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What Causes Increased Asthma Attacks And Hair Loss After Dengue Treatment?
Question: Hi , I am XXXX. Female age-26. I am suffering from Asthma since childhood and recently since 2-3 years back from GERD. I have observed that whenever i consume anything cold (since 2 -3 years back), Sore throat and itching and acidity and cold. Also a year back i was infected with dengue and since then experiencing hair fall and thinning and my scalp is also visible. Since i have recoved from dengue my asthma has increased.
Kindly help me for all the overall issues mentioned above.
Regards,
XXXX
Kindly help me for all the overall issues mentioned above.
Regards,
XXXX
Brief Answer:
Please give more details
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for asking at HCM.
I went through your history and would like to know more about you as follows:
a. How frequently do you experience asthma? What are symptoms of your asthma - wheezing (whistling sound), shortness of breath or cough?
b. Do you need to be awakened at night due to asthma? If yes, how frequently?
c. Do you have difficulty in physical exercise like running, etc? Does physical exercise cause wheezing or breathing difficulty to you?
d. Do you have feeling of getting sour fluid in throat after heavy,spicy meals? Do you have nausea or vomiting?
e. Do you have allergic rhinitis, that is nose allergies - nose obstruction, running nose, sneezing, nose itching, etc?
f. Do you have frequent headaches, face heaviness, etc?
g. Do you have any skin problems or skin allergies? Since how long are you experiencing rash and itching? How many times a week? How are they relieved? What triggers them?
h. Do you have any digestion related complaints like constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, etc?
i. Do you need to take frequent drugs like pain killers, or any other drugs?
j. Do you have more troubles during day or night?
k. Which are good seasons and bad seasons for you? or do you have same symptoms throughout the year?
l. Do you have any one in family with allergies or asthma?
m. Do you have any mental stress? Does it worsen allergies and asthma?
n. Apart from cold foods, do you have any particular food that worsens your symptoms?
o. Which medicines are you taking? Which medicines have you tried previously?
Please provide above details on follow-up. They will help me to understand your symptoms better and therefore to make more useful suggestions.
Thank you & Regards,
Dr Parin N. Parmar
Please give more details
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for asking at HCM.
I went through your history and would like to know more about you as follows:
a. How frequently do you experience asthma? What are symptoms of your asthma - wheezing (whistling sound), shortness of breath or cough?
b. Do you need to be awakened at night due to asthma? If yes, how frequently?
c. Do you have difficulty in physical exercise like running, etc? Does physical exercise cause wheezing or breathing difficulty to you?
d. Do you have feeling of getting sour fluid in throat after heavy,spicy meals? Do you have nausea or vomiting?
e. Do you have allergic rhinitis, that is nose allergies - nose obstruction, running nose, sneezing, nose itching, etc?
f. Do you have frequent headaches, face heaviness, etc?
g. Do you have any skin problems or skin allergies? Since how long are you experiencing rash and itching? How many times a week? How are they relieved? What triggers them?
h. Do you have any digestion related complaints like constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, etc?
i. Do you need to take frequent drugs like pain killers, or any other drugs?
j. Do you have more troubles during day or night?
k. Which are good seasons and bad seasons for you? or do you have same symptoms throughout the year?
l. Do you have any one in family with allergies or asthma?
m. Do you have any mental stress? Does it worsen allergies and asthma?
n. Apart from cold foods, do you have any particular food that worsens your symptoms?
o. Which medicines are you taking? Which medicines have you tried previously?
Please provide above details on follow-up. They will help me to understand your symptoms better and therefore to make more useful suggestions.
Thank you & Regards,
Dr Parin N. Parmar
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
Dear Dr. Parmar,
Below are my answers to your questions:
a. How frequently do you experience asthma? What are symptoms of your asthma - wheezing (whistling sound), shortness of breath or cough? XXXX: whenever i have cold water/juice etc or anxiety i suffer from asthma. Actually initially may be two years back i used to have all these things frequently but there was no problem at all. Symptoms are shortness of breath and wheezing and cold.
b. Do you need to be awakened at night due to asthma? If yes, how frequently? XXXX: Yes sometimes i awakened at night but not frequently but whenever i am tensed or have above mentioned things.
