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Asthma Specialists
If you have asthma, it's important to carefully select an asthma specialist -- a doctor who understands respiratory problems and treats asthma -- as your health care provider. Here are some asthma specialists to consider:
Allergist. An allergist is a pediatrician or internist who has taken additional training to qualify as a specialist in allergy and immunology. An allergist specializes in allergies, asthma, and allergic asthma.
Internist. An internist is a doctor who specializes in internal medicine -- the study of diseases in adults, particularly those related to internal organs and general medicine -- and who has completed three years of training after medical school.
Pediatrician. A pediatrician is a doctor who has three years of special training after medical school in the care of children from birth through college. A pediatrician can diagnose and treat childhood asthma.
Pulmonologist. A pulmonologist has taken two or three additional years of training following residency in internal medicine or pediatrics to qualify as a specialist in respiratory diseases. Some pulmonologists may get additional board certification in critical care medicine.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation Therapist. While not a physician, this nurse or respiratory therapist is trained in pulmonary rehabilitation techniques and can provide asthma support and information on exercise and asthma, lung function, and stress and asthma. The pulmonary rehabilitation therapist can help educate you on how to care for your symptoms of asthma.
Once you determine the type of asthma specialist you want to see, consider the following questions to help make the best choice:
Changes in medical coverage may mean that the doctor you now see will not be the one you see in a year or two. This makes it even more important to understand your asthma diagnosis fully, stay abreast of treatment methods and follow your asthma action plan.
Tease Of Spring Weather Brings Pollen Season, Flurry Of Allergies
Spring briefly bloomed earlier this week, meaning pollen season has made its way to cause sniffling and sinus misery across the Puget Sound region.
While pollen from grass and weeds remains absent in Washington at this point of the season, tree pollen has reached 344 pollen grains per cubic meter (P/M3) — a "high" rating from the Northwest Asthma and Allergy Center.
The number is still on the low side of the "high" rating, as pollen grains would need to surpass 600 in order to reach the center's highest rating, "very high." Yesterday reached 257 P/M3.
More on Seattle's weather: Tuesday is Seattle's last 60+ degree day in March
"Most people are experiencing an increase in their allergy symptoms, particularly those that are sensitive to spring allergens," Preeti Sharma, M.D., a pediatric pulmonologist at the Children's Health Medical Center in Dallas, told CBS. "It's warm, the wind has been blowing and that just puts more allergens in the air for all of us to breathe in."
Allergists with the University of Washington (UW) Medical Center in Montlake remain unsure if increasingly warmer temperatures and climate change correlate with a bad allergy season. However, they've stated allergy season has only gotten worse in the past couple of years.
"Overall, what we've seen for the past couple of years is that pollen counts have indeed been higher, and because of that some people are coming in, feeling that symptoms are worse," Jenny Sun, M.D., a clinical assistant professor of allergy and immunology with UW Medicine's Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told KING 5.
The Washington State Department of Health (WADOH) has attributed some of the increase in pollen intensity to climate change, finding pollen season is beginning to start 20 days earlier and last for almost a month longer, compared to 30 years ago.
More on climate change affecting pollen: UW Medicine believes climate change causing longer allergy seasons
"Scientists have found that allergy seasons are getting longer and more severe," WADOH stated. "Human-caused climate change is the 'dominant driver' of these longer pollen seasons and is a major reason for increasing concentrations of pollen."
Pollen counts are expected to drop starting Friday, coinciding with at least a 50% chance of rain for five of the next seven days in Seattle. Rain reduces pollen count, according to the Northwest Asthma and Allergy Center.
To minimize allergies, The Weather Channel recommends showering after being outdoors, minimizing indoor pollen by keeping windows shut and using AC or a HEPA purifier instead and being up-to-date on all allergy relief options.
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
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Climate Change Is Making Allergy Season More Dangerous For Some Children
Swimming in the lake or picking garden vegetables later into the summer stand out as benefits of the warming climate, but not for children with asthma or those susceptible to seasonal allergies.
Since 1970, allergy season in 138 U.S. Cities has expanded by at least seven days, including in Portland and Presque Isle, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Climate Central, a science and journalism nonprofit. That means children who are still developing will experience longer and more intense exposure to seasonal allergens, driving up discomfort and emergency department visits.
