Everything About Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airway that impacts a person’s and their family’s quality of life. In people with asthma, their airway becomes constricted with swelling and excessive mucous. This constriction or narrowing of the airway makes it difficult for the person with asthma to breath (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009). If asthma is left uncontrolled, it leads to further wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, tiredness, and stress. (Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 2009).

(American College of Allergy, 2014) There are many common types of asthma conditions that occur in the human body such as; child-onset, adult-onset, exercise-induced, cough-induced, occupational, nocturnal and steroid-resistant asthma which is the most severe of them all. One very common type of asthma is an exercise-induced type. This occurs when you cough, wheeze or feel out of breath during and after exercise. A person that is unfit will be out of breath for approximately 10 minutes after running but a person with exercise-induced asthma will be panting, wheezing and doing a lot of coughing after they run or do any type of physical activity. (Ltd, 2004-2016) The overall health aspect on people with asthma is that they will live a much poorer quality of life than people without asthma. This is because people have all different types of asthma whether is only at night or whether it’s all

To better understand the impact of asthma, a brief overview of the causes (aetiology) and disease progression (pathophysiology) must be shown. As common as asthma is, not much is known about its aetiology, according to findings presented by Subbaroa, Mandhane and Sears (2009, pg. 181-187) in a review from the Canadian

Acute severe asthma previously called status asthmaticus is a life threatening medical condition characterized by bouts of repeated and worsening cough, wheezing, chest recession and inability to speak or drink that may result in acute respiratory failure and even death.1 These patients are also at risk for developing serious complications like aspiration pneumonia, pneumo-mediastinum, pneumothorax and hypoxic brain injury etc. 1Inhaled high dose short acting β2 agonists like salbutamol along with systemic steroids and supplemental oxygen are considered as first line treatment in all patients who

Asthma is a respiratory disease that many people deal with every single day. “According to World Health Organization, approximately 180,000 people die from asthma each year.” (Jardins and Burton 187) Most people never think of asthma as a life threatening disease, but it can be crucial. As the number of people with asthma increases, the more likely you are to come in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with this disease. Asthma is a severe breathing problem that has many complications that is dealt with daily like shortness of breath, chronic cough, tightness of the chest and shortness of breath, my main focus is childhood asthma, allergic asthma, and medication to treat asthma.

Avoiding and controlling asthma triggers is important in every phase of the intervention process in order to manage the disease. However, many times because of lack of awareness and education, asthma

The effect of asthma can range from mild, irregular symptoms causing minor problems for an individual to severe and sudden asthma attacks. The extent of what causes asthma is not well known or fully understood but some common triggers include, cold temperatures, dust mites, cockroaches, pollen, sickness, mould and animal hair. When triggered, the airways in the lungs become inflamed and constricted causing shortness of breath, chest pain and wheezing [R]. Currently, there is no cure for asthma however symptoms can be managed with medication and improved living standards [R]. Asthma symptoms are commonly controlled with the use of inhalers, either preventers (taken to desensitizes airways to triggers) or relievers (provides instant relief by relaxing the muscles) [16].

The sign and symptoms of an asthma attack include coughing that worsens at night or early in the morning, shortness of breath, chest tightness or wheezing sounds that occurs when breathing. Some symptoms go away without no treatment. However, severe asthma attacks require immediate emergency care. There is no cure for asthma because the disease will always be present. Even if an individual feels well, there’s always the possibility of something triggering an Asthma attack.

Breathing is a vital process for every human. Normal breathing is practically effortless for most people, but those with asthma face a great challenge. During an asthma attack, breathing is hampered, making it difficult or even impossible for air to flow through the lungs. Asthma is an increasingly common problem, and has become the most common chronic childhood disease. At least 17 million Americans suffer from it(1), and although it can be fatal, it is usually not that severe(4). There is no cure for asthma, but with proper care, it can usually be controlled.

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways that makes breathing difficult. With asthma, there is inflammation of the air passages that results in a temporary narrowing of the airways that carry oxygen to the lungs. When this inflammation occurs, the asthma symptoms start to show, such as, coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and chest tightness. Even though there are many treatments for asthma symptoms, it is still a very serious disease that affects more than 22 million Americans and brings nearly 2 million E.R. visits per year. Asthma can be lived with very well as long as proper treatment measures are taken (Wrongdiagnosis).

Susceptible Individuals are at risk to curtain airborne allergens and things that trigger frequent attack. According to Barnes, (2003) allergic reaction comes from factors, such as allergens, viral infections and exercise .Other triggers such as family pets, which includes dogs, cats and hamsters can cause an allergic reaction. Smoking, dust and fumes plays a part in the environmental factors. Asthma symptoms include tightness and cough chest, wheeze and breathlessness. Airflow obstruction results from twitchiness of the muscles in the airways and inflammation resulting in swelling of the airway walls as well as accumulation of secretions (Asthma UK, 2014) over time symptoms might vary. In young children symptoms in the severity

- Call the ASTHMA Helpline if you need to ask about asthma, as well as related conditions.

Asthma is a significant public health problem to both economic and human costs. The Department of Health still needs to work with health-care providers and experts in the academic field of asthma to access a better understanding of the trends of asthma prevalence in adults and children, to ensure that initiatives to address the disease are targeted as effectively as

Effective treatment of allergic asthma also includes identifying and avoiding the allergens that triggers the symptoms, using drug therapies and developing an emergency action plan for severe attacks of asthma.

Experts have yet to understand why the rates of asthma are rising by an average of 50% every decade worldwide. According to the Asthma Society of Canada (2016), asthma is now considered to be a major health concern with approximately 235 million suffering from this illness worldwide. Kuhn et al (2015) states that as at 2012, one out of 12 people in the United States had asthma and the number continues to rise. More people have been diagnosed with this disease and in 2007; over 3000 deaths were linked to Asthma. Furthermore, the costs of treating asthma continue to rise with about 56 billion dollars being spent in 2007 compared to $53 billion in 2002 (CDC, 2011). From data gathered in California, which is our area of study, it was estimated that 2.3 million