Asthma

By the term asthma we mean airways inflammatory perturb that causes wheezing attacks, breath’s shortness, coughing and tightness of chest. Inflammation that is in airways causes asthma. When attack of asthma occur muscles which are around airways turn stringent and airways passage’s lining swells, resulting in reduction of air’s amount that could pass through.

In very sensitive individual, symptoms of asthma are capable of being triggered through breathing-in the substances causing allergy known as triggers or allergens.

Common triggers of asthma include:

• Dust.
• Animals.
• Weather changes, mostly cold climate.
• Chemicals present in the food or air.
• Mold.
• Exercise.
• Pollen.
• Stress.
• Infections in respiration.
• Smoking of tobacco.

Asthma is provoked in few patients by aspirin as well as other NSAID. Many individual suffering from asthma have allergy’s family or personal history, like eczema, hay-fever, or allergic-rhinitis.

Symptoms differ from person to person. Some may have long term breath’s shortness while some may have cough or wheezing. Attacks of asthma can be for a minute or extend for many days. Some asthma’s symptoms are:

• Cough containing or not containing sputum production.
• Skins being pulled in between ribs during breathing.
• Breath’s shortness which can be worsened with activity or exercise.
• Wheezing, that:
  • Occurs in intervals along with periods without any symptoms in the middle period.
  • Might be very worse during early hours of day or during night.
  • Might disappear automatically.
  • Is improved after the usage of drugs which helps in opening bronchodilators / airways.
  • Is worsened when cool air is breathed in.
  • Is worsened with the exercise.
  • Is worsened with reflux / heartburn.
  • Usually starts suddenly.

• Sweating.
• Increased pulse rate.
• Face and lips turns bluish.
• Flaring of nose.
• Tightness felt in chest.
• Pain in the chest.
• Abnormal patterns of breathing.

Questions:

• What is asthma and what are its triggers?
• What are its symptoms?