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TRIGGER:
COLD |
ASTHMATIC
STYLE |
Bath in cold
water
- Why
harmful?
Cooling of any part of the
body is known to trigger asthma. Taking bath with
cold water specially without acclimatization can
aggravate asthma.
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Should avoid and use warm
water for bath.
- Develop adaptability slowly
e.g. start taking bath by tap or well water during
summer and continue in
winter.
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Scooter or
Two Wheeler ride in winters
- Why
harmful?
Direct blow of air cools
the face and neck. During winter cooling becomes
more intense. Nose and throat are usually very
sensitive to cold in asthmatic patients. During
winter season woollen clothes are worn but usually
neck remains uncovered thus exposing throat and
windpipe to the effects of
cold.
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Full mask helmet can
protect face and nose from direct blow of the
air.
- Keep a woollen neck collar
in the scooter and wear it while riding. It will
protect neck, throat and windpipe from the effects
of cold.
- Use a car instead of
scooter during winters.
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Head bath by
ladies with long hairs
- Why
harmful?
After
hair wash residual water remains in the hairs. If
hairs are long residual water will also be more.
Hairs will dry with evaporation of residual water.
With evaporation, skin of head (scalp) will cool.
In ladies residual water is more therefore cooling
will be more and it may trigger
asthma.
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Take two thick towels. Wipe
excess of water with one towel and wrap second
towel tightly around head to absorb the remaining
water.
- Should not sit in the wind
because airblow can accelerate evaporation of
water from head and thereby delivering cold in the
head.
- Use a hair
dryer.
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Direct air
blow from fan, cooler or air-conditioner
- Why
harmful?
Direct blow of air from a
fan causes increased evaporation of sweat and
thereby cooling of skin. Sudden cooling may
trigger asthma. In addition to this air blow from
a fan causes drying of nostrils which may starts
itch of sneeze and rhinitis. Cooler or air-
conditioner causes cooling of skin which can
trigger asthma.
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Avoid sitting in the direct
stream of air.
- Wear adequate clothing if
feeling cold.
- Adjust cooling of cooler or
air conditioner to your need. You should not feel
cold. Usually during sleep one feels cold
therefore you must have adequate warm clothes at
hand or adjust thermostat of the AC.
- If you are traveling in an
AC couch of the train try to take lower berth.
Upper berths with openings of cooling ducts are
likely to cool excessively.
- Never feel hesitant in
turning AC or cooler off or change the direction
of blow, away from you if you feel
cold.
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Cold edibles
ice-cream/cold drinks
- Why
harmful?
Cold
edibles causes cooling of throat and food pipe. If
a person takes ice cream this cooling is much more
pronounced. Ice at 0 degree causes more cooling
than water of 0 degree because ice has latent heat
of freezing. Cooling of throat triggers
asthma.
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Take half melted ice cream
so as to reduce latent heat of
freezing.
- Take cold edibles
slowly.
- Avoid taking cold edibles
whilst perspiring or after eating oily
edibles.
- Take some secretogogue such
as sugar crystals immediately after eating cold
edible.
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Going
out on
a chilly day
- Why it is
harmful?
Cold
atmospheric temperature can cause cooling of skin
and thereby may trigger
asthma.
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Asthmatic patient should
wear extra woolen cloth while going outside on a
chilly day.
- Neck,
ears and feet are usually neglected. Therefore
proper woolen cloth over head, neck collar and
proper woolen socks should be
worn.
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Wetting in
rains
- Why
harmful?
With
rains hairs and clothing become wet. If not
changed immediately then hairs and clothes dry by
evaporation of water. This causes prolonged
cooling of skin of the body which may trigger
asthma.
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Avoid rain wetting by not
going out while raining or going in a covered
vehicle.
- Use a mask.
- If
weather is cloudy take rain coat and head cap or
an umbrella with you.
- If
become wet try to change cloths as soon as
possible.
- Dry hair by wiping it immediately by a
towel.
