Recognizing Your Asthma Trigger

Have you been suffering from asthma attacks lately but do not know what caused your frequent attacks? Asthma is a serious disease that could cause a lot of discomforts and sometimes it could really lead into some serious troubles. However, most asthma attacks can be prevented if you only know your asthma trigger.

When we say asthma trigger, we mean those things that can cause the body to reaction in such a way that it causes airway constriction and airway inflammation. Different people have different asthma triggers. Thus, if there were two of you who have asthma in the house, it is possible that you two may have different asthma triggers.

Two Types of Asthma Triggers

Two types of triggers could cause asthma attacks. These types of triggers are the allergens and the non-allergens or the irritants. Both of these types of triggers could cause a serious asthma attack on a person. Knowing what triggers your asthma would really help you a lot in preventing an attack.

The Allergen Asthma Trigger

The first type of trigger is the allergen, which affects at least 80% of children with asthma and about 50% of adults who have asthma. Allergens can be anything that causes allergic reactions from a person such as pollen, dust, mites and those strong smelling substances.

For some people, having pets in the house such as dogs and cats could cause an asthma attack. If you have asthma but really want to have a pet in house, you should first consult your doctor before you get a dog or a cat. It will not do you any good if you keep a dog or a cat in the house and keep having asthma episodes. If you are allergic to cats and dogs, get a pet which does not have lots of fur. For instance, you can get a goldfish instead of a cat or a dog.

Dust is a very common asthma trigger especially among children. Cigarette smokes could be very irritating and people with asthma should avoid this since this also a very serious asthma trigger. There are also some types of food that could cause allergic reactions and subsequently triggers an asthma episode.

The Non-Allergen Asthma Trigger

The second type of asthma trigger is the non-allergen or irritants. This is a non-specific category where a number of things could fall. An example of non-allergen asthma trigger is an upper respiratory tract infection such as sinusitis. Thus, knowing what causes your asthma is important, because that is the key to controlling it.