Asthma

Asthma is caused from swelling within the airways. During an asthma attack, the muscles surrounding the airways become constricted and the lining around the air passages swells. This action restricts the amount of air that is able to pass, causing wheezing sounds. An asthma attack may last a few minutes to many days and can become very dangerous if the airflow in the lungs becomes severely restricted.

In individuals who are very sensitive, symptoms of asthmas can be triggered by allergy-causing substances that are breathed in. Common triggers include pet hair or dander from animals, dust, changes in the weather, chemicals found in food or in the air, exercise, pollen, mold, respiratory infections like the common cold, stress and tobacco smoke.

Asthma symptoms include: coughing with or without the production of sputum, pulling in of the skin in between the ribs when breathing, shortness of breath and wheezing.

Asthma is considered a chronic disease and treatment can go on for a long time. Some people need to stay on treatment for their entire life. The most efficient way to improve asthma is to learn everything about your particular asthma and ways to improve it.

The goal of treating asthma is to avoid what is triggering the symptoms and control airway swelling. A patient and his or her doctor must work as a team in developing and carrying out a plan to eliminate triggers and monitor symptoms. Two basic types of asthma medication include long-acting medications that are used to prevent attacks and quick-relief medications used during an attack.

Long-term control, preventive medications reduce inflammation within the airways that may lead to symptoms. Rescue (quick –relief) medications open swollen airways very quickly. Most people who suffer from persistent asthma use both long-term control medicines as well as quick-relief medicines.