c. Do you have difficulty in physical exercise like running, etc? Does physical exercise cause wheezing or breathing difficulty to you? XXXX: After an hour of continuous excercise i do have problems but if i take break of 5 mins in between then no problem at all.
d. Do you have feeling of getting sour fluid in throat after heavy,spicy meals? Do you have nausea or vomiting? XXXX: I get this feeling after i can not get enough sleep at night or if i have cold juice/water etc.
e. Do you have allergic rhinitis, that is nose allergies - nose obstruction, running nose, sneezing, nose itching, etc? XXXX: Problem i face are: nose obstruction,sneezing, nose itching.
f. Do you have frequent headaches, face heaviness, etc? XXXX: Sometimes suffer from Headache.
g. Do you have any skin problems or skin allergies? Since how long are you experiencing rash and itching? How many times a week? How are they relieved? What triggers them? XXXX: No skin problems at all previously. Since a year back problem of acne started and since one month heavy rashes and itching has started which i can not tolerate at all.
h. Do you have any digestion related complaints like constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, etc? XXXX: During Menstrual cycle only sometimes.
i. Do you need to take frequent drugs like pain killers, or any other drugs? XXXX: I do take drug for asthma : Budamate 100 and the frequency has increased very much in past one month since the itching and sore throat feeling has started.
j. Do you have more troubles during day or night? XXXX: Itching and asthma increases very much at night
k. Which are good seasons and bad seasons for you? or do you have same symptoms throughout the year? XXXX: Any time in year i can suffer from asthma but now since past one month occurrences have increased.
l. Do you have any one in family with allergies or asthma? XXXX: Yes
m. Do you have any mental stress? Does it worsen allergies and asthma? XXXX: Yes
n. Apart from cold foods, do you have any particular food that worsens your symptoms? XXXX: I am not aware it it as of now
o. Which medicines are you taking? Which medicines have you tried previously? XXXX: For asthma as i have mentioned budamate and for itching from local doctors some antifungal and antibiotics but for itching no use.
I would like to request you to please prescribe medication for me at the earliest andi would like to request you to not to prescribe any steroid or more antibiotics as i have suffered a hair loss due to them.
Please prescribe medicine for itching as soon as you can.
Thank you.
Regards,
XXXX
Below are my answers to your questions:
a. How frequently do you experience asthma? What are symptoms of your asthma - wheezing (whistling sound), shortness of breath or cough? XXXX: whenever i have cold water/juice etc or anxiety i suffer from asthma. Actually initially may be two years back i used to have all these things frequently but there was no problem at all. Symptoms are shortness of breath and wheezing and cold.
b. Do you need to be awakened at night due to asthma? If yes, how frequently? XXXX: Yes sometimes i awakened at night but not frequently but whenever i am tensed or have above mentioned things.
c. Do you have difficulty in physical exercise like running, etc? Does physical exercise cause wheezing or breathing difficulty to you? XXXX: After an hour of continuous excercise i do have problems but if i take break of 5 mins in between then no problem at all.
d. Do you have feeling of getting sour fluid in throat after heavy,spicy meals? Do you have nausea or vomiting? XXXX: I get this feeling after i can not get enough sleep at night or if i have cold juice/water etc.
e. Do you have allergic rhinitis, that is nose allergies - nose obstruction, running nose, sneezing, nose itching, etc? XXXX: Problem i face are: nose obstruction,sneezing, nose itching.
f. Do you have frequent headaches, face heaviness, etc? XXXX: Sometimes suffer from Headache.
g. Do you have any skin problems or skin allergies? Since how long are you experiencing rash and itching? How many times a week? How are they relieved? What triggers them? XXXX: No skin problems at all previously. Since a year back problem of acne started and since one month heavy rashes and itching has started which i can not tolerate at all.
h. Do you have any digestion related complaints like constipation, diarrhea, stomach pain, etc? XXXX: During Menstrual cycle only sometimes.
i. Do you need to take frequent drugs like pain killers, or any other drugs? XXXX: I do take drug for asthma : Budamate 100 and the frequency has increased very much in past one month since the itching and sore throat feeling has started.
j. Do you have more troubles during day or night? XXXX: Itching and asthma increases very much at night
k. Which are good seasons and bad seasons for you? or do you have same symptoms throughout the year? XXXX: Any time in year i can suffer from asthma but now since past one month occurrences have increased.
l. Do you have any one in family with allergies or asthma? XXXX: Yes
m. Do you have any mental stress? Does it worsen allergies and asthma? XXXX: Yes
n. Apart from cold foods, do you have any particular food that worsens your symptoms? XXXX: I am not aware it it as of now
o. Which medicines are you taking? Which medicines have you tried previously? XXXX: For asthma as i have mentioned budamate and for itching from local doctors some antifungal and antibiotics but for itching no use.
