What Asthma Is

Asthma Symptoms And Peak Flow Meter The most common symptoms of asthma are: • Wheezing • Chronic cough. • Tightness in the chest • Shortness of breath These symptoms are also common with some heart ailments, cystic fibrosis, bronchitis, allergies and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Sometimes, a person with severe asthma can have a debilitating illness; they are so impacted by the symptoms that they are not able to function normally on a day to day basis. Fortunately, the vast number of asthma sufferers have symptoms that are much more mild. For these sufferers an asthma attack my occur infrequently and the use of Ventolin HFA is all they need. For some sufferers, their asthma may be too severe to be controlled with the use of an inhaler or nebulizer and their symptoms continue to get worse; the throat muscles can become so inflamed that they have serious difficulty breathing, they wheeze, have a tightness in their chest, and, develop a chroni...

Initially the most essential step to take is to decide to take charge of your child’s asthma. Parents of asthmatic children suffer a range of contradictory feelings. Are you giving them the best treatment, or is there something you have not thought of or are unaware of?  Then there are the doubts about being over or under protective. If they have non-asthmatic siblings do you treat all of your children the same? Perhaps there is some guilt that asthma may have been inherited and it is your fault your child has the condition. Let’s take charge of the situation and dispel this myth straight away. You have not willed it onto your child. It is nobody’s fault or a judgement of some sort any more than an inherited ability that makes someone more likely to be good at sports or singing.  You can also take charge by educating yourself about the condition. Do not waste time worrying if there are better treatments or medications for your child. Find out. Use the medical ...

Diagnosing Asthma Asthma diagnosis is based on continuous, precise measurements of how efficiently the patient can force air out of the lungs and on a thorough medical history and laboratory tests to find out what triggers the patient’s acute attacks. People with asthma react to external irritants in a way that non-asthmatics don’t. Many, but not all, sufferers have allergies that cause their bodies to produce an abnormal array of chemicals in response to environmental allergens. In that sense, asthma is like pollen allergies, hives, and eczema. But in asthma, the allergic reaction contributes to inflammation of the airways rather than of skin, eyes, or nose and throat. An acute asthma attack may come on rapidly after exposure to an irritant or develop slowly over several days or weeks, which can complicate the job of identifying a patient’s asthma triggers. Which drugs asthma patients need, when to use them, and how much to use depend largely on the character of their il...

What is asthma? Asthma means “panting” in Greek. Someone who has an asthma attack usually pants or feels breathless. It is an allergic disorder characterized by: – Resistance to the airflow in the airways, which changes in severity over a short duration of time. – Inflammation of the airways, that is, the bronchial tubes are swollen and red. – Increased responsiveness to a variety of stimuli. Other times, when the person does not suffer from an asthma attack, his/her breathing is normal. Asthma Symptoms Cough, which may be either dry or productive The mucus glands lining the bronchial tubes start to produce mucus which then blocks the airways. The nerves in walls of the airways are stimulated causing the mucus to be coughed up as sputum. This is called productive cough. A dry cough which is unaccompanied by moisture is caused by spasm, which is involuntary, violent contraction of the bronchial muscles. Shortness of breath Asthma sufferer will have ...

An asthmatic attack is one of the main medical emergencies. In an asthmatic attack, there is constriction or a tightening or the bronchial wall muscle, and a secretion of mucus, often with plugging of small air tubes, as well as inflammation and swelling of the bronchial lining. The frequency, period and severity of the asthmatic attack and its symptoms change from patient to patient. Symptoms and Signs of An Asthma Attack Although there are differences from patient to patient, the asthma attack is typically characterized by shortness of breath and wheezing. Cough and mucus production may be prominent symptoms. In some patients, wheezing may not occur and a cough may be the dominant symptom. The patient demonstrates a rapid rate of breathing, often with heaving of the chest and use of neck muscles to assist each breath. During an attack, the patient is totally disabled. Even speech may be impossible due to severe breathlessness. The patient may be totally consumed by...

When one have asthma attack the lack of air and shortness of breath the asthma sufferer experiences , as oxygen is our vital lifeline that keeps the body functioning. The lack of this vital gas in our body, even for short periods of time can have devastating consequences. The lack of oxygen affects the brain in just a few minutes and a continuous lack of this gas can cause an irreversible damage in the brain after just five minutes. An asthma attack is similar to living on the edge constantly, with just the minimum amount of oxygen needed to survive. Asthma is an extended disease that affects the respiratory system of the individual, in which the airways constrict, become inflamed, and there are excessive amounts of mucus, often in response to a number of “triggers,” for example, exposure to an environmental allergen, cold air, exercise, or even emotional stress. In children, the most common triggers are viral illnesses such as those that cause the common cold. This airway ...

Asthma controlling and management are the secret to living comfortably with the disease. If you understand how to identify early symptoms you can expect reliable asthma attack relief and preventing asthma. A essential device you must have for asthma control is a “peak flow meter”. It is a hand-held device that measures the rate at which you can discharge air from your lungs.  This is called your peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). When you measure your peak flow regularly you will be able to identify an oncoming asthma attack. To properly use a peak flow meter, you first calculate your best peak flow of discharged air. You do this by taking a deep breath and blowing as hard as possible into the meter’s mouthpiece.  Give yourself this test over a period of two week when you are breathing with no sign of asthma. Now you will have your personal best peak flow reading. In the future, when you suspect an asthma attack may be imminent, you can quickly take a me...