Asthma : No Inhaler

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Asthma Inhaler
Asthma Inhaler

After another all-nighter at the library, Janice entered her dormitory hoping to finally get some well-deserved sleep. Noticing that her roommate, Grace, seem to be asleep she quietly changed and went to bed.  As she finally started to slip off to sleep she heard a funny whistling sound, she snuggling deeper into her bed ignoring it willing herself to sleep. The whistling, however, continued to get louder and louder but now it was combined with a grasping sound as if someone was trying and failing to catch their breath. Janice jumped out of bed, ran to her roommate’s desk to her inhaler. Janice pulled Grace into comfortable sitting position allowing her to lean slightly forward with her elbows on her knees. This relieves some pressure from her diaphragm. She proceeded to give Grace a dose of her inhaler, encouraging her to breathe deeply and slowly. After 5-10 minutes she gave her a second dose, Janice watched happily as Grace’s breathing slowly went back to normal.

In this story, the asthma treatment was cut and dry but what would you do if the person does not have an inhaler or worse is far from medical help without an inhaler? Well it is simple keep calm and follow these simple instructions. There many ways of treating asthma without the use of an inhaler, below are some.

1)         Caffeine

Caffeine contains a drug, Theophylline, which was originally used as a treatment for asthma before modern medicine provided better and more effective means of control and treatment. This drug allows the bronchial tubes to open wider, allowing air to flow into the lungs. Simply giving the patient two cans of coke will be enough to temporarily ease the asthma attack enough for you to transport him/her to seek medical care.

NB: Do not give the patient a large amount caffeine as it has a negative feedback response. If too much caffeine is ingested the asthma attack will become worse.

2)        Steam

This is one of oldest forms of asthma treatments it allows the patient to breathe a little easier. Simply placing the patient’s face over steaming water will open up their airways.

NB: Steam and Caffeine together make a great temporary treatment for an asthma attack.

3)        Removal

Removal of clothing that is constricting the chest will open up the chest area and take the pressure off the diaphragm. Removal of person from the trigger and also from cold temperatures helps to lessen the chances of the asthma attack reoccurring. It is also important to remove crowds or unnecessary attention from the patient as mass panic and excitement will only make the attack worse. Removal of the crowd will allow for more air to flow to the patient.

In all of this ensure that you, yourself keep calm because if you, the responder, are panicking it will also cause the patient to panic leading to a more severe attack.

Remember when faced with an asthma attack patient, BREATHE everything will be fine.

 

 

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