I would like to request you to please prescribe medication for me at the earliest andi would like to request you to not to prescribe any steroid or more antibiotics as i have suffered a hair loss due to them.
Please prescribe medicine for itching as soon as you can.
Thank you.
Regards,
XXXX
Brief Answer:
Regular medicines, immunotherapy and lifestyle-diet changes
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for your detailed information and follow-up.
My suggestions for you will be as follows:
(Please note that I cannot prescribe medications and these are my suggestions only. It is highly recommended that you discuss my suggestions with your doctor. Please read T&C of Healthcaremagic)
1. My first impression is that at present your asthma is not under good control, so first thing it to control your symptoms and my next plan would be to improve your immunity and lung capacity gradually.
So were I treating you, I would add a regular montelukast-levocetirizine tablet and I would double your daily dose of budamate for at least next 30 days. This will improve your symptoms. Montelukast-levocetirizine will also take care of itching & rashes.
I would like to mention here that technique of using inhaler Budamate is very much important. Please make sure that you are using the inhaler correctly, otherwise the drug might not reach lungs in adequate amounts.
2. 2nd thing is to identify cause of your symptoms and improve your health gradually. For that, I would suggest you allergy testing for common substances causing respiratory allergies - house dust mites, molds, pollens in your region, insect proteins (cockroach, etc) and pet proteins (if you have a pet).
Allergy testing will help you identify the substances causing symptoms to you as well as to know how to avoid them. Based on allergy testing, an Allergist-Immunologist may prescribe you allergen specific immunotherapy which gradually improves your allergy symptoms by working on your immunity gradually.
3. To know your current lung capacity and lung function, I would suggest you spirometry with post-bronchodilator reversibility test.
4. In general, I would suggest you to avoid exposure to dusts, smokes and air pollution as much as possible.
5. I would also suggest you to have a good multivitamin-multimineral supplements including vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, magnesium, selenium, folic acid, vitamin B12, etc for 3 months to improve your immune system gradually.
6. Please have a healthy diet rich in vitamins & minerals (adequate green vegetables, fruits, sprouts, etc), please eat according to your appetite, avoid
over-eating, avoid late-night meals, please follow simple diet for at least 6 months. Please have plenty of warm fluids during day (like soups, green tea, warm water, etc) and avoid cold foods like ice-cream, cold drinks, etc. Please try to reduce weight if you are overweight, it will also help improve your asthma.
7. I usually suggest my patients to include herbs like ginger, pepper, turmeric, etc in diet, which many times help them improve respiratory symptoms.
8. For improving lung capacity, I would suggest you regular physical exercise including Pranayama and Yoga.
9. Please get involved in stress reduction activities like meditation, relaxation, Yoga, music, etc. Stress can adversely affect allergies and asthma.
10. I would like to mention here that antibiotics are usually not required in allergies as they are needed only in bacterial infections. Oral steroids may be required in severe, acute cases only, which you do not have at present. Budamate contains inhaled corticosteroids, which act mostly locally in lungs and are considered much much safer than oral steroids.
To summarize, my plan for you will be to increase medications at present for your symptom relief. Parallel to medications, I would suggest you allergy testing & allergen specific immunotherapy, diet & life style changes, supplements, physical & lung exercise and stress reduction strategies. These measures will gradually reduce your medication requirements and you will be again able to live healthily with minimum possible medications.
However, at present, I would suggest you to take your medications regularly until other strategies would take effect.
Hope above suggestions will be helpful to you.
Should you have any further query, please feel free to ask on follow-up. It will be my humble pleasure to help you with best of my knowledge and experience.
