inflammation, worsening asthma,” says a Mayo Clinic allergist-immunologist named Sergio Chiarella.
A Phenomenon Experts Call “Perimenstrual Asthma”
According to researchers, changes in asthma symptoms correspond to the ebb and flow of estrogen and progesterone throughout the menstrual cycle, which lasts 28 days.
Part of the reason women with asthma often have worsening symptoms approximately a week before their period begins is that their progesterone and estrogen levels have started to fall. Exacerbations of asthma remain when hormone levels fall to their lowest point during menstruation.
The fall in progesterone before menstruation seems to play an essential role in triggering perimenstrual asthma. But exactly how it triggers it is unclear to many researchers and is associated with increased asthma-related ED visits, hospitalizations, and ICU admissions in women. Asthma worsening during this perimenstrual period is a specific condition—a highly symptomatic asthma phenotype. Aspirin sensitivity, decreased atopy, and poorer lung capacity separates it from classic asthma.
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How Can We Help These Symptoms of Asthmatic Menstruation?
Changes in hormones seem to cause perimenstrual asthma; researchers thought that treatments giving constant amounts of hormones, like some types of oral birth control, might make symptoms less severe. But Joe Zein, a pulmonologist and researcher, says that the scientific evidence for this prediction is “kind of a mixed bag.” One study found that hormonal birth control improves symptoms, while another did not.
One explanation for the uncertainty over oral birth control’s effectiveness for asthma symptoms might be the timing of the research. The majority of the studies on oral birth control date back decades when the levels of hormones in the tablets differed from the alternatives available now.
Increasing your asthma meds during this period is one option to explore. Women suffering from this condition might take one kind of asthma medicine every four hours and another every eight hours, of course, after consulting with a trusted healthcare provider about what is best for their body. Keep speaking with your doctor so that they can help you throughout your perimenstrual asthma.
Medical professionals and academics still have many doubts regarding the connections between asthma and sex hormones. Because there hasn’t been enough study to fill in such holes, patients and physicians must continue practicing without “clear-cut advice.” And considering that asthma has been the cause of death for twice as many females as males throughout history, these concerns must be answered.