Quality of life in Asthma and no emergency please.

Emergency room visits can surely be minimized , inspite of increasing incidence of asthma.
The key issues are to accept the diagnosis and follow the methods which can control the disease and improve the quality of life. Often people have the tendency to deny the label of Asthma , they consider inhalers as habit forming , they fear steroids in inhalers and have a myth that this should be the last resort.
Even educated and not so much moneyed have shopping around behavior for the above fears.
They are ready to accept very prolonged and troublesome treatment with hidden salts and unscientific alternate therapies in spite of no definite health benefits , but they fear proven scientific inhalers. The symptom free periods in seasonal asthma are automatic , but they give credit to homeopathy or aurvedic salts.
Health education on continuous basis in friendly way is the only method to keep patients on appropriate scientific treatment.
There is always some amount of ongoing inflammation in the airway even in asymptomatic phase. Doctor , with the help of lung function tests and eosinophil counts etc will decide when to stop and when to restart the inhaler. In seasonal allergies the inhaler may start in preseason even if there are no symptoms.
Patients worry the restart of inhaler as though doctor is useless because she could not stop the inhaler for ever.
The aim of treatment should be good night sleep, being able to do all physical and other activities with pleasure , minimal side effects of medicines , being able to control the attacks oneself with help of rescue inhaler and no emergency room visits. This will improve quality of life and is possible with all the instructions of qualified doctors

Host Factors in pediatric Allergy

Genes no one can change but triggers are very much in ones control.
Right from the newborn age if we modify the host factors Allergy can be prevented.
Mothers milk can help prevent allergies of all kinds and should be continued for longer than a year.
Mothers diet should be healthy but in infant there should be a delay in introduction of salt as well as proteins , these should be postponed till one year of age.
There should be lot of exposure to sunlight throughout life so that vit D is obtained in sufficient amount as vitamin D,s role in Allergy prevention is well established.
Fresh food should be given instead of preserved and processed fancy ready made or precooked packed food. Artificial food colors should be avoided.
Synthetic clothing and toys with cheap paint should be avoided.
Fresh air ,fresh-food, avoidance of smoking in infants room ,avoiding chemical mosquito repellents are some useful host factors.