What is Asthma?



Asthma is considered a disease because it is something that someone has to live with on a daily basis. Basically, your airway passage becomes inflamed making it difficult for you to breathe. The way that your body reacts to this inflammation is similar to experiencing an allergic reaction. This is why sometimes asthma is referred to as a reactive airway disease.

Who Does Asthma Affect?

Asthma is a disease that affects people of all ethnicities, genders, and ages. Right now it is the most common disease in children. Asthma is seen primarily in children, because as a person ages their attacks begin to decrease in number and severity.

It isn't known why some people experience asthma and others don't. Something of interest about asthma though, is that it is increasing in developed countries. Researchers can only guess why this is. Some things that seem to trigger an asthma attack are smoke, pollution, cleaning products, allergens, cold and dry weather, over-exertion, stress, upper respiratory infection, acid reflux, menstruation, sulfites etc. It is important that you pay attention to what precedes your asthma attacks. That way if you find your trigger, you can reduce your attacks by avoiding the trigger.

Treating your Asthma Condition

Asthma is a condition that cannot be cured. The only way to treat asthma is to try to control it and the earlier it is detected, the easier it will be to control. Treating asthma is key to decreasing the number of asthma attacks you experience. If you choose not to treat your asthma, your attacks could increase in severity and even become terminal.

Asthma treatment can be long-term or quick-relief. Long term treatment requires the asthma victim to take medicine on a daily basis. Over time the condition will decrease in the severity and the number of attacks by controlling the airway from getting inflamed.

A quick-relief treatment is when you reverse an asthma attack by relaxing the bronchial muscle. To get a quick-relief from the asthma, you can use oral or inhalant medication. The most commonly used quick-relief medicine is the metered-dose inhaler. Through breathing in the inhalant you are able to quickly get air into your lungs by clearing the passage way.

If you or a family member are living with asthma, it needs to be treated. Look online for more information on the types of treatment and the medication brands to see what might work. Then talk to your doctor about the treatment to see if he/she can give you a prescription to try. Remember, the earlier you treat the asthma the better.