Asthma
Asthma is a disease that affects a person’s airways. These airways are responsible for the transfer of air in and out of lungs. A person suffering from asthma suffers from the inflammation of the walls of the airways which in turn makes the airways rather sensitive. This sensitivity makes the airway react to allergic things that enter the airway which consequently leads to less air reaching the lung tissue.
The main symptoms of asthma are wheezing where you produce a whistling sound when breathing, coughing, trouble breathing mostly at night and early morning and chest tightness. Asthma is a chronic disease that cannot be cured; however it can be brought into control so that the recurrence of the symptoms is lessened.
An asthma episode or attack occurs when the symptoms are worse than usual where besides the swelling and narrowing of the airways, the cells in the airway may also secrete excessive mucus. It is this extra mucus that narrows the airway and makes breathing difficult. However all asthma attacks are not the same; some may be so bad that the airways don’t permit any air to reach vital organs. This is an emergency condition that may lead to death.
There are not many specific causes for asthma however it has been found out that you are prone to develop asthma if you have a family history of asthma, eczema or other allergies. It is this family history that tends to combine with environmental factors which in turn may make a person develop asthma.
It is attributed that modern lifestyles where frequent changes in housing, diet and hygienic environment tend to lead to a rise in asthma. Even smoking in pregnancy increases the risk of the child developing asthma; while children of smoking parents develop asthma too. Though children are the ones who are prone to develop asthma, adults can suffer from asthma after a viral infection. Even the irritants that are found in a workplace can make a person suffering from asthma. This is called occupational asthma.
This is why a person suffering from asthma should make frequent visits to the doctor. With these visits, it is possible to find out which substances tend to cause asthma symptoms. Once you know this, you can avoid them and the doctor will also be able to prescribe medications that help keep your asthma under control. When aiming at controlling asthma, you and your doctor can find out what tends to bother your airways and thus avoid them. With the doctor monitoring your health, you will also be able to respond quickly to signs of an attack. This will help you to take part in all your day to day activities without having to miss school, work or play.
So it can be seen that asthma is not a disease to be alarmed about as there are medications that can be taken to control it. Being an incurable disease, it is necessary to have a constant watch on its symptoms so that the symptoms don’t aggravate into something critical or dangerous.