Flu beats sex

Every disease has a website, it seems, and common diseases may have many. The UK has a charity devoted to asthma that has a site, AsthmaUK.com, with an interesting feature, an "asthma trigger" section that discussed things that may bring on asthma symptoms in people with asthma. Asthma is a disease involving airway dysfunction where it becomes difficult to exhale. You can get an idea of how debilitating this can be by taking an ordinary drinking straw and while breathing in normally only breathe out through the straw. Try it. Very distressing, you'll find. So you don't want to trigger the kind of airway twitchiness that brings this on. Hence the "trigger" section of AsthmaUK's website.

If you look at it you'll find that a lot of different things can trigger asthma in different people. You can look at the list and click on one of the items and you'll be provided with more information on that trigger and things you might do to avoid it or make it less likely to set off an asthma attack. We'll only discuss two things: flu and sex, both triggers for asthma. Sex a trigger for asthma? Not only on the list, but according to a news piece on the website, the number one viewed trigger on the list. Until this winter in the UK, which is experiencing a very bad flu season. Flu just beat sex as the number one viewed trigger item (the first time in the three year history of the site).

This doesn't mean that sex is the number one cause of asthma attacks, just that people are more interesting reading about it than about moulds and fungi (too unpleasant) or animals (they'd rather not know fido has to go). We write about flu a lot here, but it's sex that brings the traffic, so we'll devote the rest of this post to sex as a trigger for asthma, as rendered by the good folks at AsthmaUK.com. If you click on "sex" in the Triggers, A-Z list, you'll find out that sex is there because it's another form of exercise, and exercise can make asthma worse. A disappointment, perhaps, but we pursued it to the "exercise" link, substituting the word "sex" for the word "exercise":

Some people with asthma find that [sex] triggers their asthma symptoms. However, [sex] is good for everyone, including people with asthma. If your asthma is well controlled, you should be able to join in, have fun and keep fit.

If your asthma symptoms get worse during or after [sex] it could be a sign that your asthma is poorly controlled and you may need to visit your doctor or asthma nurse for an asthma review.

Tips on [having sex] with asthma

• Make sure the people you are [having sex] with know you have asthma.
• Increase your fitness levels gradually.
• Always have your reliever inhaler (usually blue) with you when you [have sex].
• If [sex] triggers your asthma use your reliever inhaler immediately before you warm up.
• Ensure that you always warm up and down thoroughly.
• Try not to come into contact with things that trigger your asthma.
• If you have symptoms when you [are having sex], stop, take your reliever inhaler and wait until you feel better before starting again.
• If you use preventer medicine, take it as prescribed by your doctor or asthma nurse.

In summary, don't forget your warm up and stretching exercises, have sex often and regularly, working up gradually to orgy length, be honest with your partner about any diseases you have, stay away from partners that take your breath away, if you get winded, take a break. Suck on your inhaler if you feel you want to. And use prevention.

No wonder people would rather read about flu.