Asthma attacks affect mainly adults. It is normal for up to 1 of 6 -7 (15%) of all onset asthma in adults due to various substances in the work environment. Asthma is the most common occupational respiratory disease in industrialized countries. Which exposure may cause asthma?

Allergic occupational asthma is usually caused by exposure to large the molecular substances, usually proteins. Typical examples are asthma among bakers because of sensitization to flour, and among farmers and people working in very expensive to be allergic to animal fur. It is covered in more than 300 different substances that can provoke allergic occupational asthma. An overview can be found for example www.asmanet.com. Smokers and people with atopic disposition are the most prone to allergic occupational asthma.

Non-allergic asthma is usually exposure to small substances. Several types of plastic components can cause asthma, and most notably different isocyanates that are component of polyuretanplastic. Foam is a type polyuretan plastic, other type used for paints and coatings with special requirements for protection (cars, ships, offshore installations).

A second important set of products is cleaning products. These are used as a spray and have a strong mucosal irritant effect by inhalation. Welders who get asthma respond to mucosal irritation welding fumes through a non-allergic mechanism.

A subgroup of non-allergic asthma are called row (Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome). These are conditions caused by accident characterized exposure to mucosal irritants such as chlorine, nitrogen dioxide, acids and alkalis, such as leaks or fumes caused by fire.

The concept of work-related asthma includes both asthma caused by factors at work (occupational asthma) and asthma aggravated by such factors. Both types can benefit from measures to reduce harmful exposure in the workplace. Both can also be recognized as occupational diseases, which will provide economic benefits.

If conditions are right in the early stages of the disease, some being quite good and many can have an easier life. Although the disease is well controlled, the disease condition worsens if one continues as before in the same working environment.
How to diagnose?

People with doctor diagnosed asthma who responds yes to the two questions below, by definition, work-related asthma.

1. Have you ever had respiratory symptoms (cough, sputum, wheezing or beep sounds in the chest) in connection with your work?
2. Improved symptoms at the absence from work?

Sensitivity to plant fragrances and is quite common among asthma sufferers. It is important to be aware that such sensitivity can exist without that person is allergic, without the body reacts with undesirable antibodies and therefore no allergy tests for impact. But in an allergic tolerance is often impaired. Mucosa has already been affected by any allergies, and when the symptoms reported at the lower concentrations of fragrances.

Skin reactions: When the skin comes in contact with plants, you may experience symptoms of the contact site. But substances can also be drawn up and spread via the bloodstream and cause symptoms in all other parts of the body. Reactions can also occur by contact with micro-particles that plants emit into the air. (See Useful to know about eczema).

Eating food of vegetable products can be attributed to several factors. It is common to distinguish between reactions which are immunological (food allergy) and non-immunological (food intolerance). They are the allergic reactions that are most serious, and they can be triggered by minimal amounts of the allergen. (See Useful to know about food allergies).

Cross Reactions: Many people who react to pollen from birch, also react in some other plants, fruits and vegetables. If, for example, become sensitive to birch figs, it’s easy to get a latex allergy. This is an expression of so-called cross allergy. The immune system does not differentiate allergens from birch and allergens from stone fruits and certain other foods.

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways that leads to attacks with heavy breathing or cough. Anyone can get asthma. Asthma can be hereditary and often occur with eczema and allergies. Non-hereditary asthma can be triggered by various environmental factors such as tobacco smoke, air pollution and moisture in the home in people with a predisposition for the development of asthma.

In small children, RS-virus as a triggering factor.
In asthmatics there are a number of environmental factors such as amplifier and triggers the symptoms of viral infections, smoking, climatic factors, cold, heavy physical exertion and allergens.

If asthma on several things: cramps in the muscles around the airways, swelling of the mucous membranes that make the airways narrower and the accumulation of viscous mucus. These things are reversible, so that good and bad periods can replace each other.

The causes of asthma

Asthma is among the most commonly experienced ailments, given that it is an allergic reaction potentially brought on by a number of things. It can be caused by what we do, as well as what we eat, and even where we are.

Asthmatic attacks happen when the respiratory system is restricted, this occurring when the muscles un the system contract in reaction to contact with toxins or other substances that cause it to react in that way, hence lessening the capacity of the lungs and the breathing systems in general.

Your doctor will prescribe an inhalation device that propels a drug into the airways at times of need, this drug clearing the airways by encouraging the muscles to expand and giving back some of the lost capacity in an instant.

Allergies and pollen

The number of potential allergic triggers is vast, and here are some of the more common:

Pollen, the minute seeds from plants that are carried on the air, can be inhaled without knowledge, and these cause irritation to the lungs and airways that result in the allergic reaction needed to create an asthma attack.

Pollen is at its worst in the summer months, and in particular the asthma sufferer should steer clear of crops such as oil seed rape, a margarine ingredient grown in large quantities and recognisable by fields of bright yellow flowers, as this plant produces pollen that causes a particularly strong reaction in asthma sufferers.

If it is not pollen that stimulates your asthma, it may well be the diet that you follow.

Allergies to what we eat

What we eat has a direct effect on all of our bodily functions, as food is essentially fuel for the body. However, many foods contain parts that are not palatable by the body – toxins – and these must be broken down by the relevant organ and expelled or neutralised in the right way.

Some toxins, and in cases non-toxins, can be responsible for allergic reactions leading to asthma, and it is important that you discover which have an adverse effect on you.

If, for instance, you trend to suffer from asthma following a drink of milk, that could be the trigger. Many foodstuffs can have this effect – we are all individual, after all – and the way to deduce which one is affecting you is to follow an elimination diet, in which you routinely exclude certain foods from you diet on certain days, and take note of the effects – adverse or otherwise – on your body.

Excess weight and the heart
Being overweight, either through lack of exercise or an unhealthy diet, is also a cause of asthma as the excess weight is a burden on the heart, forcing it to work much harder than it should in order to pump the blood around your body. This has a knock on effect on your respiratory system, which also has to work harder to ingest oxygen to feed the heart. Have your appropriate weight measured and determined, and make sure you stick to a regime that helps you return to a better, more healthy weight.