Living with Asthma
Research indicates there are a number of scholars who usually regard Asthma as a disease that is chronic found to be affecting the airways of an individuals body, these airways are usually understood as the existing tubes that allow air to pass through and out of an individuals lungs. This disease is usually characterized by swollen airways; this swelling is believed to be the leading factor to the sensitivity of the airways thus making the patient to respond strongly to things that tend to be allergic to him. The respond to this sensitivity by airways normally leads to the narrowing of the tubes thus making less air to pass through the tubes towards the lungs, such cases are the ones reported to be making an individual to wheeze, cough, the individuals’ chest becomes tight and in many cases have a breathing problem, this cases are found to be occurring mostly in the morning and during the night (Adams and Weiss, 2004).
Research indicates that there is no actual cure for this disease; therefore it only requires the individual to take control of it with an ambition of reducing its symptom occurrences. Studies indicate that when the condition of the disease on an individual increases it normally leads to a condition referred to as an asthma episode which is commonly referred to as an attack. We find that the muscle of air tubes of an individual they usually become tight making the airways narrow thus preventing enough air to pass through. During this period it is reported that there is always an increase in the swelling making the airways to be narrower, this then leads to the cells surrounding the airways to produce an increased amount of mucus than the normal production, the increased mucus also contribute to the narrowing of the airways making it hard for the individual to take in air (Dr. Tom, 2005).
Research indicates that these attacks do not normally appear the same to the people affected with it this means that different people are diagnosed with types of asthma whereby in many cases we may find that some individual may be facing sever asthma while others just have minor ones. Studies indicates that for some incidences the severe asthma may attack an individual and completely close the airways thus preventing the passage of oxygen to the lungs and this may actually lead to the dead of the person. As a result of these cases the patients are usually advised to visit their doctors regularly who will observe you and give you some drugs to manage your condition (Grant and Lozano, 2002).
Types of Asthma
Research indicates that there are different types of asthma with specific symptoms and they are as follows
Bronchial Asthma
Research indicates that there a slight difference between this type and the normal asthma. The difference is that this type of asthma is regarded as a disease affecting the lungs of an individual, where there exist the hindrance of the passage of air into the lungs which leads to the an individual feeling the shortness in his breathing since the airway muscles are not enabled to pass enough air into the lungs (James, 2008).
This case eventually leads to an asthma attack. this attack may eventually come after a long period of free symptoms whereby when the condition develops the production of the mucus by the cells usually increases within the attacks whose amount increases in the tubes and this may lead to a bacterial infection in the chests due to the congestion of the mucus in the tubes, this type of asthma is regarded to be intrinsic and there is no specific cause of this condition is mentioned. But in most cases it is reported to come up as a result of an individual being allergic to mold, dust, cold air or even comes up as a result of excessive exercises, respiratory infections, stress and anxiety among others (James, 2008).
Child Onset Asthma
This is a type of asthma that occurs during an individual’s childhood this type of asthma usually occurs as a result of genetic factors, we also find that it occurs as a result of a child’s exposure to allergens such as dust mites which are normally found in most houses, these allergens may also come from animal proteins and fungal which makes this child to be sensitive to the existing foreign things in his or her body. In this case of the child-onset asthma, when the child is reported to be carrying the symptoms of wheezing when infected by viruses then the child will definitely indicate that the child will carry on with the asthma throughout his lifetime (Rabe and Christopher, 2004).
Adult Onset Asthma
This is another kind of asthma that comes when a person is at the age of over twenty years, although research indicates that this type of asthma is not common as that of the child-onset, the adult-onset asthma is reported to be mostly occurring in women than in men. We find that this type of asthma may be caused by the presence of allergenic materials. Under this type it is reported that there exist another type of asthma which non-allergenic it is normally referred to as intrinsic asthma which is commonly found in individuals who are not allergic to any unwelcoming materials, they are stated to be undergoing a situation referred to as nasal polyps whereby they are usually found to be allergic to a number of drugs such as aspirin among others. In general these individuals suffering from the adult-onset asthma are mostly found to be allergic when they are exposed to products from animals, plastics, dust from the woods and even metals (Rabe and Christopher, 2004).
Exercise-Induced Asthma
This is another type of the asthma disease which comes up as a of carrying out exercises that are found to be strenuous, in this case we find that there have been arguments put up regarding this type of asthma whereby most scientists claim that this type of asthma normally occur to all individuals suffering from asthma. This type is found to be occurring without indicating its symptoms. The symptoms under this type usually occur within five-twenty minutes between the exercises, the exercise induced asthma occurs when an individual plays in cold weather, run for a very long distance and even prolonged laughter and cries (Rabe and Christopher, 2004).
