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Asthma is a
chronic obstructive respiratory disease characterized by difficulty in
breathing. It is caused mainly due to tightening of the airways or bronchial
tubes of the lungs. It is a common disease among children, teens and adults.
Asthma is mainly of two types:
Extrinsic Asthma
Intrinsic Asthma
Extrinsic asthma is caused by the allergens. It happens when we inhale or
sometimes ingest some allergens, our body reciprocates it with allergies.
Some of the allergens are dust mites, tree and grass pollens, mold, feather
pillow, food additives containing sulfites, dander, house dust etc.
Extrinsic asthma is more common among children and the people between the
age group of 16-30.
Intrinsic asthma is non allergic and mostly occur among the people above the
age of 30. It is caused by respiratory infection, inhalation of chemical
irritants like cleaning fluids or fresh paint, air pollution, and sometimes
by exercise.
According to the occurrence, asthma can be classified as follows:
Nocturnal asthma - mainly occurs at night, and more often in the morning
between 2-4 a.m. It affects people with both types (extrinsic/ intrinsic) of
asthma.
Seasonal asthma - this type of asthma happens only at certain time of the
year. It mainly affects people with extrinsic asthma. It is more prevalent
during summer, and it is the reason why 15% more death of asthma occurs in
summer than the rest of the year.
Exercise-induced asthma - it will affect the people with all types of
asthma. During exercise, due to rapid inhalation of air that is cooler and
drier than that of the air passages, the lungs lose water and heat, so the
people experience shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, wheezing,
coughing or endurance problems.
“Prevention is better than cure,” so recognizing the early warning signs of
asthma is very important, because you can begin the treatment earlier which
seems to be very effective.
Early warning signs of asthma are listed below:
Breathing changes
Feeling tired
Feeling weak
Fever
Headache
Runny/stuffy nose
Coughing
Sneezing
Dry mouth
Moodiness
Sleeping disorder
Glassy/watery eyes
If prevention is not taken in time, these early warning signs will lead to
mild to severe cases of asthma and the symptoms are as follows:
Wheezing
Coughing
Shortness of breath (dyspnea)
Tightness in the chest
In more severe cases, patient can feel severe coughing, sneezing, shortness
of breath in walking, nasal flaring, hunched shoulder etc.
Asthma is not curable but it is a preventable disease. Its attack also
ranges between mild and moderate to severe. Once you suffer asthma, your
lungs will always react to the things that can cause asthma attack..
In mild attack, you may feel coughing, restlessness, or have trouble
sleeping and may make wheezing or whistling sound when you breathe, and in
severe attack you may become breathless, and have trouble in talking. As you
breathe, your neck muscle may become tight and your lips and fingernails may
turn to grayish or bluish colour.
Asthma treatment can be divided into long-term and quick relief medication.
Long-term control medications are taken daily to control asthma by
preventing airway inflammation, while quick-relief medication is followed in
order to achieve control over acute asthma attack by relaxing bronchial
smooth muscle.
Most of the asthma medication is administered orally or by inhalation, of
which latter is mostly preferred, because inhaled medications works directly
on the airway surface and airway muscles where the asthma problems initiate,
and it also leaves fewer chances of side effects.
Apart from these, measures like cleaning house in regular basis, avoiding
pets with fur and feather, washing the bedding regularly in hot water and
staying away from allergens will certainly help in restricting the frequent
episode of asthma. Theophylline improves breathing by opening air passages
in the lungs. It is used in the treatment of asthma, chronic bronchitis, and
emphysema.
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