Viewing the Facebook profile of an ex-girlfriend apparently triggered an asthma attack according to a the Lancet Online.
An 18 year old patient was unfriended by his ex, but after changing his screen name and re-friending her again, he began experiencing asthma symptoms. Gennaro D'Amato, an Italian Allergist, wrote the patient had been under good control with an inhaled steroid and montelukast.
On several different occasions, the patients experienced shortness of breath when viewing his ex-girlfriend's profile. Interestingly, the patient checked his peak flow before and after logging on and found significant changes.Apparently the psychological stress getting unfriended and seeing who his ex-girlfriend was communicating with triggered asthma symptoms in a previously well controlled asthmatic.
Gennaro went on to comment "This case indicates that Facebook, and social networks in general, could be a new source of psychological stress, representing a triggering factor for exacerbations in depressed asthmatic individuals."
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Learn More About Stress and Asthma
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It’s good to see that stress is a demonstrable influence on one’s asthma regulation. It may be that one day, people will be encouraged to consider the stressors in their life and find ways to resolve some, to have better health.
Maybe, too, others will reconsider the impulse to go poking around in places that they know will cause stress. Life is hard enough even when things are going well.