Wish you a very good health ahead.
Thank you & Regards,
Dr Parin N Parmar
Regular medicines, immunotherapy and lifestyle-diet changes
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for your detailed information and follow-up.
My suggestions for you will be as follows:
(Please note that I cannot prescribe medications and these are my suggestions only. It is highly recommended that you discuss my suggestions with your doctor. Please read T&C of Healthcaremagic)
1. My first impression is that at present your asthma is not under good control, so first thing it to control your symptoms and my next plan would be to improve your immunity and lung capacity gradually.
So were I treating you, I would add a regular montelukast-levocetirizine tablet and I would double your daily dose of budamate for at least next 30 days. This will improve your symptoms. Montelukast-levocetirizine will also take care of itching & rashes.
I would like to mention here that technique of using inhaler Budamate is very much important. Please make sure that you are using the inhaler correctly, otherwise the drug might not reach lungs in adequate amounts.
2. 2nd thing is to identify cause of your symptoms and improve your health gradually. For that, I would suggest you allergy testing for common substances causing respiratory allergies - house dust mites, molds, pollens in your region, insect proteins (cockroach, etc) and pet proteins (if you have a pet).
Allergy testing will help you identify the substances causing symptoms to you as well as to know how to avoid them. Based on allergy testing, an Allergist-Immunologist may prescribe you allergen specific immunotherapy which gradually improves your allergy symptoms by working on your immunity gradually.
3. To know your current lung capacity and lung function, I would suggest you spirometry with post-bronchodilator reversibility test.
4. In general, I would suggest you to avoid exposure to dusts, smokes and air pollution as much as possible.
5. I would also suggest you to have a good multivitamin-multimineral supplements including vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, magnesium, selenium, folic acid, vitamin B12, etc for 3 months to improve your immune system gradually.
6. Please have a healthy diet rich in vitamins & minerals (adequate green vegetables, fruits, sprouts, etc), please eat according to your appetite, avoid
over-eating, avoid late-night meals, please follow simple diet for at least 6 months. Please have plenty of warm fluids during day (like soups, green tea, warm water, etc) and avoid cold foods like ice-cream, cold drinks, etc. Please try to reduce weight if you are overweight, it will also help improve your asthma.
7. I usually suggest my patients to include herbs like ginger, pepper, turmeric, etc in diet, which many times help them improve respiratory symptoms.
8. For improving lung capacity, I would suggest you regular physical exercise including Pranayama and Yoga.
9. Please get involved in stress reduction activities like meditation, relaxation, Yoga, music, etc. Stress can adversely affect allergies and asthma.
10. I would like to mention here that antibiotics are usually not required in allergies as they are needed only in bacterial infections. Oral steroids may be required in severe, acute cases only, which you do not have at present. Budamate contains inhaled corticosteroids, which act mostly locally in lungs and are considered much much safer than oral steroids.
To summarize, my plan for you will be to increase medications at present for your symptom relief. Parallel to medications, I would suggest you allergy testing & allergen specific immunotherapy, diet & life style changes, supplements, physical & lung exercise and stress reduction strategies. These measures will gradually reduce your medication requirements and you will be again able to live healthily with minimum possible medications.
However, at present, I would suggest you to take your medications regularly until other strategies would take effect.
Hope above suggestions will be helpful to you.
Should you have any further query, please feel free to ask on follow-up. It will be my humble pleasure to help you with best of my knowledge and experience.
Wish you a very good health ahead.
Thank you & Regards,
Dr Parin N Parmar
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vaishalee Punj
Dear Dr. Paramr,
Thank you for prompt response and valuable suggestions.
Kindly suggest some temporary prescription for heavy itching i am currently suffering from. I am not able to bear it. the medicines which i am taking are not effective.
Also , i have one more problem to which i would like to have you r valuable suggestions.
A year ago i was infected with dengue and since then m suffering from hair loss even my scalp is visible. Can you please suggest for this problem as well.
I have visited doctor and per that doctor there is no other option than hair transplant. Kindly suggest me any homeopathic medication or a homeopathic doctor whom i can visit for this problem as before hair translation i want to give a shot o homeopathy treatment.
Regards,
XXXX
Thank you for prompt response and valuable suggestions.
