WeightWatchersRecipe

Treatment for asthma primarily involves three main components:

1. Monitoring of your peak expiratory flow and asthma symptoms

2. Avoidance of triggers

3. Treatment with medications

Monitoring of Your Peak Expiratory Flow and Asthma Symptoms

Monitoring your child's symptoms is essential to gaining control of his or her asthma. In order to do this, you and your child's doctor need to develop an asthma action plan. The plan will allow you to determine how well your child's asthma is controlled and what actions need to be taken.

You will monitor your child's asthma using a peak expiratory flow meter, a handheld device allowing you to determine the airflow in your lungs. The peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) measures how fast air is moving out of your child's lungs. As asthma worsens PEFR decreases.

Your doctor will specify three zones related to your PEFR: Green, yellow, and red-- just like a traffic light. After determining your goal PEFR, your actions will depend upon your child's zone.

Green: A green zone PEFR indicates your child's asthma and lungs are doing well. Your child feels well and does not have coughing or wheezing. Your child's PEFR is 80% or more of your best peak flow. Your child can continue routine daily medications without altering activities.

Yellow: With a yellow zone PEFR, you may begin to notice an increase in both frequency and severity of symptoms and a drop in PEFR to between 50-80% of best peak flow. Your child may notice increased cough, waking up at night, and not be able to do all normal activities. Based on the asthma care plan, you will make changes to your child's medication usage-- possibly increasing the dose and/ or frequency.

Red: A red zone PEFR indicates a more significant airway obstruction and requires your immediate attention. Generally, patients are short of breath, actively wheezing, and cannot complete normal activities. You will again change your child's routine medication based on your asthma care plan.

In addition to recording PEFR, your healthcare provider may also ask you to keep a record of how often your child needs to use rescue, or fast-acting relief medication, and symptoms of nighttime cough. He or she may use this diary to adjust your child's medication, either increase or decrease, depending on the symptoms.

"The use of toenail nicotine is a novel way to objectively measure exposure to tobacco smoke and could become a useful test to identify high-risk individuals in the future," lead researcher Wael Al-Delaimy said.

Al-Delaimy noted that while it is well-known that smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including heart attack and stroke, physicians cannot always obtain accurate data about a patient's smoking history simply by asking. Other tests of nicotine body burden, such as...

For the study, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers had looked at data from two large trials which were originally carried out in the late 80s and early 90s to find out the link between blood pressure and several factors, for example diet and weight loss. During those studies, some of the study subjects were asked to reduce their sodium intake by up to 35%. A few times during the study period, urine samples over a 24-hour period were collected. These samples w...

Self-Care at Home

General recommendations are to resume normal, or near normal, activity as soon as possible. Stretching or activities that place additional strain on the back are discouraged, however.

* Sleeping with a pillow between the knees while lying on one side may increase comfort. Some doctors recommend lying on your back with a pillow under your knees.

* No specific back exercises were found that improved pain or increased functional ability in people with acute back pain. Exercise, ho...

"We found dramatic changes in the treatment patterns for diabetes during the past decade," author G. Caleb Alexander said. "This includes a remarkable change in drugs, as well as significant increases in costs. [But] the jury is still out as to whether these changes are worth it. The million dollar question is: Are these changes going to lead to overall significant improvement in the outcomes that matter to patients and their doctors?"

Newer diabetes medications such as exenatide (marketed as ...

Asthma is a common disease that can lead to chronic symptoms, including coughing, wheezing, and difficulty breathing.

Although many children have mild asthma, or have their more moderate or severe asthma under good control with long-term preventative medicines, others have poorly controlled or hard-to-control asthma with:

* frequent asthma attacks

* poor sleep

* missed school days, sporting events, or other activities

* visits to the emergency room

* hospitalizations

Although asthma deaths in childr...

The treatment of arthritis is very dependent on the precise type of arthritis present. An accurate diagnosis increases the chances for successful treatment. Treatments available include physical therapy, splinting, cold pack application, paraffin wax dips, antiinflammation medications, immune-altering medications, and surgical operations.

What is the national financial impact of arthritis?

It has been estimated that the total cost of the arthritis bill for the United States, in terms of hospita...

Who is affected by arthritis?

Arthritis sufferers include men and women, children and adults. Approximately 350 million people worldwide have arthritis. Nearly 40 million people in the United States are affected by arthritis, including over a quarter million children!

More than 27 million Americans have osteoarthritis. Approximately 1.3 million Americans suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.

More than half of those with arthritis are under 65 years of age. Nearly 60% of Americans with arthritis are ...