A long-term disorder of the lungs that can cause soreness in your airways, making it difficult to respire, is called asthma. In asthma, the patients' bronchial tubes get inflamed along with the sticky secretions (mucus) inside the bronchial tubes. That's why severe asthma may result in difficulty in talking and trigger coughing.
Symptoms:
Asthma signs and symptoms generally vary from person to person, but asthma patients can experience the following symptoms:
- Chest tightness, soreness, or pain
- Hard to breathe
- Difficulty in asleep due to shortness of breath, wheezing, or coughing
- Wheezing (breathe with a rattling sound in the chest as a result of an obstruction in the air passages)
- Coughing or wheezing attacks that reach their peak by a respiratory virus like flu or cold
- Pale or blue face, lips, fingernails
- The skin around your ribs pull inward when you inhale
- Coughing that won't stop
- The feeling of anxiety or panic
What Are The Different Types Of Asthma?
There are many different kinds of asthma. The most common types include the following:
Allergic Asthma:
Things that can cause allergy to provoke allergic asthma. People may acquire allergic asthma from:
- Pollen and dust
- Food
- Pet dandruff from animals such as dogs and cats
Allergic asthma is not severe and often seasonal as it goes hand in hand with seasonal allergies.
Non-Allergic Asthma:
Many irritants and pollutants present in the air trigger this kind of asthma. These irritants may include:
- Air pollution
- Cold air
- Burning of wood
- Household cleaning products
- Cigarette smoke
- Viral illness
- Certain perfumes and fragrances
Aspirin-induced Asthma:
A serious and severe kind of asthma is named aspirin-induced asthma, which is also referred to as aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD). This is activated by aspirin or other NSAIDs, like Naproxen or Ibuprofen. Patients feel indications within minutes or hours. Of total asthma patients, 9% are aspirin-induced asthma patients. Usually, this type of asthma affects people between the ages of 20 and 50.
Cough Variant Asthma:
Cough variant asthma does not have the same signs of asthma-like coughing, wheezing, or shortness of breath. A constant dry cough is the main symptom. If cough variant asthma is not appropriately treated on time, it can lead to full-blown asthma flares.
Causes Of Asthma:
There are no particular factors that cause asthma. People can acquire asthma due to numerous reasons. Some of the major factors include:
Hygiene Hypothesis:
This can be illustrated by the fact when newborn babies are not introduced (exposed) to enough bacteria; their immune system is not too strong to bear asthma and other allergic conditions.
Genetics:
Asthma can be developed in people genetically. If your parent or sibling has asthma, you also have the chance to acquire this syndrome.
History Of Viral Infection:
During childhood, people having a history of severe viral infections like respiratory syncytial virus infection (RSV) are more likely to adopt asthma.
Some other causes trigger asthma and make it worse. These are:
- Environmental irritants
- Allergens
- Extreme weather conditions
- Pests
- Respiratory inflammation
How To Treat Asthma?
Asthma can not be fully cured. But the treatment helps the patients to control the symptoms. Usually, doctors suggest the following:
- Inhalers: Inhalers help relieve symptoms like coughing or wheezing and suppress the symptoms to develop.
- Medication: Only an inhaler can't aid you. Along with inhalers, tablets or steroids are also recommended by doctors.
- Injections: If someone has severe asthma, injections are used, which are given every week to control the symptoms.
- Surgery: For severe conditions, a process named bronchial thermoplasty may be considered as a treatment for asthma patients.
References:
- Holland, K. (2021, October 27). What to know about asthma. Healthline. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from healthline.com
- Clinic, M. (2020, August 11). Asthma. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from mayoclinic.org
- Organization, W. H. (2021). Asthma. World Health Organization. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from who.int
- Ratini, M. (2021). Asthma: Causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment. WebMD. Retrieved February 19, 2022, from https://www.webmd.com/asthma/what-is-asthma#:~:text=Asthma%20is%20a%20long%2Dterm,it%20a%20chronic%20respiratory%20disease.