I have asthma. It isn't very well controlled right now because of Intal being taken off the market, but that is another post. 
I recently had an asthma attack and developed bronchitis. I have basically been stuck at home because of pollen counts and coughing spells for two weeks. I have begun to notice if I eat anything with chocolate in it, I have a fresh spasm of coughing for hours. My older sister, who doesn't have asthma, evidently had bronchitis years ago and is now "allergic" to chocolate also and won't eat it at all. I was wondering if it was a family thing, or if there is some reason there seems to be a tie between chocolate and bronchitis? Is there any hope of getting to have some chocolate again?
Q: asthma bronchitis and chocolate?
Answers (4)
4/16/10 4:51am
Please disregard what Alley said, "mom". I did some research and it seems that chocolate has been linked as a possible asthma trigger, but not necessarily because it causes an allergy. You might find this article of interest:
http://health.msn.com/health-topics/asthma/hubarticlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100204430
Seems the chocolate triggers GERD, which is a condition closely related to asthma. As to whether you'll ever be able to safely eat chocolate again, that's probably a question to discuss with your doctor who know more about your medical condition.
Good luck!
Kathi
4/14/10 2:58pm
idk but my cousin gets pimples when she eats choclate so get over it biii i love u all
4/20/10 7:14pm
To add to what Kathy said, I saw a doctor's list recently of foods to avoid if you have Acid Reflux, and chocolate was on that list, along with pop and beer. I thought it was interesting anyway. I can't imagine many chocolate lovers can resist the temptation.
8/27/11 10:10pm
Find this site so uplifting as I always knew I couldn't be the only one such a cripling illness. GERD is not something an asthmatic wants added to her list of things to watch out for. And ur right. Acid Reflux DOES flare up asthma. Has nothing to do with being allergic to what it is you eat. Has to do with not agitating the acid in ur stomache so it doesn't come up and irritate ur lungs, which it will. I can't eat anything that's spicy it'll give me an asthma attack or a bronchitis attack ( intense periods of coughing) . I'm not much of a chocolate fan but now that you've mentioned it, I can't eat much of it either, as I tend to get tight, not a full blown attack but enough that I have to use my rescue inhaler.
4/21/10 6:48pm
Rick,
Thanks for the input. I was in the hospital over the weekend and that was one of the things they were looking at while trying to get my asthma exacerbation under control. I really appreciate this website. I have been cruising it while doing breathing treatments at home. That was my first time being hospitalized for asthma. Like you have said the RTs are great!
I haven't seen a lot of information about educating kids about their parent's asthma. Is there anything out there that I haven't found yet? I have 6-17 year olds. Unfortunately, they have gotten stuck with most of my upkeep. Therefore, I kind of feel like they need to know what's going on. One is also a worrier.
I tried to respond once before, but had problems getting it to submit. Might have been on my end.
4/21/10 10:40pm
My father has asthma. I might be biased because I also had asthma, but my father explained to me and my sister a little bit about what asthma is (using terms that I could understand at the time), what it does, and what my medicines do. Finally, he explained how to tell if he was having an asthmatic crisis and what we should do with it (namely, go call 911 and if he didn't have inhaler, get it).
4/22/10 1:27am
Thanks for the input. I am glad someone with a parent with asthma commented so I have an idea what it is like as the child of a parent. We are learning a lot right now about asthma together. So far none of the kids has been diagnosed, although I suspect one or two may be like me. My husband and I suspect I had it as a kid and went undiagnosed. Which is another reason to make sure they know more than the normal kid does about asthma.
4/22/10 3:39am
Actually, I would give the same advice to children of asthmatics that I would give to parents of asthmatics. So, have your kids check out this post and replace parent with child. Regardless, the information is the same.
Regarding the Acid Reflux diet, we often refer to it around here as the No Fun Diet!
4/23/10 8:23am
Rick,
Someone gave me this web site. Thought you might be interested in it. I haven't checked it out yet, but plan to soon, like the next neb treatment. I kind of had forgotten about it until I read your post. I have tried the "reflux diet" before. I love tomatoes almost as much as I do chocolate!!
greattastenopain.com
4/22/10 11:12am
I think my biggest complaint about how my parents handled my father's asthma (and mine, for that matter) is that they didn't give me enough education or emphasise well enough the importance of continuing my medications even when I'm feeling well. Part of that is due to the fact that my dad tended to be a bit of a goofus asthmatic (of the "Just tough it out" variety), and part of it is, I think, that they wanted to shelter me from the reality of having a serious chronic illness. Unfortunately, I think their sheltering contributed to me having my own goofus asthmatic phase, which in turn resulted in me having an awful asthma year last year (though I fully admit that a lot of that was my fault).
I'd say it would be safer (especially if you suspect one or more of your kids is asthmatic, too) to err on the side of too much information than not enough. Don't scare them with doom and gloom, but just make sure that your kids have a very good, age-appropriate understanding of your medical condition. And, speaking as a kid who also had a mom with a chronic medical condition that she would not talk about, it's much less scary if you know why Mom or Dad needs to be in the hospital and what is being done for her or him to help her or him than if it's just, "Mommy needs to be in the hospital, but don't worry because she's going to be fine."
Even a five-year-old knows that if you need to be in the hospital, you're not fine, and for me, at least, I got scared that if my parents didn't want to talk about it, that must mean it was really serious and bad... by the end of her hospital stay, I'd half-convinced myself that my mother was dying.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that knowledge is an excellent antidote to fear, especially fear of the unknown. If your kids are anything like I was, knowing what the problem is and knowing what they can do to help if an emergency should arise will help them deal with their worry - because they are going to worry about you. They're your kids, and you were sick.... it kind of goes with the territory. :)
4/22/10 1:52pm
We sound a lot a like!! My parents tended to not talk about things like that too. I tended to be like my "worrier." Yeah, my biggest fear as a kid was if something happened to one of my parents. I am glad I have something bigger, in Jesus, to hang on to now.
4/23/10 10:00am
My father was always very open and frank about his health (since he, like me, hates not knowing more than knowing), but my with my mom, the more serious her problem is, the less she'll say about it.
I'm not a religious person. I cope with my inability to handle not knowing my making sure that I know as much as possible about whatever's wrong. It works for me. I'm not much of a worrier anymore.
4/27/10 4:53pm
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply. I had another bad asthma attack and landed in the hospital again. Yes, I am on the internet looking for answers and solutions while I am here. I am so thankful for my faith in Jesus at times like these, though. The doctor has no answers. He suspects my extreme allergies and reflux are the culprits. He has run tests, but everything is fine. I was asking him about some long term comittments we have coming up this morning, it looks very cloudy... this is out of my control, but not God's.
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By mom with asthma— Last Modified: 08/27/11, First Published: 04/14/10
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Thanks, Kathy, I will look at the article.