Asthma is a long lasting inflammatory disease that affects the airways. The inflammation can cause a person’s airways to swell and become inflamed. People with asthma have airways that are hypersensitive to something like cigarette smoke. If something like cigarette smoke is inhaled by a person with asthma, it will cause their airways to narrow and become inflamed. This will cause someone with asthma to wheeze or gasp for air. Though continuing of inflamed airways can make someone hypersensitive to other things like, cold air, exercise, dust, pollen and even stress/ anxiety. Asthma is more commonly found in more industrialized countries. Every race and ethnicity, male and female, athletes, non-athletes, children, adults, and healthy person has the chance of having asthma. Though asthma is more commonly found in children than in adults. To this day asthma cases are increasing rapidly every day.
Asthma may be acquired through genetics, allergies, respiratory infections, and the environment they may live in. Some of the major cause of having asthma attack are breathing in pollen, smoke, chemical fumes, allergens, mold, dust, and animal dander. Breathing in these things can irritate the airways and trigger the attack. Three factor that regularly start attacks, may be, inhaling cold air, exercise, or stress/ anxiety. Other main factors that can trigger an asthma attack, or make it worse, is rhinitis (inflammation of the nose), sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses), acid reflux (known as acid stomach), and viral infections of the respiratory system.
The most obvious symptom of an asthma attack would be wheezing. The wheezing is loud and easy to detect; but in other cases the wheezing may be soft and hard to hear. Going to the doctor and letting them listen to your breathing, may let them be able to hear the wheezing only by listening to the patient’s chest with a stethoscope. Other symptoms may include coughing and tightness in the chest. Itchiness on the back or neck may be the start of an asthma attack but this is mainly common in children. There are also many numbers of outward signs that are connected to asthma attacks; including the person to become very anxious, sit upright, lean forward, or to take some position to make breathing easier on them. They might be only to say few words before stopping to take a breath. Some asthma patients are free of symptoms, most of the time. They can experience shortness of breath, on rare occasions , and for short periods of time. Others may feel discomfort much of the time; coughing, wheezing, or trying to get breathing back to normal. People may become confused and may cause his/her skin to turn a bluish tint. The blue tint to their skin and the confusion are major signs that the person isn’t getting enough oxygen into their body. If this occurs the person should be given emergency treatment immediately. Asthma attacks will vary in their length and as well as seriousness. Some attacks may last only a few minutes and others can go on for hours or even days. In the most severe cases, patients with asthma will recover from even the most serious asthma attacks.
Asthma treatment has three main goals. First, troublesome symptoms should tried to be prevented. second, lung function should be kept as normal as possible. and lastly third, patients should be able to carry out normal activities, such as ones that involve exercise. These patients should be examined on a regular basis to ensure the treatment goals are being met. Drug therapy is used to find medications that help control symptoms that show few or no side effects. Theophylline can also be used, this helps reduce inflammation of the airways.