Allergy plays an important role for women of child-bearing age suffering from bronchial asthma. In order to avoid asthma exacerbations and get rid of symptoms, it is necessary to avoid contacts with possible allergens.
Pets in Your House
Fish feed, feathers and bird excrements, scurf, saliva and other pets’ excrements are the strongest source of allergens. If you have an allergy to any of these components, further contact with a cause-significant allergen is forbidden for you. Danger threatens not the only woman. According to studies, the presence of a cat in the house, where the mother suffers from asthma, increases the risk of allergic disease by 3 times. And although in recent years there are reports claiming that in some cases early contact of children with cats reduces allergy risks, we can only talk theoretically how accurate and verified this information is, but practically we should remember that in order to bear a healthy child, a pregnant woman should take all measures to avoid contacts with allergens.
Give Fight to Smoking!
Pregnant women must not smoke! But refusal from active smoking, this most harmful habit, is not enough. It is necessary to eschew any contacts with tobacco smoke. Staying in a smoke-filled area, smoking inside the house can cause tremendous harm to the woman and her unborn child. Even if only a father smokes in the family, the probability of asthma development in a predisposed child increased by 3-4 times.
Infections
Respiratory infections, dangerous for any pregnant woman, many times more dangerous at asthma, because carry the risk of exacerbation. Of course, it is necessary to avoid respiratory infections, but, unfortunately, completely protect yourself from contact with them is almost impossible. Therefore, at high risk of flu in those cases where flu provoked severe asthma exacerbations earlier, vaccination with influenza vaccine is recommended (but not earlier than 3 months pregnancy).
The video below will be useful for a pregnant woman suffering from asthma:
Notice
Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends a seasonal influenza vaccination to all pregnant women with gestational age of 14 weeks or more, as well as women, referred to the risk group for influenza, regardless of gestational age. Studies confirmed the effectiveness of vaccination in patients with pulmonary disease and patients receiving treatment with corticosteroids. Since inactivated influenza vaccine is currently used, it does not carry negative consequences for the fetus and is safe, as researches confirmed. It is also not dangerous for breastfeeding mothers. Moreover, antibodies produced in response to the vaccine, penetrate through breast milk and provide additional protection for the child.
In upper respiratory tract infections, the nose should be cleaned regularly with warm normal saline. A similar effect can be achieved with a nebulizer or inhaling normal saline or Borjomi through a mask. Some nebulizers can be switched to the level of drug delivery to the upper respiratory tract. Canadian Health&Care Pharmacy can provide you with normal saline of high quality and all the necessary equipment for inhalations online.
In some cases, there is a need to use antibiotics, but in any case, they should not be used without doctor’s prescription. Use of streptomycin, tetracycline, aminoglycosides, sulfonamides (including Biseptolum), laevomycetin, quinolones and fluoroquinolones is absolutely unacceptable. Choosing antibiotic a doctor every time weighs the ratio of “risk/benefit”, and takes into consideration not only the fact of pregnancy and gestational age, but also disease nature that caused the need for antibiotics, the properties of probable causative agent and, of course, allergic history. For example, during pregnancy penicillin antibiotics are safe enough, but they are often a source of allergic reactions. Benzylpenicillin prescription, the ancestor of this group, is avoided even in cases where there are no indications for its intolerance. The need and possibility for semi-synthetic penicillins, cephalosporins or erythromycin intake is determined by a doctor on strict conditions. Antibiotics intake “for prevention” is unacceptable.