Allergy, Sinusitis, and Asthma Newsletter

Table of Contents:
1. From the Editors
2. Allergy, Sinusitis, and Asthma Articles
3. Sinusitis Experience - Yeast Reduction Helped Sinusitis
4. Feature - Step by Step Plan for Asthma Attack

FROM THE EDITORS
In the last issue of the ASA Newsletter, we asked for people to send in their experiences and we're glad to say that people responded! We've weeded out the ones that read more like advertisements and those that were too short. The result is that we've already published six sinusitis experiences! You can access the experiences by clicking here (scroll down to Sinusitis Sufferer Experiences).

Every issue of the ASA Newsletter will feature one of the experiences we've received. That begins with this issue and the new "Sinusitis Experience" section (for Allergy or Asthma experiences, the title will change).

There is comfort in knowing that you are not alone in your suffering from sinusitis, allergies, and/or asthma. As a result, we ask that if you haven't already, please take a moment to share your experience with the readers of the ASA Newsletter. Simply send an email with your experience to asa@newsdial.com with the subject header "Sinusitis Experience", "Allergy Experience" or "Asthma Experience".

Along with your story, please include your first name initial, last name, and the state you are from. That information will be published with your experience. We won't publish your email address. If you wish to remain anonymous then please state so in your email to us.

Thank you for sharing.

Cheers to you,

Joe Tracy & Kim Lance - editors
ASA Newsletter

Number of Students with Food Allergies Has Increased
As school is beginning nation wide, students with allergies to food need to prepare and school officials need make sure they are properly educated on how to treat these students. According to The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) school nurses nationwide are reporting an increase in the number of students with food allergies, and safety precautions should be taken to protect food-allergic students from reactions...
Click here to read the entire article.

FDA Approves Shorter Levaquin Sinusitis Treatment
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved a new Levaquin (levofloxacin) treatment method to treat acute bacterial sinusitis. The new Levaquin tablet treatment is a five day, 750 mg once-daily regimen…and is the first and only short course fluoroquinolone regimen that has been approved for treating acute bacterial sinusitis...
Click here to read the entire article.

Brain Activity Can Worsen Asthma Symptoms
A functional link between emotion processing centers in the brain and certain physiological processes relevant to disease has been revealed in a recent study by University of Wisconsin-Madison researches and collaborators. This study, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this month, indicates that the mention of a stressful word like "wheeze" can activate two brain areas in asthmatics during an attack that may be associated with the trigger of more severe asthma symptoms...
Click here to read the entire article.

Sphenoid Sinusitis: Less Common, But Still Painful
During a bout with sinusitis, it is typical to have pressure, pain and infection in one of the four pairs of sinuses. The four main pairs of sinuses are the maxillary, the frontal, the ethmoid, and the sphenoid sinuses. While sphenoid sinusitis is a less common form of sinusitis, it is still just as painful and worthy of further examination...
Click here to read the entire article.

SINUSITIS EXPERIENCE - Yeast Reduction Helped Sinusitis
" I believe I developed sinusitis after a very heavy cold, during which I traveled on the Paris to London train under the English Channel. The effect of the pressure was to block both ears completely for several days.

It was several months after this that I started experiencing a group of symptoms which included severe sinus headaches lasting 24 hours or more, post nasal drip, earache, stomach upset, bloating, and extreme fatigue...

The best news is that having followed a strict yeast free diet for 6 months, avoided antibiotics as best I can, and taken probiotics in the form of acidophilus pills, and grapefruit seed oil, I am almost 100% sinusitis free..."
Click here to read the entire experience.

FEATURE - Step by Step Plan for an Asthma Attack
It is important to take the proper steps to control an asthma attack when one begins. If you have asthma, you need to know what to do during at the first sign of an attack. Adult Asthma: Your guide to breathing easier, a new Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School, provides asthma sufferers with that step-by-step guide as preparation for adult sufferers to deal with asthma attacks. There are six steps in the program.

The first step is to take your self physically away from the asthma trigger. If it is cigarette smoke, go out and get fresh air, if its pollen, try to stay indoors and avoid the pollen, just try to get away from whatever has triggered the asthma symptoms.

The second step is to assess the severity of the asthma attack. If you pay attention to how you are feeling at the start of an attack, you may be able to recognize if it is a severe attack. Measuring the strength of your exhale with a peak flow meter is the most accurate way to assess severity of an asthma attack, however. If your peak flow is less than half your best value, you are having a severe attack.

The third step is to use a quick asthma reliever. The quickest way to relieve an asthma attack is by using a fast acing bronchodilator like albuterol. If the medicine fails to help you should immediately move on to step four.

Step four is to suppress inflammation. Bronchodilators only treat the constricted muscles surrounding the bronchial tubes. It is important to also treat the other part of the attack, the overproduction of mucus. To treat the mucus requires an anti-inflammatory medication, typically a corticosteroid. For a very severe attack, increasing the use of your inhaled steroid is not enough; you will also need to take prescription steroid tablets like prednisone or methylprednisolone.

The fifth step is to know when to call for help. Asthma attacks can be very dangerous if traditional treatment methods are not working. If you follow the first four steps of the asthma action plan and do not improve, it is vital that you get help immediately from family, friends, a doctor, or by calling 911 for emergency response.

Step six is practice. While it is important to have a plan for asthma attacks, it is also vitally important to practice your plan. The Special Health Report by Harvard Medical School also provides scenarios to help rehearse responses to different types of asthma attacks.

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