Women’s Hormonal Changes Impact Asthma October 26
Asthma is one of those chronic illnesses that affect a cross-section of people of all ages. However, there is a special connection between this disease and the female gender. According to Dr. Neil Kao, an asthma and allergy specialist in Greenville, South Carolina who was quoted in a feature on WebMD, women who have asthma have an even harder time than others simply because they are who they are – women.
The reason for this is the fact that aside from external allergens that all people with asthma have to face, women periodically go through hormonal changes over a certain period of time and at certain stages in their lives that can affect how well they can breathe. Being pregnant, or having your period, or dealing with menopause can all affect a woman’s breathing. In other words, as in a lot of things in a woman’s life – it’s a girl thing.
When we talk about the female hormone estrogen and its effect on asthma in women, we are not exactly pointing to it as the reason for triggering asthma symptoms. It is the fact that estrogen levels fluctuate at certain periods that can trigger an inflammation in a woman’s airways, leading to the appearance of asthma symptoms.
So, for women who live with asthma, it is not enough to simply be knowledgeable and conscious about the seasons and the specific allergens that trigger their asthma symptoms. It is also necessary to be aware of one’s menstrual cycle. Being pregnant and going through menopause and the hormonal changes that go with them can also have an impact on dealing with asthma.
Generally, significant changes in hormone levels happen throughout a woman’s menstrual cycle, regardless of whether her cycle is regular or irregular. For women with asthma, one should watch out during the time right before the start of her period, which is when estrogen levels are at their lowest. According to Dr. Maeve O’Connor, an allergist and immunologist from Charlotte, North Carolina who was quoted in the same feature, it is at this time in an asthmatic woman’s cycle that most asthma-related hospitalizations occur.
Tags: asthma, asthma hormonal imbalance, asthma in women, women with asthma