‘His oxygen saturation is less than 85%. He’ll be gone in 5 years.”
I was stunned!
I thought my big brother’s asthma was just being troublesome. I had taken him for a consultation with the top lung specialist at Howard University Hospital in Washington DC. Dazzled by the unfolding array of advances in medical science, my main preoccupation how we would afford any fancy new inhalers he would likely prescribe.
What on earth did he mean by “He’ll be gone” anyway?! I was trembling so violently on the inside; I could barely stand. Well first of all, who the hell was he to say how long anybody will live? I knew full well this pulmonologist had a gruff personality, but after all man, the least he could do was prepare me; soften the blow a little bit. Maybe he didn’t butter it up because I was a newly-minted physician. Indeed, he presented the facts, straight from the medical literature at the time. I guess that his blunt verdict – Doc, deal with it!
Demographics
Despite the scientific progress, asthma is still a very dangerous disease affecting up to 8% of the population. When properly controlled and taking the right precautions, one can live a fairly normal life. Failing that, it’s many sleepless nights for mothers, trouble for teachers and visit upon visit to Casualty.
Some people abuse themselves in every conceivable way and still occasionally outlive the average. Others are not so lucky. Despite doing all the right things, they end up asking ‘why me?’Smoking of any kind, by anyone, is a dangerous proposition. But smoking by, or around a pregnant mother, is sheer madness. Children of smoking mothers are 10 times more likely to develop asthma, not to mention prematurity and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Pollen, moulds, dust and animal dander also contribute to allergic rhinitis, eczema and asthma. Seemingly, the among cruellest recommendations paediatricians can make is ordering removal of beloved pets felt to be the source of asthmatogenic irritants. Deeply conflicted, families often try to negotiate, then sneak around the ultimatum. But in the final analysis, it comes down to which is worth more, the child’s health vs. fellowship with our furry friends.
Diagnosis
Asthma is a chronic airways disease that makes breathing difficult. Inflammation of the air passages causes reduced oxygen transport to the lungs. The resulting symptoms are wheezing, coughing and shortness of breath. Instead of simple diaphragmatic breathing that results in the gentle rise and fall of the chest, patients recruit accessory muscles to breathe. The neck muscles help pull up the chest cage, the nostrils flare and the eyes widen with anxiety and fear. Diagnosis of asthma is confirmed with peak flow measurements, pulmonary function tests and chest x-rays.
Viruses, allergens and other environmental triggers can initiate changes in the lungs of sensitive people. The good news is that this narrowing is reversible unlike other breathing conditions such as bronchitis and emphysema.
Treatment
Short-acting bronchodilators (rescue inhalers)form the basis of treatment for asthma. They relieve symptoms by relaxing the muscles that tighten around the airways.Patients with exercise-induced asthma use inhalers beforehand to prevent symptoms. Nebulizers are larger, more versatile devices which do not require the coordination of holding ones breath.Repeated use of either more than twice a week indicates need for better control with long-acting bronchodilators. Steroid combinations and oral drugs like Theophylline and Singulair may also be added.
As often is the case there is a nutritional component to improving disease management.Recent studies show that Vitamin Dimproves asthma control by blocking inflammation in the airways and lungs. Fish, eggs and dairy are rich this “sunshine vitamin.” Avoid processed sugars, saturated and trans-fatty acids that that tend to undermine a robust immune system needed to fend off environmental threats.
Carry on!
As with many diseases, asthma tends to run in families. Unlike many other diseases, it is more common in childhood though some individuals outgrow it.
Unfortunately, not Wellsworth. He battled his asthma as it progressed to chronic bronchitis and bronchiectasis. That specialist in Washington DC told no lie. As Dominica’s first native-born Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, ‘Wello’strove to pack more into those five years than the rest of us put in 25. He was instrumental in laying a foundation of programs in the Livestock Division of the Ministry of Agriculture that have stood the test of time.
He nurtured the loving support of his wife Alicia and daughter Trudy. In fact, his entire family was intimately involved in his care, sometimes pounding on his back to loosen the phlegm (chest physio). Other times they were afar off, prayerfully attentive to regular updates and shipping him medication. His contributions as part of Dominica’s first sea cadets is a legacy that continues to thrive.
Today, if a Christian family member coughs once too much, the rest gets on edge. We respect asthma, fully understanding that timely treatment prevents unwanted complications.
