Alcohol Use and Asthma Attacks

Do you find that your asthma gets worse after a few drinks? Will you require a lot of inhaler use the next day? Can drinking alcohol make your asthma worse? Alcohol can, in fact, make your asthma symptoms worse. To learn more

Alcohol Use and Asthma Attacks

Effects of Alcohol on Asthma Patients

Few people are aware that alcohol can also cause asthma symptoms like shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, and tightness in the chest in certain people. Smoking, dust, pollution, or pets are typical asthma triggers.

Any alcoholic beverage can set off an asthma attack in some people, while wine and beer can make asthmatic wheeze and coughing worse for other people. There is evidence that one of the most frequent triggers for asthma is wine, and that it does so most swiftly. Red, white, beer, and cider have a higher risk of making asthma worse. Also, since vodka contains less sulfites and histamine than other clear spirits, it does not produce an asthma attack. Why can drinking alcohol make your asthma worse? The following explanations of the preservatives included in alcoholic beverages that have been linked to the development of asthma symptoms:

Histamines – Histamines play a role in the lungs' airway inflammation. It is the substance that the body naturally creates in response to asthma and allergy symptoms.
Sulfites—Sulfites are a common preservative added to beer and wine and are used in a wide range of foods. Sulfites can cause both allergy and asthma symptoms in certain people who develop an allergy to them. This is a widely established theory explaining how alcohol and asthma are related. Wines have been shown to contain significant quantities of histamines, which if you have asthma and are susceptible to them, could aggravate your symptoms. The good news is that histamine intolerance is extremely uncommon.

You may react more quickly to additional factors that could exacerbate asthma symptoms if you drink alcohol. According to studies, persons who consume more alcohol than is advised each week become more susceptible to asthma triggers including pollen, dust, and pollution.

Alcohol makes you hydrate less

Given that beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks are primarily made of water, you might wonder how they could ever dehydrate you. You may have observed that drinking alcohol causes you to urinate more frequently than usual. According to studies, 200 ml of alcohol causes you to urinate 320 ml, therefore if you drink too much, your body may become dehydrated. Another negative impact of drinking is dehydration. So why is that the case? Herein lies the function of the hypothalamus, which is in charge of maintaining homeostasis. It participates in controlling water levels inside the body and aids in maintaining the body's regular state of affairs. Two hormones, vasopressin and ADH, are produced by the hypothalamus. As its name implies, anti-diuretic hormone keeps you from urinating. In this manner, the hypothalamus continuously checks the amount of water in your bloodstream, carrying out its intended purpose. If the blood water levels are low, you are dehydrated. This alerts the body. to produce more ADH hormone to release into your bloodstream. It then causes the release of ADH hormone and then attaches to ADH receptors in your kidney which allows your kidneys to put water back into the bloodstream. This way your body conserves water and helps to rehydrate you.

Alcohol tends to suppress ADH, which means your hypothalamus produces less ADH and you have low levels of ADH as a result. Alcohol has a diuretic effect as a result, which causes you to urinate more. As a result, drinking too much alcohol can make you thirsty. Your hangover the next day is frequently caused by this dehydration, which in turn triggers asthma symptoms.

How to Reduce the Asthma Risk from Alcoholic Drinks

Make sure you take your preventer asthma medication as directed by your doctor every day when you are exposed to asthma triggers. Your body is less prone to react to triggers as a result. Other crucial advice is as follows:

If you want to drink, limit yourself to the beverages you have already tried or that you find palatable. but would rather try some non-alcoholic substitutes. You could also choose wines with low sulfites. Yet, because asthma triggers can shift over time, any alcoholic beverage could end up becoming a trigger. As a result, it is preferable to limit your alcohol consumption.
Keep your painkiller on hand. If you experience asthma symptoms, you can require your reliever at any time to help you. It is advised that asthma patients always have an asthma action plan on hand in their phones so that family and friends may easily assist them if their symptoms worsen.
The best defence against asthma triggers is to take your preventer medication as directed by your healthcare provider. Try not to skip your preventer medication. It lessens the likelihood that your airways will react to a trigger and stop an asthma attack.