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- Asthma-Diseases
- By:Robert Baird Baird
Asthma is a chronic condition marked by periodic attacks of wheezing and difficulty in breathing. The cause of asthma attacks is partial obstruction of the bronchi and bronchioles due to contraction of the muscles in the bronchial walls. Whereas with bronchitis, you have constant wheeziness until you recover from the disease, with asthma, attacks come and go and there are wide variations in the degree of obstruction at different times. Asthma cannot be cured, but an attack can be relieved by treatment. If asthma attacks are not treated, they usually end naturally.
Most asthma is triggered by an allergy to such things as pollen, skin particles (dander) or hairs of cats or dogs, or miniscule mites in house dust. Some attacks start for no apparent reason. Attacks can also be caused by infections (especially of the respiratory tract), certain drugs, inhaled irritants, vigorous exercise, and psychological stress.
What are the symptoms?
The main symptoms of asthma are difficulty in breathing, a painless tightness in the chest, and varying amounts of wheezing. At times, the wheezing is audible only with a stethoscope, but sometimes it is loud enough to hear across a crowded room. In severe cases, breathing becomes so difficult that it may cause sweating, an increased pulse rate, and severe anxiety. In very severe attacks the face and lips may turn bluish because of the diminishing supply of oxygen in the body.
What are the risks?
Asthma is quite common in school age children. Most children outgrow the condition, and no more than two or three per cent of the adult population is asthmatic.
A succession of severe asthma attacks can be very disabling. Each year several thousand people die during an attack. However, most of these people are elderly and have other illnesses as well. Today, because of some recent medical discoveries, there is little risk of lasting disability or death for people who take their asthma seriously and consult a physician about it.
What should be done?
If you have asthma, there are some steps you can take to control asthma attacks. Study your own disease, take the self-help measures recommended below, and see your physician whenever you have a severe and persistent period of breathlessness. Asthma is an illness that you and your physician can work together to control. You can never be sure that the symptoms you have at home will be the same when your physician puts a stethoscope to your chest, so you must be able to give a clear description of what happened both before and during the attack.
What is the treatment?
Self-help: Because asthma is most often caused by an allergy, your first step in controlling the disease is to try to identify the allergen, or irritant, that bothers you. Your physician may be able to help by arranging skin tests with suspected allergens, but you can do much of the detective work yourself. Do you have your asthma attacks mainly at one time of the year, and do you also have hay fever? If so, your allergens are probably pollen grains. Do your attacks occur more often on certain days of the week than on others? This might suggest a link with dusts at work, such as flour in a bakery, or with something you are around only when you pursue a hobby, such as flowers in a greenhouse, or with some stressful situations, such as regular visits to a hospital. Is your asthma worse in one room of your house than another? You may be allergic to mites in house dust, especially in bedrooms, or to hair or feathers from a pet.
Another possibility is an allergy to a food or a drink. Shellfish, eggs, and chocolate are some common examples of foods that trigger asthma attacks in some people.
You can test your theory of what causes your asthma attacks by keeping a record of the frequency and severity of your attacks. Keep track of how often the attacks coincide with your exposure to the suspected allergen or allergens. One way to measure the severity of an attack is by means of a small peak-flow meter. Your physician may be able to lend you one if you cannot buy one. By measuring the maximum flow of air with the meter when you breathe out, you can keep precise records of how much the air passages in your lungs narrow during an attack.
Once you have identified an allergen, the best treatment for your asthma is to avoid exposure to that substance. This is fairly simple if the allergen is a particular food or a domestic animal. If it is something like grass pollen, you can only take precautions such as staying away from the countryside in mid summer. You will have to work in cooperation with your physician to try to control most of your symptoms.
Even if you cannot identify your allergen, you may have fewer attacks if you reduce the amount of dust in your house. Either replace feather pillows and fiber filled mattresses with those filled with urethane foam, foam rubber or other non allergic materials, or put airtight plastic covers on them. Use a vacuum cleaner to remove dust from crevices, and eliminate rugs or carpets or choose types that can be kept dust free. Be aware, too, that other factors such as some forms of exercise or psychological stresses like tests in school can bring on attacks.