Kindly suggest some temporary prescription for heavy itching i am currently suffering from. I am not able to bear it. the medicines which i am taking are not effective.
Also , i have one more problem to which i would like to have you r valuable suggestions.
A year ago i was infected with dengue and since then m suffering from hair loss even my scalp is visible. Can you please suggest for this problem as well.
I have visited doctor and per that doctor there is no other option than hair transplant. Kindly suggest me any homeopathic medication or a homeopathic doctor whom i can visit for this problem as before hair translation i want to give a shot o homeopathy treatment.
Regards,
XXXX
Brief Answer:
Add hydroxyzine, consult an alternative medicine expert
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for your follow-up.
I would like to make suggestions for you as follows:
(Please note that I cannot prescribe medications and these are my suggestions only. It is highly recommended that you discuss my suggestions with your doctor and get a prescription. Please read T&C of Healthcaremagic)
1. Montelukast-Levocetirizine will help itching. However, if it is really heavy, initially I would suggest you to take Montelukast-Levocetirizine in morning and hydroxyzine at night. Once itching is less, you can stop taking hydroxyzine.
2. I would also suggest you to regularly apply calamine lotion immediately after bathing to increase moisture in your skin. This will improve dry skin and will reduce itching.
3. Please do not scratch the itchy areas as it would aggravate your itching. You an just apply calamine lotion over itchy areas as well.
4. In general, please avoid pain-killers, hot/spicy foods, hot water/sauna baths and tight-woolen clothes. Loose fitting cotton clothes and bathing in cooler water usually help most urticaria patients.
5. It is unusual to have hair fall only due to dengue fever. Psychological stress, improper nutrition also might have contributed to hair fall. Good vitamin-mineral supplements (as suggested previously), a good nutrition and stress reduction measures will surely reduce your hair fall.
6. I can understand your desire to avoid hair transplant and try homeopathic medicine. I am really sorry as I am not an expert in that and so cannot suggest you a homepathic medicine. My personal suggestion to you would be a consultation to a good Homeopathic as well as Ayurvedic doctor, combination of both alternative medicines along with proper nutrition and stress reduction may improve your hair problems.
Hope above suggestions will help you.
Should you have any further query, please feel free to ask on follow-up.
Wish you the best of the health ahead and a very good life.
Thank you & Regards,
Dr Parin N Parmar
Add hydroxyzine, consult an alternative medicine expert
Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX
Thank you for your follow-up.
I would like to make suggestions for you as follows:
(Please note that I cannot prescribe medications and these are my suggestions only. It is highly recommended that you discuss my suggestions with your doctor and get a prescription. Please read T&C of Healthcaremagic)
1. Montelukast-Levocetirizine will help itching. However, if it is really heavy, initially I would suggest you to take Montelukast-Levocetirizine in morning and hydroxyzine at night. Once itching is less, you can stop taking hydroxyzine.
2. I would also suggest you to regularly apply calamine lotion immediately after bathing to increase moisture in your skin. This will improve dry skin and will reduce itching.
3. Please do not scratch the itchy areas as it would aggravate your itching. You an just apply calamine lotion over itchy areas as well.
4. In general, please avoid pain-killers, hot/spicy foods, hot water/sauna baths and tight-woolen clothes. Loose fitting cotton clothes and bathing in cooler water usually help most urticaria patients.
5. It is unusual to have hair fall only due to dengue fever. Psychological stress, improper nutrition also might have contributed to hair fall. Good vitamin-mineral supplements (as suggested previously), a good nutrition and stress reduction measures will surely reduce your hair fall.
6. I can understand your desire to avoid hair transplant and try homeopathic medicine. I am really sorry as I am not an expert in that and so cannot suggest you a homepathic medicine. My personal suggestion to you would be a consultation to a good Homeopathic as well as Ayurvedic doctor, combination of both alternative medicines along with proper nutrition and stress reduction may improve your hair problems.
Hope above suggestions will help you.
Should you have any further query, please feel free to ask on follow-up.
Wish you the best of the health ahead and a very good life.
Thank you & Regards,
Dr Parin N Parmar
Note: For further information on diet changes to reduce allergy symptoms or to boost your immunity, Ask here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
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