Have you ever walked into a room and your breathing became difficult, you started wheezing and looked for the closest door for escape? It is called Allergy Asthma.

Allergy asthma can be caused by the exposure to allergens in the home such as animal dander, dust and mold spores.

Allergy Asthma - the typical symptoms are wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath. Symptoms can range from mild to severe.

Most people with allergy asthma find their symptoms get worse when they are exposed to certain triggers, or allergens. Many times this will be the dust mites, pollen, mold, mildew, cigarette smoke, chemicals or animal dander found in your home.

Once you find out what your asthma triggers are, managing your asthma includes avoiding exposure to your particular allergens.

So it is important to make your home an asthma friendly place. You want to remove as many allergy causing items as you can.

Some suggestions to make your home a safe place so you don’t have an allergy asthma reaction:

If someone smokes, ask them to smoke outside. This will clean up your air so that you do not have an allergic asthma attack. Make sure that no one smokes in your bedroom as you spend about 8 hours sleeping in that room.

Have good ventilation in your kitchen, bathroom and laundry room.

Don’t have open fires, or use wood for heating, as wood is often an allergen.

Chemicals can set off your asthma. Most of the air fresheners are chemicals. They have become so common and come in decorator type containers. Many people simply forget they have them. Look around and remove any you have in your home. This may give you some allergy asthma relief.

Remove any other known causes of allergies. Note the room you are in when you start wheezing and look around. What could be causing it? Remove suspect items from your home for a week and then put it back in and see if your asthma is set off again.

When you clean up your indoor environment, you will find that you have less allergy asthma attacks.

Jeannie Crabtree C.Ac.