Occupational Asthma
According to the research conducted we find that this type of asthma occurs as a result of any unwelcoming condition in the working environment of an individual, these environmental conditions may be as a result of contamination, pollution, respiratory infections like flu and coughs, the existence of allergens in the air such as the molds, pollen among others, we also find that the unwelcoming environment in the workplace may be caused by high temperatures and even stress in the workplace. The symptoms for this type of asthma is that they normally occur when the individuals reports to work and settles when he leaves the workplace (Rabe and Christopher, 2004).
Nocturnal Asthma
This is a type of asthma that occurs mostly at night as from the midnight and eight in the morning. The cause of this type of asthma is caused by allergens or in rare cases by sinus conditions. It normally occurs showing no daytime symptoms. It is characterized by wheezing when an individual lies down in many cases the patient may not realize that he is undergoing the asthma unless he is awoken up, this asthma is reported is only reported to be frequently occurring during the week or it might appear just once (Fischer, 2005).
According to research conducted we find that asthma occurrence is classified in to four levels that is the Mild Intermittent this is normally stated to be the kind of asthma that occurs and disappears in this case we therefore find that the patient undergoes the symptoms let us say twice in a wee, this patient is normally disturbed at night although the lung functioning of the individual remains to be functioning normally. The next type is the mild persistent type of asthma where the patient faces the symptoms more than twice on a weekly basis its symptoms actually not more than once in a day, in this case we find that the person is attacked by the symptoms that may end up affecting his activities (Janson, 2002).
There is the moderate persistent asthma whose symptoms happen to occur on a daily basis and they normally disturb the patient at night. The other occurrence is that of the severe persistent asthma in this case we find that the person faces the symptoms the whole day on many days of the week and the symptoms also disturb most frequently at night. Despite the above mentioned any person who is diagnosed with asthma have high chances of being attacked by a severe asthma attack (Adams and Weiss, 2004).
Causes of Asthma
Research conducted shows that some people believe that asthma is always inherited whereby they say that when a person in a particular family is diagnosed with asthma therefore the chances of his or her offsprings getting the condition are always high although this is not fully confirmed to be true(Dr. Tom, 2005). But scientific research has come up with various reports of factors that are believed to the causative agents of the symptoms of asthma and they are as follows;
Allergens
some of the allergens that are found to be causing asthma are as follows dander from animals this may include wool, hide and fluff other allergens are mites which are mostly found in the houses with dust, cockroaches are believed to be one of the causes of asthma (Rabe and Christopher, 2004).
Irritants
Scientific research indicates that there are some irritants that are found to be more disturbing to be people suffering from asthma, some of these irritants may be smoke from cigarettes, polluted air, air which is cold, products which are usually scented in most cases we find that emotional responses such as crying and laughing including stress usually leads to asthmatic attacks. Research indicates that there are other causes of asthma apart from irritants and allergens which actually include drugs such aspirin, food and beverages that are believed to be sulfites in nature, also cold weather contributes to the occurrence of the attacks (Janson, 2002).
Diagnosis of Asthma
In many cases we find that the diagnosis of asthma is normally done by a health practitioner inquiring more about the duration of the cough, wheeze and the shortness of the breath that patient faced. The doctor also inquires about the type of medicine an individual while under the asthma attack, before doing anything they also ask about the asthma history of the family of the patient and also they get interested in knowing the cause and factors that contribute to the cause of asthma to the individual (Teresa and Tom, 2004).
After getting all this information the practitioner will then get in deep details of listening to the patients’ breathing and also the doctors looks for the symptoms of asthma on the patient in carrying out this practice they usually use a device that is referred to as a spirometer which is meant to check how the lungs of the patient work at the moment of the attack this method of checking how the lungs work is normally referred to as spirometry.in this test we find that the measurement of how much air the patient can blow out of his lungs that is after taking his breath deeply and also how fast the patient can do it. With this test the doctors in many cases provide the patient with a medication to help open the airways that are reported to be narrowed, the aim of the medication is to confirm whether the medication brings a change or makes an improvement in the test (Adams and Weiss, 2004).
Research indicates that this type of asthma testing is not normally done to children stated to be less than five years, therefore in the case of a less than five year old child; he or she is only given medications by the doctor to check whether the symptoms will subside. After carrying out the spirometry test and the results indicates to be normal, ten the doctor will definitely recommend for another type of test to be carried out with an aim of finding out what could be causing the asthma symptoms to the patient (Dr. Tom, 2005).
