For asthmatics, laughter is no laughing matter

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More than half of people with Asthma have symptoms that are triggered by laughter, a new study suggests.

Laughter is “one more trigger in a long list of triggers” for asthma, study author Dr. Stuart Garay of the New York University Medical Center in New York told.

However, among people with symptoms brought on by laughter, nearly half said they could laugh attack-free when their asthma was under better control. 

To Garay, this suggests that people who get asthma symptoms from laughing should consider tweaking their medicine to improve control of their condition.

Laughter-induced asthma “may be a sign that you need some adjustment in your medication,” Garay said in an interview.

For their study, he and his colleagues asked 235 people with asthma if laughter affected their Asthma.

They found that 56 percent of people developed symptoms after laughing, most commonly cough and chest tightness. Most people said they experienced symptoms within 2 minutes of laughing, with many saying their symptoms kicked in almost immediately.

Two-thirds of study participants with laughter-induced asthma said that simply giggling could bring on their symptoms.

However, 47 percent of people with asthma brought on by laughter said that when their Asthma was under good control, they could laugh all they want, and have no symptoms. “When their asthma’s not controlled, it’s easier to bring out these symptoms,” Garay noted.

He emphasized that no one should try to live his life without laughter in order to avoid an asthma attack. “I want people to laugh,” he said.

He added that people with laughter-triggered asthma also were more likely to experience symptoms from exercise, suggesting that exercise and laughter may trigger symptoms for similar reasons. However, Garay said, it normally takes up to 8 minutes for people to develop symptoms after exercise, while laughing can bring on symptoms much more quickly.

The researchers presented their findings at the American Thoracic Society International Conference in San Diego, California.

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