Take a deep breath. If that was easy, give thanks. If that was hard, check your oxygen saturation. Chances are, today, we can make it better.
Click here to listen to a celebration of what it means to BREATHE .
Dr. Sam Christian runs the Urgent Care on 137 Bath Road. He is Medical Officer of the Dominica Cadet Corps, Medical Adviser to the Dominica Cancer Society and author of the faith and fitness nutrition book, ‘Mannafast Miracle.’ Dr. Christian can be reached anytime at 440-9133, 615-8345 or by writing to [email protected].
@Francisco Telemaque June 3, 2014 “There is a saying which does like this “when people do not know they believe anything.” Reading the quote above, one may tend to believe Elizabeth’s theory that cigarette smoke causes tuberculosis. That is not true! Here are the scientific and medical facts regarding the disease as I know it!”
Telemaque, first of all you “don’t know it”. as you said it above. Anyone who reads those long things that you post here, about sickness or disease, will know that you have plagiarized–I for sure know that you cannot write more than two sentences without writing one of them upside down–such you did below, pertaining to my comment.
Actually you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to lie to DNO audience; or it may seem as if you have no conscience–and isn’t plagiarism a crime? If that is so, I believe that Dr. Christian is a sincere Christian, I perceive that he is not pleased with you being such a cheat or committing this awful act to his messages here
Now read below–just one simply question and I have the information I spoke about right at the first paragraph of an article which I found–there are many of them, but this one is the most recent one. See that it says March 2014
Also that article is about how many pages long–I am not sure–but that paragraph below is enough to give me victory against you, once again, as I feed you with embarrassment for being a stupid cheat. Now take that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“24 March 2014 – Research published today provides critical new insight on the harmful links between smoking tobacco and developing tuberculosis (TB). Regular tobacco smoking doubles the risk that people who have been successfully treated for TB will develop the disease again—a condition known as “recurrent” TB.
The study is the most robust ever conducted into how smoking tobacco increases the risk of recurrent TB. It appears in the April issue of the “International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease” Google research.
And now, since you will not respect me and my intelligence, I am suggesting that you stop “plagiarizing” and not only that: “The information you are copying from is about the stone ages old.
The question was the cause the of TB, as is suggested in the passage above–all that long stuff in your comment did was lay out medical terms that you could not even spell from your own–and you are boldly telling us “as I know it. Now who the hell do you think you are to tell me that my understanding is not true?
Now once again I suggest that you “shut up” you are making a fool of yourself before intelligent people, and since you will not leave me out of it, I will continue to expose you.
Once again I say that you are plagiarizing and in most opinions this act is a crime for others it is nasty cheating. You did not write those things from your own mind.
Fact is I have exposed your stupidity, and the crap you speak without knowing where the hell you getting your argument from. At lease if I am into plagiarizing, the information I dissimilate someone with interest can indeed learn something from such information.
Now, if you were not as poor as a church mouse; and had it not been for that, I would have come to Canada, and file a bloody law suite against you for defamation of Character, because you have both libel and slander me. All I can say to you if and your mother as I told you last night knows that I am plagiarizing, I long ago told to you that you need to go to the source, do some copying of what you believe I plagiarized, and submit it, on DNO; hence you will prove I am a fraud.
If you are unable to do that go spend some taking a bath!
As I told you last night, your kindergarten, and elementary education which you obtained in the bamboo fields of that village where you are from cannot compare with the education of one who is college and university educated, I will wipe my feet on you any minute of the day intellectually, and when the dust settles you will not have a clue of the magnitude of the weight which stood on your miserable face!
And I am telling you again, do not E-mail me anymore, get rid of my telephone number, and the many pictures of me you have all over your house; please get rid of them! I have no interest in anything you have to say; if you E-mail me; you can expect worst insults such as I threw at you last night: I do not care about you, I have no time to waste on an idiot okay: you are crazy, as I told you last night you will die a lonely old crow without any friends nor relatives by your side; all because you are a wicked, and evil person masquerading as a Christian; half of your medical problems right now is because of your wicked deeds, and the many people you have hurt in this life including your very own family!
Get lost for the last time; I do not even want to remember I ever crossed path with a specimen like you; you are evil!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
You are the one who is even poorer than a church mouse, that is another part of your existence where you have fooled many readers on DNO as well–because they do not know you
You cannot afford to do none of those damn things that always talk about to them and I know it–just as well as you do.
