Have you often experienced difficulty in breathing ? Have you been wondering as to why you are not able to draw enough air to your lungs ? Do you find your satisfaction level missing while you inhale ?
Let us try to understand this disease in detail.
What is Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic disease affecting your airways or the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs. In other words, it causes inflammation to the walls of your airways. This in turn makes the airways to me more reactive and sensitive causing less airflow to your lung tissue.
Researchers have yet not identified what causes asthma. However, it is closely linked to allergies. If your family history has trace of allergy or asthma, you are more likely to develop it. The allergent could be pollen from trees and grass, cockroaches, mold, dust mites. Alternatively, various irritants like cigarette smoke, cold air during winter, scented products, and air pollution, can cause asthma. For many others, asthma is caused as direct reaction to medicines, certain chemicals or due to infections. It would be surprising for you to note that asthma can develop due to stress and strong emotional expressions like crying or laughing hard.
The reasons may be different for different persons. Your doctor can surely help you to identify the reasons and way to avoid them.
Symptoms of Asthma
Some common symptoms of asthma include:
• Shortness of breath : Some of us may find hard enough to breathe properly on regular basis or at some time of the day. There is a feeling that we are out of breath and cannot get enough air in and out of our lungs.
• Tightness in chest : There is a feeling that some heavy object is placed on our chest or something squeezing inside you.
• Coughing : These cough from asthma gets better of your sleep as they are worse early in the morning or at night.
• Noisy breathing: Persons suffering from asthma often breathe with whistling or squeaky sound known as wheezing.
Asthma attacks :
Regular and proper medication is a MUST if you do not want to have asthma attacks. Some asthma attacks are potentially dangerous as heart attacks. Persons can die from severe asthma attacks.
During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways contract and inflammation increases making it very narrow for getting enough air to get to your lungs. Moreover, cells in the airways make more mucus than usual. These changes make it harder to breathe.
In severe asthma attacks, the airways become so narrow that the vital organs in the body stops getting enough oxygen. This condition is a medical emergency and can be fatal.
We shall continue to understand and steps to prevent as well as control this disease in Part -2 of this article.
