COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) has been in the news these past couple weeks, after Leonard Nimoy, famous for playing Spock on Star Trek, died of the disease at age 83. Unfortunately, there is no cure for COPD. But there are things you can do to slow its progress, feel better, and live a more active lifestyle.
It would seem doctors don’t want pregnant women to have any fun. For years they’ve warned against drinking, smoking, and even caffeine consumption during pregnancy. And now they’re saying drinking sugary drinks during pregnancy could increase a child’s likelihood of developing asthma.
Children from families who hand wash their dishes have about half the risk of developing allergic conditions like asthma or eczema compared to children from families who use machine dishwashers, according to a new study.
The first day of spring is less than a month away. Soon the snow will start melting and plant life will rise again, bringing beauty and tons and tons of pollen.
Pollen is a very common asthma and allergy trigger. If it’s one of yours, here’s how you can be prepared.
Scientists are studying a new, apparently effective treatment for allergic asthma. But it’s one parents might not be too crazy about giving their kids-- a psychedelic drug.
The drug is known as (R)-DOI. Previously, this class of drug was known for its psychedelic effects on the brain.
Scientists have developed a new treatment for sleep apnea-- a pacemaker-like implant that sends electrical currents to the patient’s tongue to keep it from blocking their airway. The implant is government approved and already helping sleep apnea sufferers across the country.
Asthma can be hard to diagnose. There is no test which definitively proves that a patient does or does not have it. So doctors have had to rely on their own experience and the patient’s symptoms when diagnosing. But both are subject to fluctuation and human error.
Scientists have identified a gene linked to Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD), a rare respiratory condition which affects one in 20,000 people.
PCD causes the cilia lining a person’s respiratory tract to not function correctly. Cilia are hair like protrusions that help the body clear mucus from the lungs. Because their cilia don’t function correctly, PCD patients have reduced mucus clearance.
According to a new study, wearing compression stockings throughout the day can help improve sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder in which the sleeper briefly stops breathing several times throughout the night. It disrupts one’s sleep, making it less restful, and therefore increases tiredness and fatigue throughout the day. Sleep apnea also increases the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke.
Winter can be an especially bad time for asthma attacks and flare ups.
Dr. Kyle Happel is a pulmonary critical care specialist in New Orleans. According to him, during the winter months “we see a lot more asthma exacerbations, a lot more folks that require rescue therapy use. They require sometimes oral prednisone, steroids.”
Flus and colds are two of the most common asthma triggers, and unfortunately it’s flu season once again. These two illnesses share many similar symptoms-- runny nose, sore throat, coughing, etc. But the treatments are somewhat different, so it’s helpful to know which you have. How can you tell?
In the past, studies have shown that the risk of a child developing asthma increases when A) the mother uses antibiotics during pregnancy, or B) the child uses antibiotics early in life. This lead to a widespread belief that antibiotics can cause asthma.
But a group of researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden felt that previous studies had not “sufficiently examined shared risk factors within families that could increase asthma risks, including genetics, home environment and lifestyle.”
