Understanding Your Asthma

Asthma is defined as a chronic disease that can affect the airways and make breathing difficult at times. The airways can become inflamed, and limit the amount of oxygen that reaches your lungs. Living with this condition can be extremely difficult, but with treatment, your quality of life can be improved, as long as you understand what causes it and take steps to eliminate triggers from your life.

Characteristics of Asthma

There are three major phases that make up this condition, and being able to treat all three can be difficult at times. The first is known as airway irritability and causes extreme sensitivity to environmental triggers. Anything can set off this sensitivity, and will cause the patient to immediately transition into the next phase, airway inflammation, and then into full on airway obstruction, the last phase of this disease. Environmental triggers that can bring on an attack include pollen, pet dander, dust, secondhand smoke or pollutants in the air that the body cannot tolerate like certain perfumes, air fresheners or paint fumes.

Once triggered, inflammation begins to build in the airways, causing the bronchial tubes to become red and swollen. A lot of the standard treatments for asthma will fail to treat the inflammation itself, and concentrate on easing the airway blockage instead, allowing long-term damage to the lungs to occur. Patients should work with their doctors to keep this damage in check, if possible. The final phase of this condition is airway blockage, caused by the muscles around the airways contracting and tightening in response to the environmental triggers. This causes shortness of breath and wheezing.

Risk Factors for Asthma

Anyone whose family history includes allergies and other breathing disorders, or who is a smoker or has been exposed to secondhand smoke may be at risk for developing this disease. Very often, asthma and allergies will develop together, making an accurate diagnosis difficult. A lot of times all the doctor has to work with are the symptoms themselves, and effective treatment may be delayed because of it.

Asthma Triggers

An attack can be triggered by anything that irritates your airways in the environment around you. The first thing to eliminate from your life is smoking, whether it is yourself or someone else who remains in constant contact. Other triggers include dust, mold, pet dander, irritating fumes and pollen. Taking every step you can to make the world around you more allergen friendly will help keep your attacks to a minimum.

Asthma Treatment

The most common treatment for asthma is the use of bronchodilators, like albuterol, medications geared towards reducing the airway constriction and obstruction experienced during the final phase of an attack. The medicine causes the bands of muscles that surround the airways to relax, loosening their hold over the airways, so that more oxygen can pass into the lungs. It should be used whenever you feel an attack coming on, and if it ever seems to not be working as well as it should, tell your doctor immediately.

Source:Enzinearticles