BY: ROBERTA GAYODE MODIN
A senior Resident, Respiratory Medicine, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Vishnu Abayete has disclosed that intense emotions such as laughter have the potential to trigger asthma attacks.
Speaking to Valerie Danso on the GTV Breakfast Show, Dr. Abayete noted that asthmatic triggers differ from one patient to another and urged asthmatics to be on the lookout for their triggers.
“There are some whose symptoms are triggered by excessive emotions like laughing, crying. There are cases where people have asthma and because of that they can’t laugh hysterically,” Dr. Abayete stated.
A publication by Everyday Health, medically reviewed by Farrokh Soohrabi, MD affirmed Dr. Abayete’s assertion on asthma triggers.
Farrokh Sohrabi, MD, is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
He completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Viriginia Hospital and is board certified in internal medicine.
“Extreme emotional states like heavy laughter or intense crying can prompt an asthma attack by changing breathing patterns and restricting airflow” part of the article ‘Everyday Health’ said.
He added that in Ghana the commonest trigger of asthma is house dust mites.
Dr. Abayete explained asthma as chronic inflammation of airways that causes them to narrow when they come into contact leading to difficulty in breathing, coughing, and chest tightening.