Asthma- causes, Symptoms and Treatment can be minor or it can interfere with daily activities. In some cases, it may lead to a life-threatening attack.
- Symptoms
- type
- The diagnosis
- Classification
- Causes
- treatment
- The intensity
- Asthma vs COPD
- Prevention
- Management
asthma is caused by : Asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways to the lungs. This makes breathing difficult and can make some physical activities challenging or even impossible.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 25 million Americans have given asthma to the source.
It is the most common chronic condition in American children: 1 child out of every 12Trusted source has asthma.
To understand asthma, it is necessary to understand a little about what happens when you breathe.
Normally, with each breath you take, air passes through your nose or mouth into your throat and into your airways, eventually making it to your lungs.
There are many small airways in your lungs that help to carry oxygen from the air to your bloodstream.
Symptoms of asthma occur when the lining of your airways swells and the muscles around them tighten. The mucus then fills the airway, which may reduce the amount of air that passes further.
These conditions can then bring on an asthma “attack”, which is a cough and stiffness in your chest that is typical of asthma.
Symptoms
The most common symptom of asthma while breathing is wheezing, a scream or whistling.
Other symptoms of asthma may include:
- Coughing, especially at night, when laughing, or during exercise
- chest tightness
- Shortness of breath
- Difficulty talking
- Nervousness
- Fatigue
- asthma is caused by
The types of asthma you can determine are which symptoms you experience.
Not everyone suffering from asthma will experience these special symptoms. If you feel that the symptoms you are experiencing may be indicative of a condition like asthma, then schedule an appointment with your doctor.
The first sign that you have asthma may not be an actual asthma attack.
Type
There are many types of asthma. The most common type is bronchial asthma, which affects the bronchi in the lungs.
Additional forms of asthma include childhood asthma and adult-asthma. In adult-onset asthma, symptoms do not appear until at least 20 years of age.
Other specific types of asthma are described below.
Allergic Asthma (External Asthma)
Allergens trigger this common type of asthma. These may include:
- Wandering from pets like cats and dogs
- food
- Mold
- Pollen
- The dust
- Allergic asthma is often seasonal because it often goes hand-in-hand with seasonal allergies.
Nonalargic asthma (internal asthma)
Allergies related to air allergies do not trigger this type of asthma. These problems may include:
- burning wood
- cigarette smoke
- cold breeze
- Air pollution
- Viral disease
- air freshener
- Household Cleaning Products
- Perfume
- Occupational asthma
Occupational asthma is a type of asthma induced by triggers in the workplace. These include:
- The dust
- The colors
- Gases and fumes
- Industrial chemicals
- Animal protein
- Rubber latex
These bottlenecks may exist in a wide range of industries, including:
- farming
- Clothes
- wood
- Manufacturing
- Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB)
- Exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB) typically affects people within minutes of starting exercise and up to 10–15 minutes after physical activity.
This condition was previously known as exercise-induced asthma (EIA).
Up to 90 percent of people with asthma experience EIB, but not everyone with EIB will have other types of asthma.
Aspirin-induced asthma
Aspirin-induced asthma (AIA), also known as aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD), is usually severe.
It began by taking aspirin or another NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug), such as naproxen (Aleve) or ibuprofen (Advil).
Symptoms may begin within minutes or hours. These patients also usually have nasal polyps.
About 9 percent of people with asthma have an AIA. It usually develops suddenly in adults between 20 and 50 years old.
Nocturnal asthma
In this type of asthma, symptoms worsen at night.
Triggers thought to bring on symptoms at night include:
- Stomach irritation
- pet dander
- dust particles
- The body’s natural sleep cycle can also trigger nocturnal asthma.
Coughing Asthma (CVA)
Cough-type asthma (CVA) does not have the classic asthma symptoms of wheezing and shortness of breath. It is characterized by persistent, dry cough.
If left untreated, CVA may give rise to a full-asthma flare that includes other common symptoms.
The diagnosis
There is not a single test or examination that will determine whether you or your child has asthma. Instead, your doctor will use a variety of criteria to determine if the symptoms are the result of asthma.
The following may help in the diagnosis of asthma:
Health history. If you have family members with breathing disorder, your risk is high. Warn your doctor about this genetic connection.
Physical examination. Your doctor will listen to your breathing with a stethoscope. You may also be given a skin test to look for signs of an allergic reaction, such as hives or eczema.
Allergies increase your risk for asthma.
Breath test. Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) measure airflow in and out of your lungs. For the most common test, spirometry, you fly in an instrument that measures wind speed.
Doctors usually do not perform a breath test in children under 5 because it is difficult to obtain an accurate reading.
Instead, they can prescribe asthma medicines to your child and wait to see if the symptoms are improving. If they do, your child is likely to have asthma.
