| * The first thing not to do is deny you have asthma. | | | | * Not eating certain foods might be an advantage. It |
| Saying "Oh it's just a common cold and I'm wheezing | | | | is known that dairy foods, white flour and white |
| a bit. Maybe it's bronchitis?" When a doctor has just | | | | sugar help to produce the mucus you do not want. |
| confirmed you have the chronic disease of asthma. | | | | While I am not advocating you become obsessive in |
| Being obstructive is a course of action that will likely | | | | avoiding these type of food at all cost, do not eat |
| set your health back dreadfully. Accept the | | | | them to excess. It would be difficult to totally avoid |
| prescribed medications offered. | | | | that combination anyway as they are used in so |
| * Remember to take the medications and do not | | | | many processed foodstuffs. |
| refuse to take them. Not at first anyway. You need | | | | * Do not smoke. If your lungs are at risk from |
| to get acute asthma under control before it controls | | | | asthma then it should be pretty obvious not to add |
| you. Do not deliberately deviate from the therapy | | | | to the aggravation with all the cocktail of toxins that |
| guidelines. | | | | is in cigarette smoke. Even if you do not smoke, |
| * You may be given an asthma treatment program. | | | | make sure you are not in close proximity to others |
| Usually corticosteroid inhalers to begin with and | | | | that are smoking. People have been known to have |
| possibly some breathing exercises to assist the | | | | asthma attacks from secondhand smoke from |
| airways. Not taking your asthma medication to this | | | | others. |
| prescribed schedule can lead to the symptoms | | | | * Sudden changes in temperature can definitely set |
| becoming erratic. This can be inconvenient at best | | | | off some adverse asthma symptoms. It is one of |
| and possibly fatal at worst. Not using your prevention | | | | those famous asthma triggers. So do not go straight |
| inhaler regularly as prescribed can add to the | | | | outside into cold weather without taking care to |
| possibility of an untimely asthma attack. | | | | ensure you are properly wrapped up suitably against |
| * I have read that a peak flow meter is an essential | | | | such conditions. Make sure you have your rescue |
| part of your asthma tool kit. Do not believe it. You | | | | inhaler when going out as well. |
| need the correct oxygen to carbon dioxide balance in | | | | * Having said all the above, the one thing I did not do |
| your system. Part of the asthma problem is a lack of | | | | was to believe all the doctors told me. While you |
| carbon dioxide in the lungs. Giving a big blow into a | | | | should use the prescribed medications and plan of |
| peak flow meter will deplete even further the | | | | treatments offered there are some side effects to |
| amount of carbon dioxide that is left. Thus | | | | these medications. Tell your doctor when you notice |
| exacerbating the problem rather than helping to cure | | | | those side effects. You could research to see if |
| it. One blow into a peak flow meter will take around | | | | there are safer effective alternative asthma |
| thirty minutes of careful controlled breathing to | | | | treatments available. |
| recover from. | | | | |