European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 22, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Attacks May require emergency care understanding asthma by Janet do Agostino medical writer those suffering from asthma should know when to seek prompt medical care army doctors say. Asthma attacks can quickly develop into life threatening situations requiring immediate medical attention. Physicians urge those overseas not to bypass closer foreign hospitals in favor of seeking care at american military facilities either for themselves or family members. Quot we feel that patients understanding of asthma and their ability to decide when they must receive care. Is not very Good Quot says or. It. Col Ronald Jones chief of Community Medicine for the Frankfurt army regional medical Center and its 14 outlying clinics. Quot patients need More  asthma is a High risk condition that can Lead to death. Frequently victims of an attack will need to be hospitalized he says. Quot it is imperative that if you Are in respiratory distress that you done to try to make it Long  emergency care for asthma is fairly standardized in All countries so there is no need to worry about getting inadequate care says or. Maj Freddie Negron chief of pulmonary service at the Lan Stuhl army regional medical Center. Asthma sufferers or the parents of children with asthma should familiarize themselves with the nearest civilian medical facility if they do not live near a military Hospital or clinic. An asthma attack requires immediate medical care in the following situations 1. If medication has been used As prescribed and is not helping. 2. If the victim cannot talk in sentences. 3. If the victims fingernails or lips Are Blue. 4. If the victim is having trouble breathing especially at rest. 5. If the frequency of breath makes the victim very uncomfortable. 6. If the victim makes a wheezing noise when breathing or parts of the Chest appear to be sucking in when he breathes. 7. If the victim is coughing so hard he cannot catch his breath. Unfortunately asthma attacks often occur at night and in the Early morning hours. This is due to the body a natural change in hormone Levels during a 24-hour period Negron says. This is also when people Are More Likely to delay care or bypass foreign hospitals. Asthma a referred to by health professionals As reactive Airway disease a is a condition in which passageways in the lungs called Bronchi go into spasms and become inflamed or swollen. This causes them to become plugged with mucous. The spasms and inflammation cause difficult or Laboured breathing. Frequently the victim breathes with a wheezing or whistling sound. Asthma affects people of All Ages. Adults with no previous history of asthma can suddenly develop the condition Negron says. A Long term cough May be one of the first signs of mild ongoing asthma. An asthma attack can be triggered by a variety of factors including allergies to certain substances exercise smoke or cold air. Some people May be More susceptible to these triggering factors than others. Asthma sufferers should be aware of the factors that trigger their allergy attacks. People with asthma have recurrent asthma s two phase attack the course of one patient s asthma attack measured by ability to exhale forcefully. Is charted below. The initial response which lasts Only an hour or two can be countered with drugs called Bronch dilators that open constricted airways. In the later phase which May last hours or even Days Bronch dilators Are less effective and steroids May be needed. Unpredictable attacks that can vary in intensity. There is no cure for asthma but it can be controlled with medication avoidance of the triggering factors and rest and relaxation. Asthma is most often treated with inhalers or Oral medications that open blocked or constricted bronchial passages in the lungs. Major Side effects from these medications include nervousness excitability and rapid heart rates. Service members or family members with asthma who come to live in Europe often lose the control Over their condition that they had while in the United states Jones said. This could be caused simply nor by a change in routine and an unfamiliarity with military or foreign medical care facilities. Service members or family members with asthma seem to do worse in Germany than in other european countries Negron says. This is probably due to the temperate climate pockets of greenery and the areas of Industrial pollution. For unknown reasons asthma symptoms and attacks and the risk of death from attacks Peak in july and August in Germany he says and despite medical advances deaths from asthma in industrialized nations Are increasing not decreasing. Exercise helps kick the habit Start sweating Stop smoking by Ira Dreyfuss associated press it can be torture to quit smoking. It could be at least As much trouble to Start exercise. But if you do both together things might not be so bad. Quot the one will reinforce the other Quot said or. Alfred Munzer who is associate director of pulmonary Medicine at Washington adventist Hospital Takoma Park md., and a spokesman for the american lung association. He and other experts say that exercise can ease some of the stress of giving up tobacco addiction while giving up tobacco can make your body respond better to exercise. For instance he says you might literally walk away from situations in which you might Light up simply out of habit. A it changes the behaviour pattern Quot Munzer said. Quot we advise people who normally after dinner might have a cup of Coffee followed by a smoke to skip the Coffee and take a brisk walk around the  exercise is also a Good form of stress management said or. Ronald m. Davis director of the Federal office on smoking and health. Studies indicate that regular exercise can brighten a person s mood. And new nonsmokers could use an emotional lift. Stress is particularly High for the first couple of weeks Davis said. What a More exercise might fight the fat a almost always less than 10 pounds a that nonsmokers May gain he said. For one thing exercise can take the mind off food a and a new nonsmoker May want to eat More because tobacco no longer dulls his sense of taste Davis said. For another he added exercise a like smoking a has a calorie burning effect so people who take up exercise As they give up smoking May use the one to replace the other in controlling their weight. Some former smokers have even said that by starting an exercise program they were Able to wean themselves virtually painlessly from their addiction a that they simply lost the urge. However there Are no studies to explain this said Neil e. Grunberg professor of medical psychology at the uniformed services University of the health sciences Bethesda my. Grunberg said people who offer their experiences Are Likely to report Only their successes a Quot it s unlikely to hear someone say a i started to quit smoking and run marathons and it did no to work Quot Grunberg worked on one study on whether exercise changed the body a ability to process nicotine. Exercisers were Given a cigarette afterwards and researchers took biochemical measures. Exercise did not change the Way in which the body reacted to nicotine although the exercisers did say they Felt less like smoking Grunberg said. Quot our conclusion is that exercise seems to decrease did the desire to smoke Quot he said a but to added not change the value of nicotine the experts also say that the tact that you re no longer poisoning yourself with tobacco will help your body Benefit from exercise. Smoking after All robs the body of oxygen a burning cigarette is a tiny Furnace spewing Carbon monoxide that a smoker then sucks into his lungs where it latches onto molecules of oxygen carrying haemoglobin. Quot Carbon monoxide has an Affinity to haemoglobin that s 200 times the Affinity that oxygen has Quot said Davis. Quot when Carbon monoxide enters the bloodstream it immediately displaces oxygen from the  in addition he said nicotine increases heart rate and blood pressure which in turn increases stress on the heart. Quot one would rather have an athlete squeezing out every ounce of Energy from the heart for athletic performance rather than to compensate for the effects of smoking Quot he said. Some folks exercise and smoke but Davis does t want them to think they re getting away with something a they still face a greater Chance of death from cancer or heart disease. Quot exercise will help reduce the risk of smoking but will not in any Way eliminate the risk Quot he said. If you feel you have to choose said Munzer make your first priority giving up smoking tuesday May 22, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 17