Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Childhood Asthma is Preventable
Childhood Asthma is a chronic lung disease characterized by tight airways -- a result of airways being too responsive. Our airways are meant to respond to harmful substances in the air. Our airways shrink when we're in a smoky atmosphere, protecting our delicate lung tissues from the noxious ingredients in the smoke. They should go back to normal in fresh air but it doesn't always work that way with asthmatics.
That's the official point of view, from a medical industry that claims not to know how to cure asthma. The people who do cure the problem say that asthma is your body's attempt to compensate for bad breathing methods. So you should learn to breathe properly.
Here are some warning signs
Baby pants more than 40 breaths per minute while asleep.
Child refuses suckling.
Skin between ribs is pulled tight while breathing.
Rest of body seems small compared to chest.
Your baby's fingernails become blue
Your infant doesn't cry much because of shortness of breath.
Struggles to breath through mouth and flared nostrils.
Grunts like a pig during breast feeding.
Asthma and pregnancy
So much for asthma in kids. Now how could mothers give rise to asthma? (I'm not letting fathers off the hook either.) If you breathe badly you can't give your baby enough Oxygen.. Your baby gets all its Oxygen from your bloodstream so if you don't breathe properly your baby will be deficient. Yes, you really can learn to breathe properly.
Doctors like to charge you as much as possible, like any other business people. They offer us quack medicine to make us feel better, while making asthma worse, while telling us there is no cure. CORRECTION: I've just discovered it's not all the doctors' fault. They have been told by the medical industry that they will lose their licence to practice medicine if they tell you about the free cure for asthma.
The medical industry offers this official point of view (note the drug adverts included): "Remember: Using asthma medicine during pregnancy is much safer than letting your asthma get out of control. Such asthma medicines as inhaled beta-agonists (quick relief medicines like Maxair or Proventil), cromolyn (medicines that prevent triggers from causing reactions in your lungs, like Intal), and inhaled steroids (long-term controller medicines like Flovent) are safe for pregnant women when you take them as directed by your doctor. Please don't read the instructions as it might decrease our income." Some of that is untrue.
Experts tell you that exercise can trigger an asthma attack. I've noticed that digging the garden a couple of times a year triggers sore muscles. But if I was doing it every day there would be no sore muscles. Take a gentle stroll every day while you are pregnant for half an hour. Exercise is important and you should be able to be physically active without having asthma symptoms after the first few days of exercise.
Prevention of asthma in toddlers
Get ready for a shock! Having at least two pets in the house drastically reduces asthma later on. Fair enough if you don't give your toddlers a chance to learn to fight asthma in childhood by having pets they are likely to suffer every time a cat or dog comes near them. But it's natural for children to be among pets and perhaps eat a cockroach or two. Don't protect them too much or you may give them asthma.
Of course
doctors responsible for asthma in kids
I think that the doctors are more to blame than you, because they should know better. doctors cause a lot of the trouble in their endless attempts to sell you more drugs. Tests show that antibiotics destroy the correct activity in a child's intestine. This leads to impaired immune systems and asthma.
Abusing prescription drugs is as common as, or maybe even more common than, street drug use - and doctors are often to blame. your child could die from a prescription drug that has helped make your doctors wealthy.
Some children are constantly ill, because steroids prescribed by doctors have affected their immune system.
Danger in the showers. When chlorine vaporizes it combines with other airborne particles and forms dangerous chloroform gas. Tests show that asthma and other breathing problems are created. The U.S. EPA states that "Due to chlorine and showering, there is an elevated level of chloroform gas in virtually every home in America...". Many studies have linked chlorine to childhood asthma and reported that most of the risks are associated with showering in chlorinated water.
Helpful Tips to Avoid Hospital Stays During Cold and Flu Season
Anybody who has children knows how hard it is to see them feeling bad from a cold or the flu. We all know that being sick every now and then is a part of life, but there are some simple things that you can do help keep them from getting sick. Much of what you can do doesn’t involve changing what you do, but how you do it. Hospitals, Children’s Hospitals and Pediatricians can help you with other preventative tips as well.
The best thing that you can do for you child is to wash their hands well and wash them often. If they go to a play area, are riding in a grocery cart or come in contact with a child that is sick, you should wash their hands as soon as you can. If you aren’t going to be near a sink and soap, carry some antibacterial hand cleaner in your bag. You can also buy antibacterial wipes in small packages that you can use before you put your child in a shopping cart. You don’t have to overdo it, but you also don’t want to overdo it
Teach your child to not eat or drink after another child. This doesn’t mean that they can’t share food with a friend, but they should split the food or snack before they begin eating. Even if the other child doesn’t appear to be sick, they might be at the very beginning stages of a sickness which is often the most contagious stage.
