A Guideline about Asthma and It’s Preventive Measures
Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways. When an asthma attack occurs, the muscles surrounding the airways become tight and the lining of the air passages swells. This reduces the amount of air that can pass by. In sensitive people, asthma symptoms can be triggered by breathing in allergy-causing substances and these are known as allergens or triggers.
There are some common asthma triggers like dust, changes of weather, exercise, respiratory infections, strong emotions, chemicals in the air or food, and of course tobacco smoke. Some painkillers like Aspirin and other no steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs sometimes provoke Asthma in some patients. It is a chronic disease and many people with Asthma have a personal or family history of allergies.
Most of the people with asthma have attacks separated by symptom free periods. Some people have long-term shortness of breath with episodes of increased shortness of breath. Either wheezing or a cough may be the main symptom.
Asthma attacks can last for a simple minute and sometimes it may last for a days, it depends on the situation of the disease. Asthma can be dangerous if the airflow is severely restricted. Some common symptoms of asthma are-shortness of breathe, wheezing, cough with or without phlegm and Pulling in of the skin between the ribs when breathing.
Sometimes the disease turns into the worst stage. At that time the symptoms that may be looked are bluish color to the lips and face, decreased level of alertness, extreme difficulty breathing, rapid pulse, severe anxiety due to shortness of breath and sweating.
Allergy testing may be helpful to identify allergens in people with persistent asthma. The doctor will use a stethoscope to listen to the lungs. Asthma-related sounds may be heard. However, lung sounds are usually normal between asthma episodes. But the doctors prefer to prescribe some test for an asthma patient. The tests include- blood tests to measure eosinophil count, Chest X-ray, lung function tests and peak flow measurements.
Although there is not any particular treatment of asthma there are some treatments that the doctors usually prescribe. There are two basic kinds of medication for treating asthma; one is to control drugs to prevent attacks another is to quick-relief drugs for use during attacks.
The goal of treatment is to avoid the substances that trigger your symptoms and control airway inflammation. You and your doctor should work together as a team to develop and carry out a plan for eliminating asthma triggers and monitoring symptoms.
Apart from the medication process, one can reduce asthma symptoms by avoiding known triggers and substances that irritate the airways. Persons with asthma should also avoid air pollution, industrial dusts, and other irritating fumes as much as possible.
