I
am sure that if you suffer from asthma, you have spent
many countless hours with your doctor getting as much
medication and information as possible. Not only
about your asthma but the effects that it may have on
the rest of the body. Once again, if you have not
done so, I encourage you to do it because it is very
important that you know as much as you can about the
disease and how much it impacts not only your lungs but
the rest of your body.
I
cannot stress enough that the more you know, the better
you can control your environment. After all, your
health is not only the responsibility of your physician
but yours as well.
There
have been recent studies, which even though
they are in their infancy, are starting to show that there is a
relationship between asthma and heart problems.
Why? because of the incredible amount of stress
asthma places not only on the lungs but the heart as
well. After all, one of the best ways to stop an
asthma attack is to receive any type of stimulant that
will help bring the lungs back to normal. Most of
what you do in order to accomplish that requires
adrenaline to be produced or introduced in the body and
what happens when adrenaline is released? The
heart pumps at a higher rate and immediately goes under
stress. Now, remember that the same situation
applies to the asthma attack before you take any
medication. The heart attempts to compensate for
the lack of oxygen by pumping at a higher rate and in
this manner keeps the
lungs going.
Recently I
have gone through severe episodes and had to
go back to steroids. Even though they are
completely necessary for severe asthma attacks, their
side effects are devastating and do put stress on the
heart. Bear in mind that the study does not imply
that people on medication will suffer from heart
problems more that those who are not taking any
medication for their asthma or that if you suffer from
asthma eventually you will have heart problems.
That is not the purpose of the research. The purpose is
to find out if there is truly a relationship between
these two and if there is, how are they going to treat
it.
Part
of the research was that they worked with people that
have never smoked and several of them developed heart
problems the same. If you have asthma, please do
not smoke. Smoking is terrible for asthmatics and
your general health.
If
you want to do more research about asthma and heart
risk, I recommend that you visit www.webmd.com
and do a thorough research on the topic. I am sure that
there are a lot more places where you can find this
information, but so far this site has been very
accurate and it is very comprehensive.
I
know a lot of you have seen my site before and are
familiar with the fact that I almost beg you to research
your disease, the drugs you are given for it, and
any new information that comes out. I do it
because the more you know, the easier will be to handle
it and you will not have to spend too much time at the
doctor's office, hospital or in bed. When you get
as ill as some of us get, knowledge is the first weapon
to keep the disease under control or until you can get
to your physician. If you have heard the saying
"knowledge is power" is due to the saying
accuracy.
