Asthma - reducing your exposure to triggers

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes sufferers to have repeated attacks of:
-coughing
-wheezing
-chest tightness
-breathlessness.

Most people with asthma have few symptoms between attacks, but some people have severe asthma and have symptoms all the time (chronic severe asthma)

Most people with asthma have few symptoms between attacks, but some people have severe asthma and have symptoms all the time (chronic severe asthma).In people with asthma, the linings of the air passages (bronchi and bronchioles) are inflamed.

Avoiding the things that trigger your asthma is only one part of asthma management. It should be used to complement the asthma medication and advice provided by your doctor.

House dust mites

House dust mites are arachnids (related to spiders) and are about 0.3mm long, so cannot be seen with the naked eye. They feed on old human skin scales and like to live in a humid environment. To avoid house dust mites:
-encase your mattress, duvet and pillows with mite-proof bedding, which you should damp dust once a week.
-wash bedding at temperatures above 55oC.
-remove carpets in favour of smooth flooring (polished wood or cushion floor/vinyl).
-use a vacuum cleaner containing a high efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) filters and double thickness bags.
-place children's soft toys in the freezer overnight to kill mites and then wash them thoroughly to -remove the allergen.

At night, in bed, we spend on average eight hours in close contact with large amounts of house dust mite allergen. Measures to reduce exposure to the allergen in bed are probably the most important.

Pets

Many asthmatics are allergic to the furred pets that they keep, particularly cats and dogs. Pets shed allergen with their fur and dander and, before long, it is spread all around the house.

For those who insist upon keeping a pet, some measures have been shown to reduce the levels of pet allergen in the home and some evidence has been collected to show that this may be of benefit in asthma.

These measures include:
washing the pet (twice a week for dogs).
using a vacuum cleaner with HEPA filters and double thickness bags.
using an electric HEPA air filter in the bedroom and living room that runs continuously. Make sure that you change the filters regularly.
remove carpets.
castrate male cats or get a female cat.

Food

Many people believe they are allergic to certain foods, but true food allergies are relatively rare and affect about 5 per cent of children and 1 per cent of adults. Some people with asthma are allergic to foods such as:
fish
shellfish
nuts
fruit.

As the symptoms of the allergy generally start very soon after eating the food, and are often severe, the person makes the connection and then takes appropriate steps to avoid the food. It is often helpful for someone like this to see an allergist, so that:
-the allergy can be confirmed with skin prick tests or blood tests.
-appropriate advice on what to do if the food is eaten by accident can be given.

Pollen

Some asthmatics notice a worsening of their symptoms in the pollen season, usually from March to September. Grass and tree pollens are also difficult to avoid, but the following measures may be helpful in some cases:
keeping windows shut.
travelling in cars with pollen filters.
avoiding open grassy places in the early evening.
checking pollen counts in the media. Pollen counts tend to be lower by the sea.

The workplace

Some people with asthma are exposed to substances at work that make their asthma worse; this is known as 'work-exacerbated asthma'. Others develop asthma because of exposure to substances at work, usually within the first few months or years of employment ('occupational asthma' or 'work-induced asthma').It is important to recognise occupational asthma because:
the best treatment for this disease is to avoid the substance in the workplace that is causing the asthma.
continued exposure can make the asthma worse. In general, for occupational asthma, the shorter the duration of exposure to the substance, the better the chance of a full recovery. Occupational asthma can sometimes be difficult to diagnose and may require help and advice from an expert in occupational respiratory medicine.The jobs that are most commonly associated with occupational asthma are:
spray painting (di-isocyanates)
bakers (flour and enzymes)
soap powder manufacturing (biological enzymes)
healthcare workers (latex gloves)
plastics assembly (cyanoacrylate glues)
precious metal refining (platinum salts)
laboratory work (rats and mice)
electronic assembly (solder fumes).Many other substances can cause occupational asthma, but the vast majority of people doing these jobs will not get asthma. Treatment of occupational asthma depends upon the specific job. Changes in the work practice, work environment or the job itself, may be needed to avoid exposure.