Copyright © Susan Millar

More than 17 million people in the US alone suffer from asthma, a serious lung ailment, resulting in 5,000 asthma deaths a year. Asthma is an allergic inflammation of the lungs, which is generally triggered by pollens, molds, dust, animal dander, air pollution, chemicals, exercise, temperature changes or ingestion of certain foods.

During an asthma attack the walls of the lungs become inflamed and the mucus membranes fill with fluid and thick, sticky mucus making it difficult to breathe. Asthma symptoms can include a scratchy throat, coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing and a tight feeling in the chest. An asthma attack can be mild, moderate or severe and lasting for a few minutes, hours, or even several days.

Knowing when to get emergency help for a severe attack can save your life. If you are experiencing the following, you should seek immediate medical attention:

• your medication does not control your symptoms
• you have extreme difficulty breathing, talking and walking,
• your fingernails or lips are turning blue,
• your chest feels tight and your ribs are pulled inward as you breathe,
• your nostrils flare when you breathe

The key to understanding and controlling asthma is to know yourself. One person may get a severe asthma reaction from a slight whiff of perfume, while another asthma sufferer has no reaction at all to the very same trigger. Everyone who suffers from asthma is unique and is effected differently, there are several variables to consider:

• asthma triggers and allergies
• living and work environment
• general state of health and immune system
• stress levels
• nutrition and diet
• geographical location and climate

Quite often things that we have eaten, used or are a part of our environment for years can suddenly become asthma triggers. Since there are so many variables involved that affect getting control of your asthma, the first thing you should do is keep a notebook or journal. This will help you pinpoint your triggers. Once you know what they are, you can either remove these triggers or reduce them as much as possible. For example, you may be allergic to your pet without even realizing it. My friend kept two cats for years. She often suffered from sinus congestion, but never connected it to the cats. Eventually she developed asthma, so she started to keep a journal and began to see a pattern - she eventually realized that every time she washed and groomed her cats, she had an asthma attack. She was reluctant to admit this since they were like her own children to her, but through her journal it became obvious that cat dander was a major trigger. Since she really didn't want to get rid of her cats, she was able to take several measures to minimize her exposure to the cat dander. One of these was to take her cats to a pet groomer instead of doing it herself. This change, combined with a few other measures helped to prevent further asthma attacks.

Some people have both food and environmental triggers or allergies that they are unaware of. This can make determining specific triggers and controlling asthma symptoms much more complex, so keeping a journal is important. If you find that you are feeling asthmatic after consuming some food or drink, one of those items could be the culprit, but since you have also eaten several things during the day, it's not always easy to know exactly what it was that caused the problem. If you record details of everything that was eaten each time you experienced asthma symptoms, you'll see a pattern developing, which will help you to discover exactly what your trigger is. Once you determine your triggers, you can then start to eliminate them or minimize them as much as possible. This will help bring your asthma under control and help reduce your asthma symptoms. Combining these measures with a good diet, stress reduction and natural supplements that help eliminate asthma and allergy symptoms will ensure an active, healthy life.

Susan Millar is a former asthma and allergy sufferer. She is a researcher and the author of "The Dramatic Asthma Relief Report, based on extensive research from internationally respected medical publications about genuinely effective alternative treatment for asthma & allergies, which helped her to eliminate her asthma and allergies. This book has helped many other sufferers worldwide to do the same.