Essay on Exercise Induced 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).

Asthma is the leading cause of chronic illness in children and is responsible for nearly 10% of the Emergency Room visits for children <15 year of age. It occurs in as many as 10%-12% of children in the United States and is gradually growing. Asthma can begin at any age , but most children have their first symptoms by age five. Because Camp Wapiti is for children ages 8-13 exclusively, this report will focus primarily on childhood asthma.

(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

Water loss in the airway triggers exercise-induced asthma through the development of hypertonicity of the liquid at the surface of the airways. As cool and/or dry air is inhaled, heat is transferred away from the airway mucosa to air passing through the bronchial tree. When the inhaled cold air is heated, the saturation with water vapor consequently drops, which results in the evaporation of water from the mucosa, thus cooling of the respiratory tract. The evaporation of water results in

Also as none of us had any allergies, we therefore had no need to take any medication whilst the exercise was taking place. Before the exercise had taken place me and my partner were both calm and relaxed, however one the exercise had been undertaken we then started to breathe very heavily and also consumed a full water bottle due to dehydration.

As someone with Exercise Induced Asthma, I have personal experience with the topic. I have experienced most of the symptoms described in my research, tried

Hay fever is the single most common chronic allergic disease. This is the most common trigger for someone with asthma and allergies to get symptoms. Exercise-induced asthma-This is caused by exercise or physical exertion. With exercise-induced asthma, airway narrowing peaks 5-20 minutes after exercise begins. An asthma inhaler will help to prevent these uncomfortable asthma symptoms. Cough-variant asthma-With this type of asthma, severe coughing is the predominant symptom. Cough-variant asthma is vastly underdiagnosed and undertreated. The main triggers for this type are usually respiratory infections and exercise. Occupational asthma-This results from only workplace triggers. Many people will suffer with a runny nose, congestion, eye irritation, or have a cough instead of wheezing. Some jobs associated with this type of asthma are animal breeders, farmers, hairdressers, nurses, and painters. Nighttime asthma-If you have asthma, the chances of you having symptoms are much higher during sleep because asthma is powerfully influenced by the sleep-wake cycle. So your asthma symptoms are particularly dangerous at nighttime (WEBMD).

Throughout the years knowledge about asthma has grown, as well as treating it effectively. Over 300 million people are said to be victims of this disease with another 100 million being estimated by 2025 globally (Currie and Baker, 2012). In the United Kingdom, asthma is increasingly becoming one of the leading disease affecting individual of different age, ethnicity, race and gender. British Lung Foundation (2011) stated that it is more common at childhood stage and can also occur at a later age. According to Asthma UK (2014) asthma in men is less prevalence than it is in women and children troubled more with asthma than adults. Recent data in the UK shows that in children and occupational asthma in adult is on the rise with an estimate

In addition, asthma affects the smooth muscle walls and glands of the bronchioles, due to narrowing of the bronchial passageway, this results in a build-up of mucus in the bronchial tubes leading to difficulty breathing (Rizzo 2016, p.423). Airflow in the alveoli becomes limited due to inflammation causing bronchoconstriction, as the inflammatory process begins mast cells degranulate and release inflammatory mediators (Kaufman 2012, pp.589-590). ‘The inflammatory process results in vascular congestion, production of thick mucus, bronchial muscle spasm and thickening of the airway walls’ resulting in Jessica becoming short of breath and coughing (Kaufman 2012, pp.589-590). Typically, this reaction occurs 30 to 60 minutes after being exposed to the triggering allergen or irritant (Kaufman 2012, pp.589-590). Asthma can be triggered by a range of different factors including exercise, infection, exposure to allergens or airborne substances such as dust, fumes or pollen (Rizzo 2016, p.843). However, some asthma attacks may be worse than others, this is because a severe asthma attack can completely narrow and close the airway (Lew 2011, pp.43-45). This can result in oxygen not getting to vital organs such as the heart or brain and can result in

Asthma is an inflammatory condition of the airways causing attacks of wheezing and breathlessness. It affects a person’s

“Asthma is an example of an obstructive lung disease in which the airways obstruct the outflow of air. In contrast, pulmonary fibrosis is an example of a restrictive lung disease in which the functional size of the lung decreases” (Michael G. Miller, John M. Weiler). Exercise-induced asthma is when the airways are narrowed in the lungs when doing the high-energy activity. In the Journal of Athlete Training, it states that at least fifteen to twenty percent of athletes show evidence of having exercise-induced asthma. Athletes that are affected by exercise-induced asthma may not able to withstand high-intensity training. If not properly treated the athlete would experience symptoms that could worsen. Exercise-induced asthma in athletes requires

Although, there’s no cure for asthma, it can be controlled with medication prescribed. Normally, medications are taken on a daily, or unless it’s needed, for athletes they normally take 2 puffs of their inhaler before a game or practice. Adults with asthma are at a risk of developing complications of respiratory infections, which is why doctors suggest they get vaccinated annually. The Flu short for Influenza is a virus that infects the nose,throat, and lungs, this can become into a severe illness even death. Similarity, Pneumonia also has to do with an infection affecting either one or both lung, this illness causes inflammation in your lung’s air sacs or alveoli making it challenging to breathe.

One of the main type of these medications are short acting beta2-agonists. These medications relax the muscles that line the airways that carry air to the lungs. These medications start to work within 5 minutes of administration but only last for 3-6 hours. Quick relief medications are used in conjunction with controller medications. They are available in multiple forms but the inhaled form is preferred. Inhaled medications dilate bronchial tubes better, cause fewer side effects and act faster with a longer duration than oral forms. Research has shown that using the short-acting beta2 agonists with Ipratropium during severe episodes result in better outcomes or the asthmatic. These medications are often overused causing a reduction in the effectiveness of them. These not only can be used for acute exacerbations but are used prophylactically before exercise. Examples of these are Albuterol, Levabuterol. Metaproterenol, and Terbutaline. Ipratropium is an Anticholinergic that causes bronchodilation and is often used in conjunction with beta2-agonists when they alone are ineffective in treating acute asthma exacerbations. This medication provides competitive inhibition of muscarinic cholinergic receptors which helps to open the airway on the cellular level. It reduces intrinsic vagal tones of the airway and it may help to decrease mucus gland secretions. Corticosteroids, even though they take longer to

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disorder in which inflammatory airway contraction reduces the flow of air into the lungs. The inflammation

Exercise-induced asthma - Physiological stress (increase in heart rate and blood flow to the lungs, in combination with the increase in breathing demands. As a result, the lungs tend to become inflamed; wheezing noises.