What is Asthma Anyways?
Asthma (pronounced AZ-muh) is a chronic (long term) inflammatory
disease that makes the bronchial airways particularly sensitive
to irritants such as air pollution. It affects people of all
ages causing breathing difficulties, shortness of breath and
wheezing.
It is the leading chronic illness in children and is becoming
increasingly common in the developed world and is now the most
common chronic condition in the west.
Asthma sufferers are often described as "being allergic to
modern life" as air pollution, processed foods and centrally
heated, double-glazed houses (an ideal breeding ground for house
dust mites) are thought to be major contributing factors.
Asthma can affect anyone, at any age, anywhere and about one in
eight children and one in thirteen adults have asthma in the
western world, and rates are on the increase.
Although there is no cure, it can be controlled or managed in
most patients so that they have only minimal and infrequent
symptoms and can live an active life.
Asthma attacks Asthma suffererers have extra sensitive or
hyper-responsive airways that narrow due to a mixture of
factors. The muscles around the air passages in the lungs can
contract and at the same time the airway lining can become
inflamed and swell. This results in narrowing the airways that
can get further blocked by the secretion of excess mucus.
This is described as an asthma attack with symptoms including a
feeling of tightness in the chest, a wheezing or whistling noise
when breathing, coughing, breathlessness and difficulty
breathing.
This feeling of fighting for every breath is one that some
asthmatics describe as being a sensation similar to drowning.
Asthma attacks vary not only between patients but for the same
patient from a slight tightness or breathlessness to a severe
attack when the airways can close so much that not enough oxygen
reaches the vital organs causing a life threatening medical
emergency.
Managing the disease If you have asthma, then learning to
self-manage it becomes an important part of your life. This may
mean restricting exposure to things that trigger your attacks
and taking medicines as directed by your doctor.
By controlling your asthma every day, you can prevent serious
symptoms and take part in all normal activities and reduce the
time lost at school or work.
Anyone with asthma should seek long term medical help as a
doctor will not only prescribe the necessary medication but also
monitor its effectiveness.
This is important as asthma is a chronic or long term illness
and the effectiveness of medication can decrease over time and
symptoms can return.
Drugs that resemble natural hormones help fight asthma.
Adrenaline (epinephrine in the USA) based drugs act as relievers
to provide almost instant relief from symptoms and
hydrocortisone (a steroid) is the base for longer term drugs
that try and reduce the sensitivity of an asthmatics airways,
thereby reducing the chances of an attack.
Asthma can change progressively during the lifetime of a patient
affecting them in very different ways.
Some patients suffer acute episodes but then enjoy long periods
with few symptoms.
Others may have childhood asthma and then grow out of it only
for it to return in later life.
At a Glance ... What is Asthma All About?
* Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that makes airways
(bronchial tubes) particularly sensitive to irritants such as
pollution, and this is characterized by difficulty in breathing.
* If untreated, asthma can be a life-threatening disease.
* Asthma affects people of all ages and is the leading chronic
illness of children.
* While asthma cannot be cured it can be controlled, reducing
the frequency and severity of attacks.
* If you have asthma, managing it is an important part of your
life as taking medicines and reducing contact with things that
bother you can cut down time lost at work or school.