“I would have come to Canada, and file a bloody law suite against you for defamation of Character, because you have both libel and slander me”–Telemaque, June 5 2014
You cannot afford the trip to Canada, much more to higher a lawyer to file law suite against me–don’t put your sorry excuse on me, about me being poor–you do not know that. And you will never know it.
And you are the one who would be sent to a jail cell to rot there–because you are using other people’ s as yours and that is “plagiarizing”. You would have to prove me wrong, but you cannot do that–the cost for my lawyer would be at your expense. I am sure that right now you cannot even afford to pay a paralegal–much more for a trained Lawyer
All I am saying about the rest of the things you said here, is that you are a “damn liar” just as much you are a cheater, a thief, a downright plagiarizer, and an extremely sick person in the mind.
You will never earn my respect and my attention –because you do not deserve it –that is what is grinding you within, you will be so right to your demise.
You are trying to send a dirty message about me to DNO readers–but they should be noticing that it is you who always go after my comments and you even mention me in yours; God knows that I am the one who wants “nothing to do with you”. And that was since less than a month after I saw you face to face in August of 2011–because I easily discovered that you are nothing but a piece of rag–a viae baggie– you are compulsive liar and plagiarizer–just as you have portrayed yourself here and many times before.
Your pictures all over my house, telephone number??????????? Hehehehehehe! Man you are awfully mad you see! And so I will say no more!
You brought tears to my eyes doc. This article was very emotional. Thanks for the knowledge on asthma.
There is a saying which does like this “when people do not know they believe anything.” Reading the quote above, one may tend to believe Elizabeth’s theory that cigarette smoke causes tuberculosis. That is not true! Here are the scientific and medical facts regarding the disease as I know it! Tuberculosis is an infectious, inflammatory, disease that is chronic in nature, and commonly affects the lungs. That type of TB, is known as (pulmonary tuberculosis), although it may occur in almost any part of the body, including the exoskeleton.
Note: The causative agent is the tubercle bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis). Until very recently, the only other mycobacteria thought to be pathogenic to humans were M. bovis, and M. avium. We now know that other atypical mycobacteria can produce diseases similar to true tuberculosis, including M. intracellulare, M. kansasii, M. simiae, and M. szulgai. The most common mode of transmission of tuberculosis is by inhalation of the infected droplet nuclei. In some parts of the world bovine tuberculosis, which is carried by unpasteurized milk, and other dairy products from tuberculosis cattle, is more prevalent. A rare mode of transmission is by infected urine, especially for young children using the same toilet facilities.
The tubercle bacillus is capable of surviving for months in dried sputum that is not exposed to Sunlight. Within the body it can lie dormant for decades and then become reactivated years after an initial infection. This secondary tuberculosis infection (endogenous reinfection) can occur at any time the individual, or patient’s resistance is lowered. That is why periodic evaluation for evidence of the disease is imperative for anyone who has had a primary tuberculosis infection. The tubercle bacillus is destroyed by boiling for five (5) minutes, by autoclaving, by contact with coal tar preparations, i. e., phenol, and by ultraviolet radiation. The first or primary infection with tuberculosis bacilli usually presents no symptoms. In approximately 99% of those who are infected, the disease remains quiescent after the development of a hypersensitivity to the tuberculin microorganism, and is no longer clinically significant.
The primary infection usually involves the middle or lower lung area. The primary lesion consists of a small area of exudation in the lung parenchyma which quickly becomes caseous, and spreads to the bronchopulmonary lymph nodes, where it gains access to the blood stream. Thus the stage is set for the development of a chronic pulmonary, and extrapulmonary tuberculosis at a later time. In most instances, however, a secondary reinfection from inside the body (exogenous) does not occur because of the subsequent development of tuberculin hypersensitivity, and cellular immunity. The presence of antigen concentrations at the initial site of infection brings about necrosis, and eventually fibrosis and calcification of the tissues, which arrests the infection, and renders the disease inactive. Nevertheless, if the infection is not controlled, the patient develops the symptoms of progressive primary tuberculosis.
Secondary tuberculosis develops as a result of either endogenous, or exogenous reinfection by the tubercle bacillus; which is the most common form of clinical tuberculosis. Resistance to tuberculosis depends on the general health, and living conditions of the individual. Poor health, crowded, and unsanitary housing, malnutrition, and other illnesses can lower the body’s defenses. A second factor that can lead to activation of the disease is frequent exposure to the bacilli, or exposure to such numbers that even a healthy person cannot escape infection.
