Community Chat

[newziesuzie]

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@Burnsite wrote:

Hi, newziesuzie, I was hoping to see a thread about this.  My sister heard a report on NPR about childhood asthma that may have been about this same study but it emphasized two quite different things.  I was interested b/c I had a touch of asthma as a kid (exercise related, mostly).

As my sister related the NPR story she heard in her car, there are two factors a recent study correlated with childhood asthma and it wasn't a super clean environment.

Breast feeding versus bottle feeding:  Bottle fed babies have asthma more often; the idea is that the micro-organisms ingested with mother's milk protect the babies, whereas cow's milk does not.

And. . .

Antibiotics administered in infancy can destroy bacteria in the baby's body that are protective against the illness.  Antibiotic regimens are correlated with childhood asthma, too.

An earlier post I wrote was either swallowed or attached to another thread?  So here is an attempt to reconstruct it. 

It's second hand info but there may be more info on the NPR website about the study involved and the topic.

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Thanks @Burnsite!  I'll look for an NPR story.

😊

[newziesuzie]

I'm so sorry for those of you that have

asthma or your loved ones do, 

Thanks for the interesting and informative

posts everybody.

👍👍👍

[newziesuzie]

I wonder @Burnsite if this was the NPR piece?

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/30/444746094/missing-microbes-provide-clues-about-a...

"Missing Microbes Provide Clues About Asthma Risk"

[Cats3000]

I am 75+ years old.  I've had asthma since the day I was born.  I doubt that it had anything to do with anything other than my DNA.

[newziesuzie]

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@Cats3000 wrote:

I am 75+ years old.  I've had asthma since the day I was born.  I doubt that it had anything to do with anything other than my DNA.

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Im sorry you deal with asthma @Cats3000.

These studies don't say the new findings are the

only cause of ALL childhood asthma though, just

ideas of reasons for the increase.

[Topaz Gem]

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@VCamp2748 wrote:

This kind of confirms what I've believed for a very long time.  The anti-germ obsession has gone too far.  We have immune systems ready to help our bodies fight off the bad stuff, but it can't work properly if it never "meets" the bad stuff.  This does not mean we shouldn't have good hygienic practices.  In my lifetime, I've touched thousands of public door handles, thousands of grocery carts, etc. & never got cooties.  I've even dropped food on my kitchen floor that I just wiped off & ate anyway - only for myself; I wouldn't serve the food to others.  What does usually get me sick is co-workers & others who come to work, or school, or the grocery store, when THEY are contagious.

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Good point, VCamp.  I did the same thing during my childhood.  I grew up with public telephones which I used frequently (no one ever wiped them down before using), public drinking fountains, no antibacterial products, just good soap and water.  I never got sick either, except during the traditional cold and flu season when everyone was sick.

[Mominohio]

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@SahmIam wrote:

As an asthmatic for the past 20 years (I was an adult when it began), I'm going to cry BS on this. The same issues of "too clean" has been applied to food allergies as well, especially peanuts.

I grew up with animals and spent 4 months a year on the family farm; trust me, bare feet in the chicken coop, running across the cow pastures flinging cow pies at cousins and friends...yeah, germs were everywhere, lol.

My mother smoked; during her pregnancy with me, while she fed me, all the time...that was how it was and is still done by most in her family. She would smoke in the car driving us to school with the windows up.  Doctors believe this did damage early on to my lungs and bronchi tubes; trust me, I'm paying the price now.

I sit on two boards that deal with asthma; one for a children's hospital and one research group regarding adults. The highest number of children with asthma is found in major cities in the US and income plays a large role. Environmental factors  (location of factories, smog, water pollution, etc) are huge when it deals with asthma. I can't stand being in Denver...I can't breathe. Drive up the mountains away from the city and OMG, the difference.

There's a reason why asthmatics are advised to not open windows on poor air quality days and to run their AC; to use HEPA filter systems in their office/bedrooms and dust mites covers on their bed...if we didn't keep our homes clean, we'd be in big trouble.

IMO, this article is an attempt to shift away from the fact that industries world wide spew filth into the environment...poison in another form.

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I will say that you have much more knowledge and first hand experience than I do, and nothing of the causes/connections you state is at all wrong in my opinion.

What I will respectfully contribute is that everyone who shares the same disease/condition/illness most likely didn't get it/isn't triggered by/isn't helped by the same set of factors.

While everything you say is true, I personally won't rule out that what is stated in the article could be a contrituting factor for SOME who suffer. I don't understand why some think science is an all or nothing, completely right or wrong kind of thing. There are often different factors for different peope/situations.

[SahmIam]

The reason I stated what I did about the article was not that it was all or nothing nor that it was to be dismissed; it's the fact that for 20 plus years, studies/research has shown that air quality plays the most respect regarding asthmatic health. Asthmatics and those with pulmonary health issues are the canaries in the coal mine; WE feel the issues much faster than those without pulmonary issues and yet, we are told we are imagining it/just being weak. I can go into a building and immediately feel my airways constrict due to a chemical even though no one else can. Why? It is said that our weaknesses become our strengths as a way to survive. I feel it first which means it's there... you'll just feel it much later.

The issue is that gov'ts don't want to change their deals with big business/air quality control/pollution. Why? Too many reasons to count. But I'll tell you this: using XYZ brand of soap is NOTHING for child compared to attempting to breathe in a room filled with second hand smoke; or breathing in the gases given off by rodent urine/feces (or any house pet who may be peeing in places unknown to the homeowner). Growing up in a community where you're breathing in polluted air (think LA, NYC, DC, etc) has nothing to do with soap, not enough animal exposure or keeping your windows closed.

It's easier to shift the "problem" onto these things then to make company's all over the world clean up their act. Yes, many things trigger asthma attacks: pollen from trees and plants, dust from paints/building materials, ash from fireplaces and BBQ's, dust mites, cat dander and the list goes on. But every asthmatic I've known (personally) can handle that; going into a smog/polluted city? A building that sprays chemicals to make the air "smell nicer" or uses toxic products to clean with? WHole different story.

That's what I was trying to say : )

[LTT1]

@newziesuzie@SahmIam

I added your names with the @ symbol just cause!

According to our asthma/allergest... a person's immune system can "take" exposure to allergens up to a point... until the immune system is overwhelmed to the point that the body starts a destructive process.

Our daughter had asthma from the age of 18months, but it was called "allergic airways."

We had no smoking around her, but the air in the metroplex (DFW) has kids coughing, etc.  Adults too.

This disease process has nothing to do with environments being too CLEAN, IMO.

[NoelSeven]

I have asthma, it's part of the lupus profile.  My daughter developed asthma in childhood.  I don't know if there's a genetic element or not.

My daughter loved play, in the dirt and swimming.  She went to camp every summer.  Away camp, in the woods.  She always came back with a lot of mosquito bites and various cuts and bruises.  She was not the princess type.  My point is, she was not raised in a sterile environment, she was also raised with a dog and cats.

When she was in high school, kids gathered during lunch hour in the yard and so many of them whipped out their inhalers. 

The thinking is that pollutants in the air has done it, and in CA there is evidence to back that up.

I had a couple of bad attacks in the beginning, before I got the meds/inhaler and learned what to do.  Scared the living daylights out of me, not being able to breathe.