M.G. Identifies Some of Her Asthma Triggers
M.G. is a girl in her early teens living in Tennessee. She started having symptoms of asthma at about the age of seven. M.G. is now an active and engaged middle-school student, busy with school and social activities, swimming team, and hiking.
M.G. attends a school that emphasizes what can be learned outdoors from the natural world. Many people with asthma find outdoor elements like tree pollen, ragweed, and grass are triggers. This makes it all the more important for M.G. that she have as much information as possible about what triggers her asthma and how to avoid asthma flare-ups.
M.G. attends a school that emphasizes what can be learned outdoors from the natural world. Many people with asthma find outdoor elements like tree pollen, ragweed, and grass are triggers. This makes it all the more important for M.G. that she have as much information as possible about what triggers her asthma and how to avoid asthma flare-ups.
As a teenager M.G. is also taking on more of the task of monitoring her asthma, as compared to when she was a young child and that was entirely her parents’ job.
M.G. was one of the first people beyond the See Your Breathing developer’s family to try out See Your Breathing. During the months M.G. participated she helped establish how an individual can get relevant, understandable, and retrievable information from the app that helps them follow their doctor’s orders to stay away from triggers and to keep an asthma diary.
Additionally, users can get insight into which remedies help their breathing. These insights into triggers and remedies can be formed in singular observations with See Your Breathing, as well as by frequent daily observations.
M.G. was one of the first people beyond the See Your Breathing developer’s family to try out See Your Breathing. During the months M.G. participated she helped establish how an individual can get relevant, understandable, and retrievable information from the app that helps them follow their doctor’s orders to stay away from triggers and to keep an asthma diary.
Additionally, users can get insight into which remedies help their breathing. These insights into triggers and remedies can be formed in singular observations with See Your Breathing, as well as by frequent daily observations.
Over the months M.G. used See Your Breathing in a variety of circumstances she saw as relevant to her current and future control over asthma. For instance:
- Visiting a cat café. (A cat café serves food for people, while cats that need a home wander around. The idea is that human visitors will visit the cat café, “fall in love with” a particular cat, and apply to take that cat home.)
- Hiking and working outdoors, cleaning up a hiking trail.
- Taking a neighborhood walk.
- Breathing the air at the indoor swimming pool where the swimming team practices. (The air inside the building has a heavy chlorine smell that catches in M.G.’s nose and throat each time she enters the building.)
- Sitting next to a group of ladies who wear a considerable amount of perfume.
- Standing next to a group of men outdoors, smoking cigars.
The Cat Café
The blue recordings were taken before the visit to the cat café.
These graphs were made early in our study and show more recordings at once than we now recommend.
These graphs were made early in our study and show more recordings at once than we now recommend.
Purple recordings were made directly after the Cat Café visit.
You can see through the other colored recordings that the purple directly-after-cat-café recordings seem to generally slump below the blue before-cat-café recordings. This suggests that the contact with the cats has had some effect on M.G.
You can see through the other colored recordings that the purple directly-after-cat-café recordings seem to generally slump below the blue before-cat-café recordings. This suggests that the contact with the cats has had some effect on M.G.
Dark purple recordings were made an hour and a half after the visit to the Cat Café. M.G. showered and changed clothes after she got home. The five dark purple recordings slump lower than the five purple recordings almost completely.
This further supports the lasting effect of the Cat Café on M.G., with the reasonable assumption that showering and changing clothes removes the cat fur, dander, and saliva that are on M.G.’s hair, skin, and clothes, but does not change the amount of fur and dander she has already inhaled into her nose, throat, and lungs. Those allergens continued to affect M.G.’s lungs.
This further supports the lasting effect of the Cat Café on M.G., with the reasonable assumption that showering and changing clothes removes the cat fur, dander, and saliva that are on M.G.’s hair, skin, and clothes, but does not change the amount of fur and dander she has already inhaled into her nose, throat, and lungs. Those allergens continued to affect M.G.’s lungs.
The dark green recordings were made six hours after the Cat Café visit, and four and a half hours after M.G. got a shower and fresh clothes. These dark green recordings are moving up close to the range of the blue pre-Cat-Café recordings, but not quite there yet.
See Your Breathing Helped M.G. Confirm that Cats Trigger her Asthma
Although M.G. would love to have a pet cat, it appears that would not be a healthy choice for her. The effect of a short exposure to cat fur, dander, and saliva had an hours long effect on M.G.’s breathing.
Although M.G. would love to have a pet cat, it appears that would not be a healthy choice for her. The effect of a short exposure to cat fur, dander, and saliva had an hours long effect on M.G.’s breathing.
See Your Breathing has enabled M.G. to check out the effect of cat fur, dander, and saliva on her breathing in a reasonably controlled way. That is, she did not have to stay in the Cat Café until she was on the verge of an asthma attack or actually having an asthma attack.
Having recorded her breathing with See Your Breathing before the Cat Café visit, M.G. could stay for a short while at the Café and record her breathing several times subsequent to that visit. She could see in the recordings that the cats had a definite effect on her breathing and adjust her plans for the future accordingly.
M.G. is sticking with her dog as her sole pet. Videos and recordings of cats playing and purring will be the next best thing to a resident cat.
Having recorded her breathing with See Your Breathing before the Cat Café visit, M.G. could stay for a short while at the Café and record her breathing several times subsequent to that visit. She could see in the recordings that the cats had a definite effect on her breathing and adjust her plans for the future accordingly.
