Asthma and food allergies.

Asthma is essentially a reversible obstruction of airways. Food goes in the food pipe and not in the airways , thus it sounds strange that how can food allergies may result into Asthma.
Food can affect in many ways. It can by itself result into an allergic reaction for eg milk, peanut , egg , fish , even legumes etc can by themselves cause an asthmatic attack in people who are allergic to these articles.
we have had children who have had even lung bleeding (pulmonary hemosiderosis) after milk intake even in minute amount or in hidden form. People who are allergic to Chick pea have got attack even from inhaling the steam from the pressure cooker when chana was being cooked. Attacks of asthma while playing cards where others are eating peanut even thouh the patient was not eating are well recorded. Sea food allergy too is common.
Food can also be a hidded allergen for instance milk in bornvita and layschips. Wheat in malt extracts and honey in certain medicines , puddings etc.
There is yet another method of food allergy that is thru the shared allergen concept. For eg if someone is allergic to latex will also be allergic to banana and if allergic to birch pollen will also be allergic to apples.
moral of story is to get allergy tested rather than guess work , hit and trial.
After allergy test if an allergen is found , one should read labels on food packets to avoid even hidden allergens. Doctor can put you wise on shared allergens. Food allergy is not necessarily a life long problem , Allergy specialist doctor can put you back on these foods by systematic methods. Asthma can be better controlled and medicines and emergencies minimised if food allergy too is taken care of.

Common myths in India about asthma .

Bronchial asthma management has revolutionized with availability of inhalers .
But its a pity that even many educated people are skeptical about their use.
They fear that inhalers could be addictive , the salts in them are steroids which could be harmful for body. They fear that inhalers are the last resort in Asthma management so why should they not try tablets and injections first.

The matter of fact is that inhalers are the safest , they are scientific and surest way of drug delivery to the airways.
The inhaled steroids are the safe ,they do not go to any other part of body except the airways. These steroids do not have those side effects of oral steroids.
Because of prevalent myths people keep taking tablets like "Betnenal" etc which are unnecessary and are harmful resulting into many serious complications.

People also have myth on food , they avoid all white articles like milk, curd , rice , banana , butter etc. Food should never be avoided on presumptions as each food is nutritious particularly for growing children. Banana is rich in calcium, potassium , iron and many other things , it is a hygienically packed easy to carry power-packed food for all. Curd is a rich pro biotic .
Allergy tests are available even for food , avoid only if you test positive for a particular food.
Letus attack asthma by all scientific means , its easy to control it.