- Never
dry yourself by sitting under a fast revolving
fan.
- You
may take a cup of tea or hot drink as soon as
possible.
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Exercise in
cold weather
- Why
harmful?
During breathing,
atmospheric air is inhaled into the lungs. In the
nasal passage air gets warmed to a temperature
which is equivalent to body temperature
(98.4°C). If quantity of inhaled
air is more than the capacity of the warming
process of nose then the cold air enters into the
airway and induces asthma. During physical exercise in an attempt to inhale
sufficient oxygen the patient sometimes take as
much as 10 times more than usual air. Nose
poses greater resistance to the breathing than
mouth. In resting phase a person does not feel it
and continue to take breathing through nose.
However, at the time of exercise a person find
difficulty in taking increased amount air through
nose. In this situation a patient tries to ease by
opening mouth widely. During mouth breathing nasal
warming is bypassed and therefore more quantity of
cold air is delivered into the airways thereby
inducing asthma.
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During exercise breathing
should be done through nose.
- A scarf or thick
handkerchief wrapped over nose and mouth prevents
heat loss during out in cold climate and also
during exercise or play.
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Drying of
hair with "Mehandi" under a fast revolving
fan.
- Why it is
harmful?
When
hairs are dried under a fan scalp (skin of head)
cools. It may trigger
asthma.
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- Sit in hot sun and dry
hairs.
- Hair dryer may be
used.
- Dry hairs without sitting
under a fast fan or cooler.
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Bare feet
without habit, as going to temple
- Why it is
harmful?
Without habit of bare feet
if a person walks bare feet on a cold ground it
causes cooling of soles which may trigger
asthma.
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- Should
wear slippers/shoes as often as possible.
- Wear
socks all the time.
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| Going to
school in an autoriksha in winters |
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| Morning
walk |
- During cold nights
asthmatic patient should avoid visiting areas
having high load of vehicular pollution or areas
with pollution emitting factories. Presence of fog
in such areas makes a problem worse because fog
contains stagnant air with high load of
pollutants.
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HOW
A FAN INDUCES
ASTHMA?
Example:
Tina is an
asthmatic lady having habit of sleeping without
covering her face with blanket. In the month of
October as usual she had problem of asthma
specially during night time. In presence of
Mosquitoes in the house, she used to keep fan
running. Unfortunately,
the regulator of the fan was not working hence
the fan swung at full-speed. Though mosquitoes
were repelled yet Tina had more severe asthma
this time.
Curiosity:
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Why Tina had more
severe asthma?
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How problem was
solved?
After through search, it was observed
that the full-speed fan and habit of keeping
face uncovered have caused the asthma attack
problem. Tina consulted experts to suggest the
measures to control both asthma and
mosquitoes.
Expert
Comments:
Air blow from the full speed fan cools the
exposed part of the body. Therefore face of Tina was
cooled more. Face cooling specially during winter days
may aggravate cold and asthma.
What were the alternatives?
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Tina
could have used a mosquito net as means of
protection from mosquitoes instead of running the
fan on at full speed.
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Repair the defective
regulator and reducing speed of the
fan.
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Should develop habit of
covering face during sleep. Face may be covered
with a thin bed cover, if blanket proves
suffocating.
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How playing in cold
weather caused asthma?
Example:
Twelve years aged
Yudi was suffering from asthma. Playing in cold
weather was an important factor aggravating his
asthma. Yudi's parents asked him to stop play,
which frustrated him. His performance in studies
was also affected and topper of the class ranked
8th this time.
Curiosity:
- What should be
done?
- How the
problem was solved?
There are millions of
asthmatic children like Yudi who gets asthmatic
problem on playing in cold climate. Stopping
play in childhood not only affects stamina of
the child's body but also affects the
personality and mind
adversely. He should play with asthmatic style
and take medicine at appropriate time.
Expert Comments:
A scarf or thick
handkerchief wrapped over nose and mouth prevents
heat loss during out in cold climate and also
during exercise or play.
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with others
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