Controlling your asthma can be very difficult if you don't know why you're having difficulties. Triggers are the things that cause you to wheeze and set off an asthma attack. Examples include pollens and dust, but triggers are not always easily identifiable.

Learn More About Triggers

• Identify and avoid your asthma triggers
• Understanding asthma triggers
• Allergens and irritants
• What are your asthma triggers?

The day-to-day hassles of any chronic illness like asthma can make anyone feel overwhelmed. How do you talk with others about your asthma? There are things you can do to make your life with asthma easier and get more out of your doctor's visits. Help others by sharing how you cope with the many different aspects of asthma.

How Do You Let Other People Know What It Feels Like To Have Asthma?

10 Tips For Coping With Asthma

Does Stress Affect My Asthma?

How was your asthma over the Thanksgiving holiday? Did too much eating and family have an effect on your asthma? Take the poll and leave a comment.

While asthma can be difficult and discouraging at times, we all have a lot to be thankful for. Related to your asthma, what is it that you are thankful for?

Leave a comment or join the discussion in the Asthma Forum

Do you search the web for health info before talking with your doctor? Do you use the web to double check what you here at your doctor's office? Take the poll and leave a comment.

Earlier this year I became intrigued by a neti-pot and was surprised that many of you used them for sinus allergies and symptoms. A study presented at the recent American College of Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology meeting found that neti-pot use may actually increase your risk of infection.

Stopping neti-pot use was associated with a 62% decrease in sinus infections. The authors pointed out that neti-pots do provide relief of bothersome sinus symptoms, but that chronic use may wash away some of your bodies natural defenses and increase your risk of infection. What do you think?

According to an article published in the November issue of CHEST, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, acetaminophen use in both children and adults may be associated with an increase in asthma and wheezing.

The authors reviewed 19 different studies that collected data on both asthma and wheezing as well as acetaminophen use. Patients using acetaminophen were significantly more likely to have asthma than those that did not use acetaminophen. Similarly in children, acetaminophen use was more common in children during the year preceding a diagnosis of asthma and more common during the first year of life.

Researchers have several possible, but unproven explanations related to acetaminophen's impact on the pathophysiology of asthma. First, acetaminophen lowers the levels of an antioxidant in the lung called glutathione. Antioxidants, as I have written about previously, in the diet have been associated with less development and symptoms of asthma. Likewise, acetaminophen may allow one of the key enzymes that causes inflammation in asthma, cyclooxygenase, to act unchecked. Finally, acetaminophen may cause increases in IgE levels.

As a parent, I was surprised there were enough children who had not received acetaminophen to even adequately study this. But I was also concerned given how commonly acetaminophen is used to treat fever and pain in kids. Importantly, many other common fever/ pain meds, like ibuprofen, have not been studied to see if similar relationships exist. I doubt many physicians or parents will change how they treat children's fever or pain base on this one study, but it is an interesting topic to keep your eye on.

What do you think?

What would you like to see covered on the asthma site. Let us know so we can give you the asthma information you want!

Are you zinc deficient? While not a common question, a study presented at Chest 2009, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, found that patients with allergic asthma had significantly lower zinc levels than patients with other types of asthma.

Zinc is an antioxidant that may have anti-inflammatory properties related to the pathophysiology of asthma and is commonly found in beef, chicken, and pork. Many of the symptoms of zinc deficiency can be very non-specific-- rash, tiredness, poor appetite, and slow wound healing. As a result mild forms of zinc deficiency may be difficult to diagnose.

While the results of this small study should not make anyone  run to the health food to get zinc supplements, researchers will likely keep looking to learn more about the relationship between zinc and asthma.

First responders and other rescue and recovery workers following the 2001 World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attacks received significant dust and pollutant exposures and have developed asthma at twice the rate of the US general population according to new research presented at CHEST 2009, the 75th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP).

According to a press release, as many as 8% of workers and volunteers participating in the rescue, recovery, and cleanup have developed some sort of asthma episode compared to 4% of the general population. Additionally, only 3% of this workers and volunteers reported asthma pre 9/11, while 16% reported having asthma between 2005 and 2007.

"Although previous WTC studies have shown significant respiratory problems, this is the first study to directly quantify the magnitude of asthma among WTC responders compared with the general US population," said Hyun Kim, ScD, Instructor of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM), in the press release. "Six years out from 9/11, the World Trade Center Program was still observing responders affected by asthma episodes and attacks at more than double the percentage of people not exposed to World Trade Center dust."

Kalpalatha Guntupalli, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians commented "Asthma and other chronic lung conditions remain a significant burden for rescue and recovery workers responding to the attacks on the World Trade Center. The significant chronic health problems associated with the World Trade Center attacks only reinforces the need for stronger disaster preparedness plans, as well as long-term medical follow-up for 9/11 responders and individuals who respond to disaster-related events."

What do you think?