As there are two types of asthma – intrinsic (late-onset) or extrinsic (early-onset), supportive treatment is going to be different for both. Intrinsic asthma is commonly triggered by environmental sources/activity and extrinsic asthma is commonly triggered by anything that can be inhaled including pollen, dust (mites, cockroaches), feathers, animal hair and fungi/mould spores.
Simple common suggestions include:
- Give your home the ‘Sherlock Holmes overhaul’ – especially in the bedroom
- o Look at the carpet, paint, coverings, linen, curtains/blinds, air conditioning, everything! Anything within your home may aggravate an asthma sufferer. Simply strategies such as removing heavy curtains and replacing with wooden blinds can ease symptoms dramatically.
- Give your kitchen pantry a Spring clean (regardless of the time of year)
- o Remove any foods that contain ingredients listed as numbers, long chemical names or words you have never heard of or can’t pronounce. All of these chemical concoctions are known triggers for asthma sufferers. Some of the worst offenders include tartrazine (a yellow food dye commonly listed as ‘102’) and MSG (commonly listed as flavour enhancer or ‘621’).
- Make sure the world you live in is as clean as possible
- o Obviously don’t smoke and don’t surround yourself with passive smoke
- o Avoid strong cleaning chemicals such as bleach, mould treatments, window and oven cleaner. Just as they dissolve scum in your bathroom, they can also be inhaled and caused significant inflammation and even destroy delicate lung tissue.
- o Remember that fly spray is there to kill bugs (and does this very well). It is obviously going to have an impact on your health if you breathe it in!
- Asthmatics typically suffer from multiple allergies to foods, environmental sources and other substances. These people are usually an allergenic type and it is important to properly identify these allergens with a qualified practitioner.
