Asthma: medications and methods

Being an asthma sufferer myself, i decided to get more information regarding this health condition which is getting more and more frequently occurred in people these days. So, the reasons for increasing number of asthmatics in recent years as well as the basic information about asthma is outlined below.

Asthma is a serious disease of lungs. This health condition causes recurrent vents of breathlessness, wheezing, chest tightness, and coughing at nighttime or early in the morning.    The severity asthma attacks varies from mild to life threatening. Medication treatment can reduce both the frequency and severity of the symptoms that come with asthma as well as reducing exposure to the environmental asthma irritants can help to avoid asthma attacks.

According to statistics, nearly 20 million of Americans suffer form asthma and almost 300 million people around the world. Approximately 7 million of asthma sufferers are children. Quite many children overgrow asthma in their teen years. Around 5,000 people die from this medical condition each year. Asthma tends to be inherited by the family members.

Asthma is one of the leading chronic childhood health condition, main cause of disability in children limiting their ability to learn, do any activities and even sleep.

The main factor for development of asthma is inflammation of the lining of the respiratory passages. Inflammation is caused by the immune system. The immune is responsible for defending our body against foreign and harmful things such as bacteria, viruses, chemicals, and dust and sends special cells to the affected organs. Such cells release chemicals that cause inflammation or swelling in the place of the foreign substance in order to isolate and destroy it.

In spite the fact that inflammation is a defense mechanism produced by our immune system, still it can be harmful for our body.

Because it is normal for our lungs to breathe in air with irritants including bacteria, viruses, dusts,  pollens, and other things, they’ve developed the mechanism of dealing with these things an inflammatory response typically doesn’t happen.

The airways in the lungs of people who suffer from asthma are more sensitive to such irritants and the immune system overreacts by releasing different cells and other chemicals into the breathing passages.

As a result these cells cause such changes in the breathing passages as the following: swelling or inflammation of inner linings of the breathing passages which results in less room for the air to move through. Besides, the muscles surrounding the breathing passages contract, which narrows them even more. Such condition is called bronchospasm.

Moreover, the mucus glands in the breathing passages might produce a lot of thick mucus which contributes to  further blockage of the airways.

All these things make it hard to breathe, cause coughing and wheezing.

Individuals suffering from asthma might develop ongoing inflammation that causes the breathing passages  hypersensitive. If the inflammation is not treated, each time the airways are exposed to the asthma initiators, the inflammation worsens and an asthma sufferer might develop the symptoms of bronchial hyperresponsiveness.

Since inflammation plays a big role in asthma, asthma sufferers need the treatment which includes taking medication for managing this condition on a daily basis during  a long period of time in order to reduce and control it.

Note that asthma is a chronic disease like diabetes or hypertension which in fact means that if a person develops this health condition, he is likely to suffer from it during all his life because it cannot be cured. It can even be like you don’t have any symptoms, but asthma is still there and can aggravate at any time.

People who have asthma experience difficult breathing due to the narrowing of the breathing passages from their bronchioles-open airways of the lung.

A chronic health disorder like asthma needs daily attention. Depending on the severity of  asthma condition, the treatment can include monitoring the breathing and using medications on a daily basis, even if the patient doesn’t have the symptoms. Asthma sufferers should understand that taking care of their condition must become a routine part of your everyday life.

Medical professional still don’t know what are the triggers of asthma condition in some patients. It is supposed that various genetic as well as environmental factors play an important role. These days researchers are working upon the question regarding the identification of these responsible genes.

It has been discovered that it is likely that the most important factor in provoking asthma condition  is atopic illness – the inherited tendency to the allergy. So if any of the members in your family have allergies, asthma can be inherited as your chance of developing asthma is very high.

Medical researchers have also shown that exposure to some types of irritants at a young age might contribute to the development of asthma. If you have a history of asthma or allergies among the members of your family or for example your mother was exposed to some kinds of irritants, such as tobacco smoke during pregnancy, you are more likely to suffer from asthma condition.

Besides, exposure to some indoor allergens in childhood may also contribute to the development of asthma. Among these allergens are the following: house dust, cat dander, mold and some other irritants.

Exposure to some kind of irritants or certain substances in your workplace might also cause the development of occupational asthma.

One more important thing that has been found by the researchers is that there is a connection between asthma and obesity. People who are overweight have more chances to develop asthma. But this is controversial opinion as some medical professionals think that people suffering from asthma are not active enough because of their condition which leads to obesity. So, this is an issue that is presently under study.

Medical research has also identified factors that are likely to help to protect people against developing asthma. For instance, the researchers think that children exposed to some kinds of infections and environments during 1-2 years of their life might be less prone to develop asthma condition. For example, quite many children who lived near farms where they were exposed to livestock had lesser chances to develop asthma and allergies.

Due to this discovery resulted in the theory that our modern way of life where hygiene and sanitation play a big role, has brought some changes in our  living environment and conditions including the decrease in infections in young children. These days a lot of young children are not exposed to the same types of environmental conditions and infections that it formerly was.   This affects the development of immune systems during early childhood years and might increase the risk of development of atopic illness and asthma. This theory might help to explain the increase in asthma sufferers in recent years.