Understanding Asthma
Managing asthma and understanding asthma is a huge issue for many people. We have decided to do a few posts on this subject with the hope that we will help those people who have asthma as well as help people around asthma sufferers to understand their issues better. Understanding Asthma is important for many people.
What is Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects many millions of Canadians and Americans as well as other people all around the world. Asthma affects your airways and when it does, symptoms usually include shortness of breath, wheezing, chest tightening and often a lot of coughing. the night time and early mornings are usually the worst for most people.
What causes Asthma to Get Worse?
A variety of outside as well as internal things will trigger an asthma attack. Everyone has a slightly different reaction to various stimulants and it is important for each person to become familiar with whatever triggers an asthma attack.
For many, it can be allergens in the air, pollutants from the industry as well as various smells in your home. It can also be triggered by someone smoking around you or even the stale smoke smell on a person’s clothes. Even your diet can have an effect on you. Many people will also sometimes trigger an attack from vigorous exercise. These triggers and symptoms can all be controlled with treatment. Athletes can run races and have tennis matches with no problem what so ever. They need to take the proper precautions and manage their asthma with the appropriate medicine.
What Actually occurs when You have an Asthma Attack?
First of all your airways become red and swollen and will fill up with mucus leaving less space for the air to get in and out of your lungs. In severe cases, these airways can close up completely. Secondly, the muscles around your airways will squeeze and tighten making an already difficult situation worse. With little air able to get in and out, many people find it very uncomfortable. They will have little energy and will not be able to go about everyday activities without some sort of intervention.
Understanding Asthma – Treatment Plan for Asthma
There are a variety of drugs and inhalants on the market that work wonders for people with asthma. They all should be prescribed by a doctor. It is very important to be under doctors’ care before you take any of these drugs or change your dosage in any way.
These drugs work in various ways, however they tend to focus on relaxing the muscles around your airways as well as reducing the inflammation of your airways. Some treatment plans are based on reacting to an emergency. While others are to be taken at regular intervals every day. Your doctor will be the best judge of how often and when you should be taking these medications.
Always carry your puffer with you so that you can deal with any asthma attack anytime you begin to experience symptoms. Regular treatment is usually first thing in the morning and again in the evening. However, emergency puffers can also be used to react to symptoms as needed.
Whatever you do, do not let it linger. Seek a doctor’s assessment and treatment. Take the treatment when and how your doctor recommends. There is no sense in allowing your life to be ruined because you did not take an inhaler when needed. Your life is just too important.
Comments are welcome. In fact, if you leave a genuine comment that is helpful to our readers, we are more than happy to approve a link as well. We also accept links from other sites as well that focus on a similar subject. For more information about Asthma, click here.
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August 21st, 2012 at 4:51 pm
thanks for this. I read this and found that I too have asthma. It is difficult to manage it, but then you just have to live with it. Nothing you can do but avoid the triggers that will bring on an attack.