Customer Service (09) 571 1101 Find a Daikin Dealer 0800 20 90 10 Technical Support (09) 571 1101 Heat Pumps are our speciality. Daikin has a wide range of heating and cooling solutions available for any home. Find the right heat pump for you: Every home is different, so the right heat pump must take your unique requirements into account.A Daikin Specialist Dealer can help: or call 0800 20 90 10 For more information on a Daikin Split, Multi-Split or Ducted heat pump solution, download a Daikin brochure from our website. Breathing Easier With Allergic Asthma Managing Fall and Winter Allergic Asthma Triggers Allergic Asthma: Adam’s Story If you're one of the millions of people living with asthma, you probably know that smoking will aggravate your lung condition, but just being around someone else who smokes is a danger, too. “Secondhand smoke is a significant issue,” says Erwin Gelfand, MD, professor and chairman of the department of pediatrics at National Jewish Health in Denver.

“Lung damage may not be as severe as it is in an active smoker with allergic asthma, but secondhand smoke still activates the lung’s inflammatory pathways. When your lungs get irritated or inflamed, they become narrow and air flow is reduced, causing coughing and other asthma symptoms,” he says. Secondhand smoke serves as more of an irritant as opposed to an allergic trigger, says Neeta Ogden, MD, an allergist in private practice in Englewood, New Jersey, a member of the Medical-Scientific Council of the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, and a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. “Anybody who has allergic asthma has inflammation in their lungs, and secondhand smoke is a known irritant,” she says. In fact, living with a cigarette smoker is akin to living in a big city with extreme air pollution, according to a study published in October 2014 in the journal Tobacco Control. Asthma and Secondhand Smoke More than 58 million non-smokers in the United States are exposed to secondhand smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Thirdhand smoke — the residual nicotine and other chemicals left on clothing or indoor surfaces from tobacco smoke — can also be an irritant. “It aggravates the senses, so it’s all connected,” Dr. Ogden says. The problem of asthma and secondhand smoke involves more than cigarette smoke. Pollution such as smoke from factories, cars, and other sources can irritate your lungs and cause problems if you have allergic asthma, the CDC states. mclean air duct cleaningSmoke from burning wood or other vegetation can also trigger an asthma attack.aaa quality air duct and carpet cleaning This doesn’t mean that quitting smoking was for naught or that you're powerless in the face of secondhand and thirdhand smoke and pollutants. air conditioner cleaning mount isa

Take these steps to protect your lungs from smoke-related threats: Make your home and vehicles smoke-free zones. This can really make a difference, according to the study in Tobacco Control. Most non-smokers living in smoking households would experience reductions of more than 70 percent in their daily inhaled pollutants if their housemates kicked the habit, and this reduction would likely be greatest among those who typically spend more time at home, the study showed. Wear a face mask when exposed to smoke or pollution. “This can stave off an attack when you’re in extremely smoky areas,” Ogden says. Keep your rescue inhaler handy. “You need to be prepared if you’re exposed to a trigger by having your rescue inhaler ready if you need it,” Ogden says. Avoid burning wood in your home. If you use a wood-burning fireplace, use an air purifier to remove smoke odors. “This can also help get rid of allergens such as mold and other pollutants,” Ogden says. “The cleaner the air, the less likely it will be to trigger an asthma attack.”

Keep your asthma under tight control.“The more well-controlled your asthma is, the less reactive your airways will be,” Ogden says. “Symptom-free is the goal, meaning no coughing or wheezing, and you shouldn’t be relying on a rescue inhaler regularly.” Anything short of that means you should check in with your doctor. Pay attention to air-quality forecasts. Schedule your outdoor activities when the air pollution level is expected to be low.Grant is to establish a comprehensive case management program for NAM's Children's Clinic in order to address upstream factors impacting health of the children by conducting in-home visitations and to determine root causes of their re-occurring medical issues. Dr. Heather Moore, a physician with UT Health Science Center at Houston, sees an asthma patient at Northwest Assistance Ministries children's clinic. About twice a week an ambulance pulls up to the children's clinic at Northwest Assistance Ministries (NAM) in far northwest Houston.

But it's not dropping off a patient. Instead, emergency crews are picking up a child who is having such a severe asthma attack that he or she needs to go to the ER. It's a troublesome pattern that NAM's medical staff sees week after week. "We're not just seeing high rates of children with asthma, we're seeing an increase in re-occurring cases of asthma," said Carole Little, NAM's president and CEO. "We're seeing children who come back with more and more severe cases." In an average 20-minute visit to the clinic, doctors and nurses say they can usually treat the symptoms of an child's asthma attack, but they aren't able to really explore what may be causing them once they go back home. So when kids kept coming back to the clinic worse than were when they first visited, NAM's leadership and staff decided something had to change. "We need the opportunity to explore things deeper," Little said. "We need to really survey children where they live." EHF's $120,000 grant to NAM will support a new comprehensive case management and home-visitation program for its children's clinic.

Medical and social service case managers will go to patients' homes to help determine the root causes of the children's re-occurring asthma attacks and other medical problems. The case managers will then work with the families to find long-term solutions to becoming more healthy. "It's an opportunity for us to find out what's really causing the problems," Little said. "Case managers will be surveying the environment in the home. In the case of asthma, they may find things like mold, pets or something else are actually  triggering the attacks. They're the kind of things we'd likely never discover in the clinic. The grant allows us to employ a holistic, evidence-based, outcomes approach to the children we serve. We're excited and grateful for the partnership and opportunity to make a difference at a deeper level." Case managers will also be able to provide humidifiers, air purifiers or other equipment to help make the home healthier for the young patients. "Once again, this program highlights the importance of addressing the real causes of health problems outside of a medical clinic," said Elena Marks, EHF's president and CEO.