These other test will therefore include chest x ray or for other instances the electrocardiogram may be required to be done with an aim of finding out the causes of the asthma symptoms and this may be other diseases such lung or even heart diseases that could be leading to the asthma attacks on an individual. These diagnoses are therefore regarded to be more important in determining the severity of the individuals’ asthma and how the problem should be treated (Fischer, 2005).
The other diagnosis that can be done is that which is referred to as a challenge test under which we find that medical practitioner is put in a position of triggering the obstruction of the patients airway, they normally do this by allowing the patient to inhale substances which are regarded as airway-constricting, the patient may also be asked to breath in several cold air. In this type of diagnosis when the patient is found to be suffering from an exercise induced asthma then the doctor will allow the patient to carryout an enthusiastic physical activity so that the symptoms of the asthma may be triggered, after carrying out this test the patient is thereafter taken to the spirometry test (Dr. Tom, 2005).
After the spirometry test, if the patients’ results still indicate to be normal then the individual will be found to be having no asthma and if the test measurement falls then the patient may be diagnosed with asthma. In many cases we find that asthma in children is normally diagnosed in a different manner by the medical practitioner, research clearly indicates that children are normally put under a lung function test the reason for this course is that the children are reported to be having a problem in following instructions, in this case we find that most doctors recommend a bronchodilator which is a drug that is found to be opening the airways, when this drug works and the asthma symptoms on child improves then the child will be diagnosed with asthma (Teresa and Tom, 2004).
Scientific research indicates that there other lung diseases which are believed to be leading to the attack by asthma on an individual, these diseases may include tumors of the airway, bronchitis, pneumonia which is a lung infection, pulmonary embolism which a blood clot that occurs in the lungs, congestive heart failure among other diseases (Janson, 2002).
Treatment for Asthma
Research indicates that there are various ways of dealing with asthma by an individual and these ways are as follows; First of all the patient is recommended to work hand in hand with the medical practitioners who can help one to know the better treatment for their condition and also learn how the treatment will help in treating the asthma. This indicates that asthma can only be controlled by the individual avoiding the agents that may lead to its occurrence (Dr. Tom, 2005).
Medications
There are also medications that the patients are recommended to use, these medications are normally divided in different parts whereby we find that there is a long term control medications meant to treat the asthma condition, these type of medications require to be taken on a daily basis by the patient and they include; corticosteroids which are normally inhaled by the patient this may be fluticasone, budesonide among other drugs. These types of medications are well known for the reduction of the swollen airways in an individual. For these medications to be successful the patient is required to administer them within a specified period in a week (Fischer, 2005).
The other type of medication for asthma is the long-acting beta-2 agonists which are commonly referred to as LABAs. Examples of the LABAS are salmeterol and formoterol which are inhaled medications, they actually act by reducing the swelling of the tubes and also opening the airways to allow enough air to pass through to the lungs. This type of medication is used in the treatment of a persistent type of asthma; they are stated to be working hand in hand with corticosteroids, although the medical practitioners recommend that this type of medication should not be used as quick treatment of the asthma symptoms (Dr. Tom, 2005).
Leukotriene modifiers research indicates that these medications are normally inhaled and they act by reducing the production of the mucus in the cells of airway tubes and also reducing the inflammation the best example of this medication is the montelukast, zafirlukast and zileuton, Cromolyn and nedocromil these are also another type of inhaled medication that are used in the reduction of the asthma symptoms by their reduction of the individuals’ allergic reactions they are therefore recommended to be administered by the patient for at least three to four times on a daily basis (Dr. Tom, 2005).
The other type of treatment available for the treatment of asthma is the medications for quick relief this actually implies that this type of medication is only required when there is an asthma attack, these medications include short-acting beta -2-agonists, such as albuterol they are normally referred to as bronchodilators which are specifically used for a temporal relaxation of the muscles of the airway. These drugs are known to be acting within several minutes and their effects for more than five hours.
Research also indicates that there are those medications that are meant to reduce the allergic reaction of an individuals’ body, they act by preventing the immune system to react to the existing allergens in the body. These treatments may include immunotherapy-this type of treatment is regarded to be an allergy –desensitization shots which are usually administered once in a week for some months, then once a month for not more than five and not less than three years (Dr. Tom, 2005).
We can therefore conclude that living with asthma is not a simple task that since it requires an individual to adhere to all doctor requirements for medication and also be alert in avoiding the agents and causes of asthmatic symptoms.
Reference:
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Inflammatory Use in Asthma: Results of a National Population Survey- Journal Allergy Clin Immunol
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James Li, (2008) Bronchial thermoplasty: A new asthma treatment? Retrieved from:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bronchial-thermoplasty/AN01468 Accessed on 1st August 2008
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