Avoid hospitals and sick family members and friends. Even if you have been planning for your parents to come see your newborn baby for the very first time, if one of them has a cold they could make your baby sick and being around sick people during cold and flu season can increase your child’s risk of developing RSV or other dangerous complications that could require a hospital stay.
You don’t have to stay at home hiding from the world during cold and flu season. What you do need to do is to take precautions and use common sense to help your child stay cold and flu free. Yes, they will get colds once in a while, but you can significantly decrease their chances if you follow these and other helpful tips that hospitals and doctors offices suggest you follow.
Health Information-Are We Really Listening?
It’s funny how humans perceive health information and adsorb information. For example, you may see a public announcement on television recommending “we should eat five servings of fruits and vegetables a day”. How do you perceive that message? Well, if you’re a healthy thinker you probably not only agree, you think it is important that everyone gets that message. The reality is that many people just change channels or do not absorb the message. As a health professional I can be channel surfing and if I hear any trigger words such as cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, healthy foods, etc. I stop and check it out, I’m a healthy thinker! I should be, it is my profession. If we were all healthy thinkers we would all probably do the same. Another example is the new food pyramid that the government spent millions of dollars to create. That should mean that everyone will now know not only what to eat to stay healthy and prevent disease but exactly how to do it. In reality here is what will happen. Healthy thinkers will scrutinize and evaluate the information based on their present diet. For most of the population, especially those who need it most, you will get varied answers. When the first food pyramid came out I ask my students if they had heard about the food pyramid. Some said they had heard about it but could not describe it. Several students had actually seen it but could not explain it. Others thought it was in Egypt, but were not sure. In reality few people will pay much attention to it. Get the picture? Until people learn to think healthy they just do not pay much attention to information about how to stay healthy and prevent disease.
How do you know if you’re a healthy thinker? Here are a few simple questions that I want you to answer:
1. Do you floss your teeth?
2. Do you set aside time for movement {exercise}?
3. If your doctor suggest prescription or over the counter drugs for a health problem, do you always ask, “What can I do to avoid taking medication”?
4. When dining out do you always look for healthy choices?
5. When shopping for food do you always read the nutritional information on products you are unfamiliar with?
6. When traveling, do you bring healthy snacks for your family to avoid fast food outlets?
Obviously, if you said “yes” to all the questions you’re a healthy thinker. You not only listen to health messages, you seek out information on your own. The good news is that if you only answered one question “yes”, you’re on the track to thinking healthier. You have to look at health as a journey, not a destination. The fact that you answered one question like a healthy thinker means your open to other healthy suggestions. That’s a good sign.
Let’s evaluate a couple of the questions:
For example, if you only said you floss your teeth that indicates that someone got through to you on the health benefits of flossing. As simple as it seems, flossing can prevent bacteria build up in your gums that can get into your blood stream, trigger inflammation, and possibly trigger a heart attack in susceptible individuals. The question regarding prescription drugs says a lot about your thinking. If you just go along with the doctors suggestions you’re not accepting responsibility for your own health. That’s unhealthy thinking. Imagine your doctor’s surprise at your next appointment if you said, “I would rather lose some weight, exercise, and change my eating habits than take drugs”. That would make their day!
People who think unhealthy have some of these characteristics:
1. To them health means not being sick.
2. They depend on over the counter medications for minor aches and pains.
3. They depend on advertisements for health information.
4. They are usually sedentary and give little thought to exercising and eating healthy.
5. They are always looking for quick fixes for energy, weight loss, and feeling better.
One way to get people to think healthy is to focus on the outcomes of a healthy lifestyle rather than just telling people the changes they should make. For example, rather than tell people to eat more fruits and vegetables, it would probably be best to first emphasize that plant foods are nature’s medicines! They contain literally thousands of phyto-chemicals that work synergistically to protect you against disease. More people would start thinking about that and start adding more fruits and vegetables and other plant foods without considering how much or what ones. Exercise is another hot button with sedentary people. When we mention the word “Exercise” to a sedentary person the first image that comes to mind is work and sweat. That’s not a good image, so they are more likely to take a nap until the thought goes away. The better approach is to stress “movement”. That’s less stressful and they can start by avoiding elevators, parking farther away at the mall, walk more, drive less. If they do that they start thinking like a healthy person. When you start to make small changes in your lifestyle you will experience some positive feedback in how you feel. That will motivate you to keep going. Sedentary people may or may not ending up running marathons and eating the perfect diet but our society will be a lot healthier. The goal is to increase the quality of the years in your life. Thinking healthy is the first step.
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