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Asthma
Asthma is a chronic condition that constricts the airways or tubes that carry
air to and from your lungs. This is due to inflammation caused by increased
sensitivity to substances. As the airways constrict, less air reaches the
lungs and symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and breathing
difficulty occur. Asthma symptoms can worsen and result in an attack, wherein
muscles around the airways tighten up and inflammation increases. Cells in the
inflamed airways may also make more mucus than usual, which additionally clogs
the air passage and results in ever increasing difficulty in breathing.
Asthma is a condition that cannot be cured but usually can be controlled to have
less impact on daily functioning and quality of life. When people learn to
identify the triggers of their attacks, they can work to avoid contact with, and
or to respond quickly to, the exposure by taking the proper medication, which
will prevent a full-blown attack.
The environment
plays a large role in asthma and common things that trigger attacks include
exercise, allergens, irritants, and viral infections. Some people have exercise
induced asthma or experience it only in conjunction with a viral infection, but
are symptom free otherwise. For most asthma suffers, allergens such as animal
dander, the dust mites found in house dust, tree and
grass pollen, mold and mildew are things that will trigger an attack and must be
avoided. Cockroaches have been correlated to the childhood development of the
disease. Other irritants that can trigger an asthma attack but are hard to
avoid are cigarette smoke, scented products, paint fumes and air pollution.
Strong emotions, even positive ones such as hearty laughter, and stress often
trigger an asthmatic attack.
Many sufferers are sensitive to the sulphites found in foods in food such as
dried fruit or white wine. Limiting exposure to these things is necessary for
the control of asthma, but when encountering things such as air pollution, it is
usually necessary to include medication into the asthma control strategy. These
are usually two types of recommended treatments, a
quick-relief medicine such as bronchodilators, which quickly relax tightened
muscles around the airways and allow more air to flow. This is to be used
immediately at the first sign of symptoms and it is important for the asthma
patient to carry an inhaler always. Long term medications are in the form of
inhaled corticosteroids, which curtail inflammation. In some cases, steroid
tablets or liquid are used for short term use to control symptoms and
discontinued when they abate.
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