Asthma
Asthma (AZ-ma) is a common chronic inflammatory disease that narrows the airways. Asthma affects people of all ages, but it most often starts during childhood. Asthma has no cure. Even when you feel fine, you still have the disease, and it can flare up at any time. If you have asthma, the inside walls of your airways become sore and swollen. That makes them very sensitive, and they may react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating.
Causes of Asthma disease:
The causes of the disease may vary from genetic to environmental conditions. Triggers are:
Inflammatory factors: respiratory infections and allergens
Outdoor or Indoor Allergens:
• Animal dander (from the skin, hair, or feathers of animals)
• Dust mites
• Cockroaches
• Pollen from trees, weeds, and grasses
• Mold
• Certain drugs and food additives
Irritants:
• Temperature change or weather conditions such as cold air or extremely dry, wet or windy weather
• Exercise, cold air
• Strong odors
• Pollens
• Furry pets
• Cigarette smoke
• Stress and emotions
Others:
• Pollutants
• Gastric reflux
• Food additives
• Medicines such as aspirin and beta-blockers
• Infections such as colds, the flu or other illnesses
Signs and Symptoms:
The symptoms include the following
• Short breath
• Chest tightness
• Wheezing
• Coughing
• Production of sputum from the lung that is often hard to bring up
Symptoms may usually worsen at night or early morning due to cold or exercise. Not all people who have asthma have these symptoms. Having these symptoms doesn't always mean that you have asthma. The diagnosis will need confirmation by a doctor. When your asthma symptoms become worse than usual, it's called an asthma attack. Sudden and severe asthma attacks could be dangerous and prove to be fatal also.
Adverse effects of the problem:
Asthma as a problem has several adversities associated with it. Just as the cause of asthma is still unknown, similiarly the effects of asthma are huge and varied. Here are the following categories in which a person with asthma is kept once he is detected with asthma:
1. Mild intermittent condition where the person:
• Wheeze or Cough two time or less than that in a week
• Shows symptoms at night two or fewer times per month
2. Mild persistent condition where the person:
• Wheeze or a cough three to six times in a week
• Shows symptoms at night three to four times in a month
• Shows increased symptoms with activity
3. Moderate Persistent condition where the person:
• Daily symptoms of asthma are seen
• Daily inhaled beta2-agonist (bronchodilator) medication use
• Symptoms at night 5 or more times per month
• Decreased exercise capacity
4. Severe persistent condition wherein the person:
• Continual symptoms throughout the day
• Frequent exacerbations several times
• Frequent symptoms are seen at night
Preventive measures:
That proved promising include:
• Limiting exposure to smoke during pregnancy, after delivery and breastfeeding
• Avoiding furry pets
• Avoid compounds causing allergy
Common Asthma medicines:
The common medicines of asthma are:
• Aerocort forte
• Asthalin HFA inhaler
• Asthalin respules
• Beclate rotacaps
• Beclate inhaler
• Seroflo rotacaps etc.
These drugs are available online also. So, you can buy asthma product online through various reputed online pharmacies.
Myths and facts:
Myth: People with asthma shouldn't exercise.
Fact: exercise is important for everybody even if it is asthma, patient. An asthma patient can do small vigorous exercise preferably in a high humid environment because low humidity can dry out the airways causing narrowing of the bronchioles/ cause exercise-induced asthma attack.
Myth: You'll outgrow asthma
Fact: it might be true in some cases but not in all. Some people who had asthma while they were a child may find that the symptoms of asthma starts showing down as they grew older. But it is also recurrent as those who smoke or get infected with some dangerous virus may get asthma again. Adults who didn’t have asthma as a child can also have asthma as they enter adulthood.
Diagnosis of Asthma disease:
Diagnosis of asthma does not include any precise test however prolonged symptoms and the medical condition may indicate the occurrence of the disease. However, the doctor may conduct a medical history test and a physical test.
• Medical history test:
• During this test the doctor maybe ask a few questions about the family history of the asthma and allergies, the medicines that the person may have used for breathing problems and also about the colds that are too tough to go even after ten days. He may also inquire about the period (a particular season or time of a year) of the happening of the disease.
• Tests:
• Tests for allergies, sinus disease, breathing problems, and GERD are asked to do. Others such as X-ray, ECG may also be needed for the diagnosis
Treatment for Asthma disease:
Managing asthma is very important as there is no permanent cure for it. However, the symptoms could be improved by taking the proper precautions, lifestyle improvement, and the recommended medications.
Asthma medicines have basically two main classes:
1. Quick relief to treat acute conditions
• Beta –adrenoceptor agonists, e.g.,.Salbutamol
• Anticholingeric medication eg. Ipratopium bromide
• Adrenergic agonists, e.g., Epinephrine
2. Long-term control
• Corticosteroids, e.g., Beclomethasone
• Beta –adrenoceptor agonist e.g., Salmetrol
• Leukotriene antagonists eg. Montelukast
• Mast cell stabilizers e.g., cromolyn sodium
You can buy asthma products online from various online pharmacies.
Delivery methods
Include two main types of inhalers:
• Mastered Dose Inhalers (MDI)
• Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI)
• The third kind of inhaler, called breath actuated asthma inhaler, is a variation of MDI. The drawback is that the person needs to inhale with a great force to activate the medication
Steps to improve the health:
There are a few self-care methods that you can adopt to keep your asthma under control and lead a healthy life:
• Use a peak flow meter
• Develop an asthma action plan
• Keep an asthma diary
• To manage asthma of a school going child teach your child as well as mention the techniques asthma relieving plan to keep your child safe.
• Stay away from asthma triggers
Important thing to know:
Up to 20 percent of people with asthma are highly sensitive to aspirin and other products containing aspirin or other OTC ache relievers, such as ibuprofen. So, before using the products mentioned people with asthma should discuss with their allergist whether these stuff should be avoided.