Anybody who doubts my intelligence, and believe I am into plagiarism; do not ask me to name my source the happiest thing the fool can do is to ask their mom; to help them find my source, submit it. In any event no need for me to take this into testing, and treatment at this time.
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
“There is a saying which does like this”
That should be: “there is a saying which goes like this.”
You know, Doctor Christian articulated this one so well, he is so precise, and detailed I could not find anything to actually respond to, or say until I read Elizabeth theory where she made the claim that cigarette smoke causes TB.
No such thing Elizabeth,no such thing, “dem Jamaican teachers of yours are causing you to disseminate false information eh.” I told you before do not talk about things you do not know, especially where it pertains to diseases, and medicine. Unless you majored in health science, you would have to be very lucky to find the kind of information that Sam is putting out there in the most reputable MJ. (medical journals).
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Francisco Telemaque June 3, 2014
And I am telling you to keep you stupid advise to yourself, and stop mentioning my name with your childish foolishness–come on man you are entering you 70th year living in this world.
It is my mom who told me that her doctor said that her sickness came from my dad–she told me that he used to smoke up to five cigarettes in their bedroom before he laid down to sleep besides her. From that time onwards she and him used separate bedrooms.
Last year, while I was there for her funeral, I noticed that daddy did not smoke at all. When I asked him, he said that he still smokes but not when he is among us–so why did all this happen after my mom was diagnosed with Tuberculosis. How come she was the only one in the whole family to get that disease.
As I said earlier, we all have healthy lungs, we don’t even suffer from the common cold.
Man, why don’t you shut up! Or write to the individuals who belong in your “twilight zone” world–no to us here.
DNO audience do not need any information from you, for anything whatsoever, they came from the stone ages of you old biography books, they are outdated
And right here Dr. Christian is more than enough–he is the professional–not you. Whether you read what he writes or you base your response on the photo of the article–your comments is still useless and empty, as far as we are concerned–so once again I suggest that your shut up!
This brings back memories of my school teacher at the DGS Mr Wellsworth Christian, the first form was housed in the TECH WING section of the school and we would look through the tin louvers and see some long, slightly bow legged legs coming down from the covered steps from the main building leading to the TECH WING. we would all know that this was our beloved mr Christian coming to teach us. He was indeed a wonderful soul, with this asthma NO ONE ENJOYED A JOKE LIKE HE DID. we revere his memory.
Mr. Christian and his brother Lawson taught me at the Grammar School, I had not heard a lot about them since migrating, but a few years ago when I reconnected, in a conversation with my wife I mention his name and she informed me of his death. Thank you Doc for allowing me to know what cased his death, he was a Great man and my condolences go out to you and the family.
Mr. Christian and his brother Lawson taught me at the Grammar School, I had not hear alot about them since migrating, but a few years ago when I reconnected, in a conversation with my wife I mention his name and she informed me of his death. Thank you Doc for allowing me to know what cased his death, he was a Great man and my condolences go out to you and the family.
smoking Marijuana helps a lot….bathing regularly especially after coming out in dust or cleaning etc….. drinking a lot of water,
’Smoking of any kind, by anyone, is a dangerous proposition. But smoking by, or around a pregnant mother, is sheer madness. Children of smoking mothers are 10 times more likely to develop asthma, not to mention prematurity and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Question: how does SMOKING marijuana help?
All you said is nothing more than a myth!
And you know why I can tell you it is a myth? I am not going to read the comments of doctor a second time, so, you find me repeating what he has already said, that will only confirm the facts of the matter.
So, let’s deal with the cause of asthma. Asthma can be classified into three types according to causative factors. Extrinsic asthma is due to an allergy to antigens; usually the offending allergens are suspended in the air in the form of pollen, dust, smoke, and automobile exhaust, and animal dander. More than half the cause of asthma in children and young adults is a type called atopic, or allergic asthma. intrinsic, or nonallergic asthma is usually secondary to chronic, or recurrent infections of the bronchhi, sinuses, or tonsils, and adenoids.
This type of asthma develops from a hypersensitivity to the bacteria or, more commonly, viruses causing the infection. Attacks can be precipitated by infections, emotional factors, and exposure to nonspecific irritants. The third type of asthma, mixed, is due to a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic factors.
Now; if smoking of Marijuana could prevent an attack, then there would be no need for medical inhalers. Besides smoke by itself triggers asthma attacks, remember we are talking about the narrowing of the airways during an attack, so how on earth can someone believe that what may cause the problem can help to solve the problem?
