Do you ever feel your asthma is worse after cleaning your house? If you do you are not alone. According to an article in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology house cleaning may make your asthma worse.
"Women with asthma should be routinely interviewed as to whether they clean their home and cautioned about the potential respiratory health effects of these activities" said Jonathan A. Bernstein, M.D., of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in a press release. Dr. Bernstein observed increases in self reported asthma symptoms, but not actual changes in peak flow or other pulmonary function tests. While the impact may seem relatively small, these symptoms are significant when you think about them occurringand effecting quality of life for months or years.
The authors concluded "longer, prospective studies of nonprofessional household cleaners are needed to determine whether there is an association between household cleaning agent exposure and the development of asthma" according to the press release.
This study highlights that many things in our everyday life can worsen asthma. Preventing or limiting exposure to triggers is essential.
Learn More
- What Triggers Your Asthma Symptoms
- Identifying and Avoiding Your Asthma Triggers
- What Are Your Asthma Triggers?
I’m a school nurse and I get a lot of the children coming to me with asthma attacks as they are reluctant to take their medicine because they don’t understand what is happening to them. I have had real difficulties in trying to find some child-friendly information on asthma until my friend showed me a copy of “What’s up with Max? Medikidz explain Asthma”.
I want to pass this advice on to other school nurses and parents as I find the book absolutely invaluable. Five superheroes give Max a tour of the human body, explaining what happens to him while he is having an asthma attack. They also explain how the medicines work in a child-friendly and understandable way which I find stops the children from being so scared of their illness. More information can be found on this book at http://www.medikidz.com but I just wanted to pass the link on as I find it such a useful learning tool for my children.
My Dad and I both have asthma, and both suffer reactions from exposure to household cleaners. Eventually both of us switched to ultra high quality microfiber and water cleaning – with good results. Other things that seem to work well are some of the gentler homemade cleaning products, although they are not as effective at cleaning in every case.
As a result of our experience I developed a website devoted to helping people find alternatives to commercial chemical cleaners: http://www.sensible-house-cleaning-solutions.com Please stop by and visit to see if it might help you.