One of the major factors in respiratory problems is the allergy. There are, of course, many kinds of allergies. There are allergies to foods, like nuts, fish and others. There are also similar allergies to food components, like gluten, which can cause lots of people problems as well. The one that’s most pertinent here are allergies that deal with things you inhale. Almost everyone knows hay fever in the springtime. Ever had a big cold during one of the transitional months?  Ever feel like you can’t breathe because of how stuffed up you feel? Allergies to perfumes, cigarette smoke and animal fur/dander are also very common complaints. For people with asthma, this can be a real problem and sometimes causes an actual asthma attack, but for regular people, it can just be downright uncomfortable. Sometimes a humidifier can help this, or other kinds of respiratory therapy. See you doctor if you have really extreme allergies and take a look at this University of North Carolina site for some more information.

One of the main reasons that people need a respiratory aid is that they have asthma. But what is asthma anyway? Asthma is an illness where the airway walls are inflamed. A greater amount of mucus will gather on those walls and you end up with a situation where you’re coughing. The wall becomes more inflamed and contracts in a way that makes you hardly able to breathe. It’s pretty dangerous. When this chain reaction gets too far, it becomes an asthma attack. This doesn’t happen everytime, but when it is a chronic situation, it can really be called asthma. Most people have this kind of symptom once in awhile, because of a cold or other illness. But it’s when it becomes chronic and ever more serious that you have to watch out. But this is a very important thing. It’s your airway. You ought to get treatment whenever it happens. Not because it’s necessarily asthma, but because the doctor can relieve that pain and panic when that happens.

What is a better place to find a review of a respiratory aid than on a message board for the parents of college students? There really isn’t anywhere else. We have talked about humidifiers before and there are some issues that you have to pay attention to in buying a humidifier. One of the biggest things to watch for is what size room is most appropriate with any given humidifier. If you get one that’s either too efficient or not efficient enough for the room, it could get over worked, or kick out a few too many byproducts for your comfort. But another big issue is that it needs to be cleaned frequently. Some models are designed to be cleaned easily at any time, but some of them are designed poorly for that. These parents on the message board are discussing this issue in particular. One parent has clearly bought one that gets dirty quickly (they all do, actually) but you can’t get it open to clean the parts that need it. Read the full dialogue here.

When do you consider giving someone emergency oxygen?  Under what conditions is it really necessary? Well, this site has all the answers for you. When the person is taking too few or too many breaths per minute, you’ll have to at least consider giving the patient emergency oxygen from a cannister or whatever else. There are important things that you have to pay attention to otherwise as well. In order to give that, you have to have an oxygen cannister, some sort of regulatory device and a delivery device (like a nasal cannula or other bit that will go directly to the patient’s body for breaths). It’s a rather complicated process, but once you read the details here, it will be much clearer for you. Take a look and learn something new.

A few years ago, the government was working on tightening the rules of whether you could file lawsuits about respirators. The rule was to be that you couldn’t sue for manufacturing defects or insufficient warnings if the respirator is NIOSH approved. This can be easily understood, however, in the context of the time it was being written. This was the era of the bird flu fears. Many people expected that the bird flu was on its way and that we needed both injections of flu vaccine and supplies for first responders when it happens. They claim that it would be much harder to supply hospitals, ambulances and other services if the manufacturers have to be concerned with their own liability in producing the respirator. So it was intended as a way to streamline the process of supplying those who would need to respond to an emergency. More details are here.

One thing that I don’t believe we have discussed yet is the issue of pollution in respiration. There is almost unanimous agreement that pollution in the environment, from industry, cars, cows, machines, air conditioning systems, and many other possibilities. Most of these things don’t give you the chance to do anything about it. When you can do something about it, for example by turning off an appliance or putting in a filter, you should probably do that. Almost nothing else so permeates our bodies like air that we breathe. But there are lots of other things that we have no control over. Well, there’s a professor who has been studying pollution and this kind of thing for several years now, without a whole lot of result as of yet. And his goal is to see how the lungs actually react to pollution when it comes into your body and perhaps find some way to stop that from developing any further organically in the body.

A study came out last summer that was investigating the issue of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). VAP tends to happen when someone is put on ventilation, for example in the exigencies of an emergency, or for a longer period of time for a longer illness. This illness can strike up to 15% of people on a ventilator and between 20% and 40% of those with VAP are killed by the illness. Obviously, there are other reasons for that, because people on ventilators are generally more susceptible to pneumonia and being killed by it. But the study found that silver coated tubes lead to a 36% reduction in the occurance of the illness. Talk about looking for the silver-lining! The silver will kill microorganisms and other kinds of bacteria by holding their enzymes and generally preventing their reproductive processes. This is a much more simple solution than you might have had before, so it’s a great discovery in improving people’s health on ventilators.

There is an interesting question out there about what respirators are and what they’re good for. It comes up on occasion whether it’s worthwhile to get a respirator for the office or a business or other kinds of places. And the bottom line according to this government fact sheet is that there is no catch-all solution to the issue. Respirators, gas masks and other such objects are mainly intended to protect you against one particular kind of danger rather than helping you in any situation. So if you want one or have one, make sure you read all the directions and paperwork properly and thoroughly. This way, you can know under what situations it is to be used and under which is will be of no help. If you are ordering one for an office or for your family or any other group of people, make sure that they know all the pertinent information as well, so that they can also properly use the respirator in the correct situations.

This page is a bit more technical than the ones that we have been talking about more recently. It is designed for those who are or are becoming nurses. Obviously, this information will not be necessarily useful for most patients but there are a lot of people who will be very interested in how this is done anyway. It explains that the caretaker or nurse has a bunch of steps to even set it up. It explains the setup, and then, if applicable, how the procedure is actually followed through. There are several different procedures on the site, and it explains the differences. The point of CPAP, though, is to help the user breathe more properly, from the continuous, consistent pressure of the breath to the freshness of it. For infants, this can be especially important, because they are developing so fast and any major interference can lead to fairly major problems. Take a look and see some interesting info.