals agree that heavy sweating in a sauna will help rid your body of harmful material.
I’ve even read that some physicians recommend home saunas to supplement kidney machines because sweating is such an effective detoxifier.
Depending on the individual, about a liter of sweat can be excreted during a 15-minute sauna.
Heat Effects On Various Systems & Organs
Kidneys. During sweating, blood is sent away from your kidneys and toward your body’s surface. This can help unburden your kidneys and help purge toxins through sweating.
Liver. Congestion of blood in your liver is reduced while you take a sauna. This may improve your liver’s detoxification ability.
Cardiovascular System. During a sauna, both your pulse and stroke volume increase. Surface vessels dilate as blood is shunted from your internal organs to the surface.
Repeated sauna use may help decrease elevated blood pressure by enhancing elasticity of your arteries, removing toxins from your kidneys and helping to reduce excessive sympathetic nervous system activity.
Immune System. Heating your body several degrees may boost white blood cell activity and destroy microorganisms that are heat sensitive.
Nervous System. Using a sauna inhibits your sympathetic nervous system while strengthening your parasympathetic nervous system. This means a sauna has a strong calming effect on your nervous system.
Detoxification – An important sauna health benefit
You’ve probably read that saunas are good for detoxification.
First of all, heating your body several degrees dramatically increases circulation.
According to Dr. Lawrence Wilson, this helps remove toxins from some hard to reach places like bones, sinuses, and teeth.
Many forms of bacteria are heat sensitive, so a sauna’s heat can weaken or kill some of them.
Also, cells damaged by toxic metals and chemicals are weaker than healthier cells. Exposure to some intense heat may be a death sentence for those weaker cells.
Sweating
Sweating is a great method for removing toxins.
Substances that are eliminated through your kidneys may be eliminated through your skin instead. In this way, sweating helps relieve your kidneys.
In case you’re wondering, sweating from exercise is not the same as sweating in a sauna (or steam room).
First of all, saunas conserve your body’s energy by providing an external heat source. This leaves energy for detoxification.
Second, sweating caused by exercise activates your sympathetic nervous system. This reduces the activity of your eliminative organs (liver, kidneys, colon).
Parasympathetic Nervous System Enhancement
Stress from any source increases sympathetic nervous system activity.
For the best detoxification results, your body should be as parasympathetic (or relaxed) as possible. Why?
Parasympathetic activity activates your liver, kidneys, and other organs to help eliminate toxins.
Deep Tissue Penetration
Infrared saunas in particular heat tissues from the inside. Some researchers believe this inside-out heating helps facilitate detoxification at deeper tissue levels.
Conclusion
I hope this article helped shed more light about the subject of sauna health benefits.
If you have any health conditions, please consult your doctor before using saunas on a regular basis.
Read more about sauna benefits and how to use a sauna
Filed under Health by on Oct 10th, 2009.