Guest Author - Amy Anaruk

Learning you have asthma or learning your child has asthma changes your whole life. It changed mine forever, and that's one of the reasons I became BellaOnline's Asthma site editor.

I believe that learning as much as possible about a medical condition can make a huge difference in health management. Taking my asthmatic daughter to her doctors and specialists was only part of the picture. Educating myself by reading all I could about the disease and talking to other parents of asthmatics online improved my handling of her health immeasurably. There is a wealth of good asthma information on the Internet, including here on BellaOnline.

On this site, I'll discuss how to live an active, healthy life with this chronic lung disease and how to care for an asthmatic child. I take a whole-body approach in treating my daughter because I believe strong emotional health is just as important as strong physical health in maintaining her asthma. Subjects I write about include traditional and alternative treatment options, common triggers like allergies, the newest medical research, the importance of clean air and the avoidance of toxins, and the role diet can play in lung function and pulmonary inflammation. Also important to me is fundraising for groups like the American Lung Association, the oldest voluntary health organization in the United States and a forerunner in asthma education.

If you'd like to subscribe to the Asthma newsletter, Breathability, you'll receive weekly updates when I post new articles. Sometimes, the newsletter will include shorter content that won't fit neatly into an article for the site. To subscribe, just type your email address into the box to the right or below this article.

You can also find me on the Asthma site's forum through the link on the right side of the page or through my email address here at BellaOnline. I welcome any feedback or questions and would love to see you on the forums.

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