Finally, the treatment of extrinsic asthma begins with attempts to determine the allergens causing the attacks; hence, the patient need to relate onset of attacks with specific environmental substances and emotional factors that trigger, or intensify their symptoms. Patients nonallergic asthma should avoid infections, nonspecific irritants, such as cigarette smoke, and other factors that provoke attacks. Drugs given for the treatment of asthma are primarily used for the relief of symptoms: there is no cure for asthma, however, the disease can be controlled with an individualized regimen of drug therapy coupled with rest, relaxation, and the avoidance of causative factors.
Bronchodilators such as epinephrine, and aminophylline may be used to enlarge the bronchioles, thus relieving respiratory difficulties. Other drugs that thin the secretions, and help in their ejection (expectorants) may also be prescribed. The patient with status asthmaticus is a seriously ill person, and must receive special attention, and also medication to avoid excessive strain on the heart, and severe respiratory difficulties which can be fatal. Smoking of marijuana will kill an asthmatic patient!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
Sorry about that Doc. Wello’s wife was my classmate at CHS. Asthma is to be respected, and take care of yourselves. Listen to the Good Doctor.
marijuana
It is always a pleasure reading your articles. I enjoy the colloquial twist you always add to capture the attention of the Dominican reader.
Continue doing what you do.
What on earth did he mean by “He’ll be gone” anyway?! I was trembling so violently on the inside; I could barely stand. Well first of all, who the hell was he to say how long anybody will live?—Dr. Christians
Doc, I most definitely would not like to be in your place at that moment–but can a doctor be so blunt? And yes, I would have asked the same question: Well who does he thinks he is to come to such conclusion? But then he is a doctor–I suppose that you guys know best–when it comes to the health and welfare of the human body.
Anyway I give thanks to God that my family members are extremely healthy when it comes to the sickness of the lungs. It is true that my mom suffered from “tuberculosis” I am not sure that it contributed to her death last year–because I know that she had given up on Life, for a long time before she passed away–she was 80 years old.
She was with us in Toronto in 1997, by then she was 64 years old. One day when I spoke to her from my sister’s home, she told me that she had a cold and she could not understand, because she had never gotten a cold before–I believe her.
Anyway that disease of hers–tuberculosis — was caused by my dad’s cigarette smoking–it is strange that he seem to be healthy as health as health can be at the his age of 82–come June 18.
I have a very good friend from Jamaica–we used to live like sisters in our days of youth. But she has Asthma, and she used to scare the hell out of us through those attacks–they seem not to give her much warning at the time, but gradually she learned to recognize the coming attacks. And she had her medication ready to fight the attacks off.
What was scary was the way she used to be breathless, her chest bumping up and down as if she was going to die right then and there, Good for us the hospital is only a block away from where we live, they simply treated her and sent her back home. As soon as the attack was gone she was back to normal again.
I know her with that disease for many years now–we don’t see each other as often as we used to, for as time goes by people change and so does their daily routines.
Thanks to God again, that she is still alive; she is the most active and energetic person I will ever know–without Asthma I believe she is also the healthiest person I have known as well
And so, thanks for keeping us informed. Your is a message that I look forward to every weekend. Blessings!
well doctor, i took great interest in tis article cause im an asthmatic. here is something that u should advice about. foods like eggs, milk,some peas and beans, raw cabbage,some nuts like almonds and peanuts can trigger an attack. cold water also especially if there is a low amount of fats in the patient.
My 2 year old son was recently diagnosed with asthma & I have been going thru the frequent trips to ER, missing work etc. he is currently on a maintenance nebulizer treatment & I pray that he outgrows it like so many others. Thanks for this informative & frank article. My condolences on your loss.
speaking from personal experience, the trick to beat this is (and most other ailments) is a healthy lifestyle). Since I started doing a lot of cardio based excersise, eat loads of fresh salads and fruits and most importantly avoid processed unatural foods, Ive pretty much beaten asthma – besides the odd slight shortness of breathe, but nothing campared to the attacks I used to get. For the past 2 years I have not used my inhaler.
Thanks anonymous. Thank God that my son eats very healthily and really enjoys fruits and vegetables and as for his provisions. He loves yam, dasheen and fig. He is active and I do have faith that he will outgrow it. But stories like yours give me the added hope that I really need so thank you.