M.G. is sticking with her dog as her sole pet. Videos and recordings of cats playing and purring will be the next best thing to a resident cat.
Cleaning Up the Hiking Trail
M.G. went on a two hour long clean-up hike on a wooded trail – the participants hiked along the trail and picked up trash as they went.
Before the Hike
Before the clean-up/hike began M.G. made the dark blue recordings.
Before the clean-up/hike began M.G. made the dark blue recordings.
After the Hike
After M.G. completed the clean-up/hike she made the orange recordings. We can see that these orange recordings, as a whole, sag below the dark blue recordings made before the hike.
After M.G. completed the clean-up/hike she made the orange recordings. We can see that these orange recordings, as a whole, sag below the dark blue recordings made before the hike.
Participating in this clean-up/hike has affected M.G.’s breathing, as shown in the See Your Breathing recordings. This matches with how M.G. felt about her breathing after the clean-up/hike – strained and tired.
Short, Neighborhood Walk with Dad
Before the Walk
Ignore the two blue recordings because they were made only to provide fifteen second timers for the rests between the three recordings of M.G.’s breathing, the red and the green recordings.
Ignore the two blue recordings because they were made only to provide fifteen second timers for the rests between the three recordings of M.G.’s breathing, the red and the green recordings.
After the Walk
Here the 3 actual recordings of M.G.’s breathing (one red and two green) are similar to the pre-walk recordings.
A neighborhood walk has not affected M.G.’s breathing in the same way the long clean-up/hike did.
Here the 3 actual recordings of M.G.’s breathing (one red and two green) are similar to the pre-walk recordings.
A neighborhood walk has not affected M.G.’s breathing in the same way the long clean-up/hike did.
Larger Message for Teenagers and Their Parents
Because See Your Breathing is a tool for exploration, enabling and encouraging the users to figure out how and what they want to find out about their breathing in different circumstances and giving them a variety of ways to present their findings, the app gives teenagers an interesting and creative way to begin to take full charge of their asthma management.
Because See Your Breathing is a tool for exploration, enabling and encouraging the users to figure out how and what they want to find out about their breathing in different circumstances and giving them a variety of ways to present their findings, the app gives teenagers an interesting and creative way to begin to take full charge of their asthma management.
Chlorine's Effect on Breathing at an Indoor Pool
M.G. feels a catch in her throat each time she enters the indoor swimming pool building for swim team practice. She and her Mom decided to make See Your Breathing recordings in order to see whether the noticeable catch M.G. feels in her throat when she enters this building and its after-effects are reflected in her recordings.
Before Entering
Here are three recording M.G. made before entering the indoor swimming pool. They share the high arc type shape typical of M.G.’s recordings when her breathing is not troubled.
Here are three recording M.G. made before entering the indoor swimming pool. They share the high arc type shape typical of M.G.’s recordings when her breathing is not troubled.
Five Minutes After Entering
Here are five recordings M.G. made five minutes after she entered the swim building.
M.G. colored four of them red because they are clumped together compared to the fifth recording (colored green).
All five recordings are different from the recordings made before she entered the pool building.
Here are five recordings M.G. made five minutes after she entered the swim building.
M.G. colored four of them red because they are clumped together compared to the fifth recording (colored green).
All five recordings are different from the recordings made before she entered the pool building.
Ten Minutes After Entering
Another five minutes later all five recordings are different from the previous five – M.G. colored green the recordings that are slumping the most.
Another five minutes later all five recordings are different from the previous five – M.G. colored green the recordings that are slumping the most.
Back Home
M.G. is back home, relaxing and doing some breathing exercises in her bedroom. Her recordings seem to be moving back up to the high-arched shape typical for M.G. when she is breathing easy.
M.G. is back home, relaxing and doing some breathing exercises in her bedroom. Her recordings seem to be moving back up to the high-arched shape typical for M.G. when she is breathing easy.
Forty-five Minutes Later
This screenshot of M.G.’s See Your Breathing recordings was taken 45 minutes after she had used an essential oils diffuser in her room, along with relaxing and doing breathing exercises.
This screenshot of M.G.’s See Your Breathing recordings was taken 45 minutes after she had used an essential oils diffuser in her room, along with relaxing and doing breathing exercises.
The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America cautions that there is no evidence that essential oils can help asthma and essential oils may be harmful to people with asthma. They state that it is best to talk to your doctor first before trying anything new.
Perfume and Cigar Smoke
M.G. has recorded her breathing before and after several other potential triggers to her asthma. With both perfume and cigar smoke, M.G.’s See Your Breathing recordings made after being exposed to these irritants differ clearly from those made before.
M.G. felt that her breathing changed for the worse when she sat inside among a group of women wearing lots of perfume. The before and after See Your Breathing recordings confirmed her feelings and led M.G. and her family to visit with these friends outdoors, or at least where everyone is more spread out.
M.G. and her family follow the same strategy when visiting with cigar smokers.
M.G. felt that her breathing changed for the worse when she sat inside among a group of women wearing lots of perfume. The before and after See Your Breathing recordings confirmed her feelings and led M.G. and her family to visit with these friends outdoors, or at least where everyone is more spread out.
M.G. and her family follow the same strategy when visiting with cigar smokers.
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