For adults, your doctor may prescribe a bronchodilator or other asthma medication if test results indicate asthma.
If symptoms improve with the use of this medicine, your doctor will continue to treat your condition as asthma.
Classification
To help in the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) classifies the condition based on its acute condition before treatment.
The asthma classification includes:
Intermittent. Most people have this type of asthma, which does not interfere with daily activities. Symptoms are mild, less than two days per week or two nights per month.
Light continuously. Symptoms occur more than twice a week – but not daily – and up to four nights per month.
Moderately persistent. Symptoms occur every week and at least one night, but not overnight. They may limit certain daily activities.
Serious frequent. Symptoms occur several times each day and most nights. Daily activities are extremely limited.
Causes
No single cause has been identified for asthma. Instead, researchers believe that breathing conditions are caused by various factors. These factors include:
Genetics. If a parent or sibling has asthma is caused by, you are more likely to develop it.
History of viral infection. People with a history of severe viral infections during childhood (eg RSV) may be more likely to develop the condition.
Hygiene hypothesis. This theory suggests that when children are not exposed to enough bacteria in their early months and years, their immune system does not become strong enough to fight asthma and other allergic conditions.
Treatment
Asthma treatments fall into three primary categories:
- Breathing exercises
- Quick-acting treatment
- Long-term asthma control drugs
Your doctor will recommend a treatment or combination based on the treatment:
Type of asthma
- Your age
- Your trigger
- Breathing exercises
These exercises can help you bring more air into and out of your lungs. Over time, it can help increase lung capacity and cut down on severe asthma symptoms.
Your doctor or an occupational therapist can help you learn breathing exercises for asthma.
Quick Relief Asthma Treatment
These drugs should only be used in the event of asthma symptoms or an attack. They provide quick relief to help you breathe again.
Bronchodilators
Bronchodilators work within minutes to relax the tight muscles around your airways. asthma is caused by They can be taken as an inhaler (rescue) or nebulizer.
First aid of asthma
If you feel that someone you know is having an asthma attack, ask them to sit up straight and help them use their rescue inhaler or nebulizer. Two to six puffs of medicine should help reduce their symptoms.
If symptoms persist for more than 20 minutes, and a second round of medication does not help with emergency medical attention.
If you often need to use quick-relief medications, you should ask your doctor about another type of medicine for long-term asthma control.
Long-term asthma control drugs
These medications taken daily help reduce the number and severity of your asthma symptoms, but they do not manage the immediate symptoms of an attack.
Long-term asthma control medications include the following:
Anti-inflammatory. Taken along with an inhaler, corticosteroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs that help reduce inflammation and mucus production in your airways, making breathing easier.
Anticholinergics. These help prevent your muscles from tightening around your airwaves. They are usually taken daily in combination with anti-inflammatory.
Long-acting bronchodilators. They should only be used in combination with anti-inflammatory asthma medications.
Biological medicine medicines. These new, injectable drugs can help people with severe asthma.
Bronchial thermoplasty
This treatment uses an electrode to heat the air waves inside the lungs, helping to reduce the size of the muscle and prevent it from tightening.
Bronchial thermoplasty is for people with severe asthma. It is not widely available.
The intensity
When your asthma symptoms get progressively worse, it is known as a bruising or asthma attack.
Breathing becomes difficult as your airways swell and your bronchial ducts become narrowed.
Symptoms of a symptom may include:
- Hyperthyroidism
- cough
- Wheezing
- Shortness of breath
- increased heart rate
- Distraction
Although a loudness can occur without medication, you should contact your doctor as it can be life-threatening.
The longer the exercise continues, the more it can affect your ability to breathe. This is why travel to the emergency room is often required.
Exhaust can be prevented by taking medications that help manage your asthma symptoms.
Asthma vs COPD
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are usually mistaken for each other.
They result in similar symptoms, including wheezing, coughing, and trouble breathing. However, the two situations differ significantly.
COPD is an umbrella term used to identify a group of progressive respiratory diseases including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
These diseases reduce air flow due to inflammation in the airways. Conditions can worsen over time.
Asthma can occur at any age, with most diagnoses occurring in childhood. Most people with COPD are at least 45 years old at the time of their diagnosis.
People with more than 40 percent of assigned COPD also have asthma, and the risk of developing both conditions increases with age.
It is unclear what causes asthma other than genetics, but asthma attacks are often exposed to triggers such as physical activity or smells. These triggers can make breathing problems worse.
Smoking is the most common cause of COPD. In fact, up to 9 out of 10 COPD-related deaths are sources of smoking.
The goal of treatment for both asthma and COPD is to reduce symptoms so that you can maintain an active lifestyle.