Nearly one in five U.S. Children suffers from seasonal allergies, and almost 9 percent suffer from asthma. In Maine, some 18,000 children 18 and younger suffer from asthma, or about 9 percent of that population, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. An increasing contributor is the carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, which makes plants produce more pollen, warms the planet and extends the growing and allergy seasons.
"It not only impacts respiratory and cardiovascular health, but the overall health of all of us," said Dr. Anne Coates, a pediatric pulmonologist at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital in Portland, which is part of MaineHealth. "Educating yourself about the environment in general and how that may potentially impact your house or your child's health is really important."
This May 2016 file photo shows pollen from nearby trees accumulating in the Penobscot River by Brewer. One person incorrectly believed it was an oil spill, prompting the fire department to respond. Credit: Nok-Noi Ricker / BDN Climate change is responsible for about half of the increase in pollen seasons and about 8 percent of the increase in pollen concentrations, according to a recent report from the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. A warming of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit could increase asthma-related emergency department visits nationwide by about 5,800 annually, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report in 2023 on climate change and children's health.
Coates said climate change can lead to uncontrolled asthma or heart attacks, increased hospitalization and even death. Parents need to recognize allergy symptoms such as a runny nose and nasal congestion early because it can be difficult to distinguish them from a viral infection, which may be accompanied by a fever.
Family history and childhood respiratory infections are among the major causes of asthma in which the airways narrow and swell. The severity of symptoms — including difficulty breathing, coughing or wheezing — vary depending on the person.
Maine has been known as the tailpipe of the nation, in part because of the upwind air pollution from northeastern cities and the midwestern coal plants that blow here, Coates said. But she has noticed a rise in the number of families who contact her concerned about different allergens and air pollutants since she started in her field in 2013.
Allergy season is arriving sooner in the spring and lasting longer into the fall because of the warming climate, according to Climate Central. Credit: ) Courtesy of Climate Central Allergy season is arriving sooner in the spring and lasts longer into the fall because of the warming climate, according to Climate Central. The "freeze-free" season between the last and first freeze has lengthened by 15 days in Portland since 1970, about the same as the national average. Presque Isle saw a 12-day increase, it found.
"What is new is the number of people that are being affected, the time periods that we're seeing the effect play out and the severity of the symptoms that we're seeing," said Dr. Lisa Patel, clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford Medicine Children's Hospital in Pleasanton, California. "Seasonal allergies have always been around, but because of climate change we're seeing longer pollen seasons and more intense release of pollens that are increasing the number of cases and their severity."
Recognizing the increasing effect on people, the EPA in February revised its clean air standard for particulate matter in the air that also can aggravate breathing. It was reduced from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9 micrograms per cubic meter, with the new level expected by the agency to prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays by 2032. Patel would have liked to see a more stringent standard but said the decrease is a "big step forward."
Maine's summertime particle pollution values can rise if a dirty air mass from elsewhere in the country moves across the state, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. But the particle pollution emissions have dropped in recent years.
The EPA also improved public information about health risks in its Air Quality Index, including a web-accessible tool, AirNow.Gov, that shows current air quality by zip code. It can help people decide whether to go outside if the air quality is too poor.
Children are especially sensitive to changes in the climate because they spend more time outdoors, and they are still developing. Reliant on adult caregivers, they also have less control over their surrounding environments and less understanding of health risks.
"We don't have a cure for asthma, but we certainly have the understanding of ways to control it and minimize the severity of asthma and allergies," Coates said.
Over-the-counter nasal steroid sprays offer some relief, as do keeping home and car windows closed on heavy pollen days, using air conditioning and taking a shower immediately after coming inside from time outdoors. For those who cannot afford an air purifier, the EPA offers online instructions for an inexpensive, temporary, do-it-yourself filter using an air filter, box fan and duct tape. Limiting exposure to mold, second-hand smoke and pet hair also can help.
It is important for people to think more consciously about the links between how their external world is changed and their health, Patel said.
"They need to understand that this is the tip of the iceberg unless we get off of fossil fuel pollution," she said. "If we don't, we can expect that these types of health effects stand to grow worse, and substantially so."
For more information on how to cope with the effects of climate change on health, visit the U.S. CDC's asthma action plan website and the Maine CDC's self-management program.
Lori Valigra is an investigative environment reporter for the BDN's Maine Focus team. She may be reached at lvaligra@bangordailynews.Com. Support for this reporting is provided by the Unity Foundation and donations by BDN readers.
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