Pregnancy Could Be Traumatic for Asthmatics

When we don’t hear about a specific topic in the news media, we can sometimes be fooled into thinking that what was once a problem has somehow improved. “Out of sight, out of mind,” as it were. One such health issue that receives scant attention but remains a health issue is asthma. A cursory glance of statistics gathered by the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology reveals just how prevalent a problem it is on millions of American lives:

• One-quarter of annual emergency room visits are asthma related
  
  
• $10 billion in annual health care costs goes toward asthma treatments ($5 billion of it going toward prescriptions alone)
  
  
• Approximately 5,000 deaths per year are asthma related
  
  
• 20 million Americans currently live with asthma

As you can see, asthma hasn’t gone anywhere. It affects one in every four Americans and manifests itself through an inability to breathe properly due to the disease’s impact on the lungs. The effects of asthma (difficulty breathing, constant coughing) are often triggered through certain activities or allergens, activities like jogging or allergens found in food or the air.

Though asthma affects a greater proportion of children than it does adults, no one person is immune to its reach. Deaths resulting from asthma attacks tend to affect those living in low-income homes or communities and minorities (the prevalence of asthma is 40 percent higher among blacks than whites), but it’s particularly dangerous to be asthmatic while pregnant because a lack of oxygen to the body can adversely impact fetal development. And just as the incidence rate is higher in children and minorities, since 2002, asthma appears to be occurring more and more frequently during women’s pregnancies.

Treating asthma attacks quickly are essential for anyone who suffers from it, but a recent study suggests that pregnant women need to be especially vigilant in how quickly and how effectively its treated.

As a natural health advocate, I’m generally opposed to prescription based treatments like those traditionally prescribed to asthma sufferers. The hesitancy with which pregnant women are prescribed these medications out of fear of harming a fetus’s development illustrates why I’m opposed to them. As such, it’s essential that quality alternatives be used…and used regularly. Here’s why:

According to a report from Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, University of New Mexico researchers found that women who “poorly controlled” their asthmatic symptoms delivered premature babies more frequently than those who controlled their asthma. To be specific, women who poorly controlled their asthmatic symptoms during the first six months of their pregnancies delivered prematurely at almost double the rate of those who were able to control such symptoms (11.4 percent vs. 7.6 percent). How did the researchers’ define “poorly control”? If their symptoms caused any kind of restlessness while sleeping; not exactly my definition of “poorly controlled” asthma, but the leniency with which it’s defined demonstrates just how impactful asthmatic conditions can be on a developing baby.

Delivering prematurely doesn’t guarantee a baby’s impaired development, but the risk of death, disease, infection and any number of other health maladies like jaundice (the disease that causes this is called hyperbilirubinemia and it affects approximately 80 percent of all premature babies) all increase when asthma isn’t controlled during pregnancy.

To find out more about asthma and treating it both naturally and effectively, please review my article titled, “Powerful Asthma Controlling Remedies Without the Side Effects.” Your baby’s healthy development may depend on it.