i need help

[panda2010]

ok i am not sure wat it is, and i am not sure if it is because my parents smoke. yes i am 16. ok when my parents and brother smoke i my breathing gets very shallow and then it gets very hard for me to breath, and when i am in the same room for to long and they are smokin i get theses bad headaches that turn into migrains. so if you could tell me what that is or give me some tips that would be  very thought ful, thank you all so much
                                                                            amanda

[National Jewish Health]

It is very likely that you have asthma that is aggravated by your parents’ cigarette smoke, which is probably also the cause of your headaches.  But there are many causes of headaches, migraines and other types.  You should not assume that cigarette smoke is the cause, although if the only time you have a headache is when you breathe-in the smoke that makes it more likely.  Tell your parents that we agreed that it is highly likely that their smoke is making you sick.  It is not just a nuisance – it is a health hazard.

This is a tough situation, because you don’t have control of your environment.  A couple suggestions:  tell your parents, in a nice way, that their smoke is making you sick and ask them if they would please limit their smoking to, either smoking outside, which they are unlikely to do, or setting aside some smoke free areas within your home, including of course, your bedroom.  You can’t control their behavior but you can control yours and that includes your avoidance of smoke by not staying around them when they are smoking, having a fan at your side to blow the smoke away from you.  Another similar possibility would be for them to agree to place an exhaust fan in the room where you all generally gather, for example to watch TV, to suck the smoke out of that room.

Good luck.