Asthma Information & Treatment
March 24th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects the respiratory system or more specifically the airways. Airways (also called bronchial tubes) are the tubes that transport air in and out of our lungs.
When asthma strikes, the airways become inflamed and constrict with accompanying excess mucus and results in narrowed airways. This often happens when allergic-susceptible people comes into contact with one or more triggers. These triggers include exposure to environmental allergens like cold or warm air, perfume, cigarette smoke, pollen, polluted and moist air. Exertion and exercise, as well as emotional are possible triggers.
Symptoms during an asthma attack include:
1. coughing,
2. wheezing (a whistling sound as a result of breathing difficulty),
3. shortness of breath,
4. chest tightness and
5. faster breathing.
Not all asthma-prone people will experience the same symptoms or may even vary with one asthma attack from another.
Severe asthma attacks can lead to medical emergencies and can cause fatalities. A victim of a severe asthma attack may turn blue from lack of oxygen, experience chest pains and lose consciousness.
Risk Factors & Causes
Anyone can get asthma, especially children and people prone to allergies.
Both genetic and environmental factors can be risk factors for asthmatics (people who has asthma). A combination of both factors makes it complex and is not fully understood by medical researchers yet.
Genetic factors – can’t be controlled and can include the following:
1. If one or both parents has a history of asthma, the child is more likely to develop it as well. If the parent with asthma happens to be the mother, the likelihood that the child will have asthma is higher than if the father has it.
2. Boys are more likely to have asthma compared to girls during childhood. But this is reverse in adulthood, meaning women are more likely than men to develop asthma.
3. People with other allergies have an increased chance of having asthma.
4. Although hygiene hypothesis is a theory about the cause of asthma, and is supported by data to be so, asthma prevalence has been observed in developed countries with increasing use of antibiotics and cleaning products. In modern society, there is reduced exposure to infections
Environmental factors – can be controlled and reduced, includes:
1. Allergens that comes from nature like pollen, dust mites, pet hair, cockroaches and mold,
2. Colds and flu,
3. Air pollutants such as smoke, dust and fumes,
4. Weather conditions like cold, warm and moist air,
5. Antibiotics use in childhood (this has something to do with the digestive system’s good bacteria being altered with the antibiotics, causing imbalance),
6. Certain types of food like peanuts, shrimps, etc.
7. Certain medications, and
8. Physical exertions, exercise and emotional stress.
Treatment
Before deciding on the types of treatment for asthmatics, it is crucial to identify the triggers, such as certain type of food or type of air pollutants.
The first line of treatment is avoidance. After identifying the triggers of asthma, it’s best to avoid those allergens like pollen, smoke, fumes and cold air. Cigarette second-hand smoke and automobile exhaust fumes being as prevalent as they are, it’s difficult if not impossible to avoid them at all times. So when it becomes impossible to escape such allergens and asthma attacks strike, medication is the next line of treatment.
Asthma medication has 2 main functions when trigger avoidance becomes difficult or impossible.
The 2 main functions of asthma medication are relief and prevention.
Relief medication
Relief medication comes in 2 main forms, oral and inhaled. Occasionally, an injection of the medication can be administered, but this method has declined due to adverse side effects.
Of the 2 forms of relief medication, the inhaled delivery method is the preferred. The inhaled delivery method is the delivery of bronchodilators directly to the airways with an inhaler. A measured dose is delivered to the airways via the mouth, directly to the inflamed airways. This relaxes the tightened muscles surrounding the airways within minutes and bronchodilators can be classified as quick-relief medication. This is taken when the first signs of asthma are apparent.
Prevention medication
If the inhaler is used more than twice a week, a more long-term solution should be sought as this is a sign that the asthma is not under controlled.
Long-term medication calls for daily administering of long-term control medicine, usually inhaled corticosteroids, for controlling mild, moderate and severe asthma. This has a preventive effect as inhaled corticosteroids have suppressing effects on inflammation and reduces swelling of the airways. The other long-acting medication is the inhaled beta-agonists. This medicine is used for relaxing the muscles surrounding the airways but is not anti-inflammatory. They are normally used with corticosteroids.
As these medications are steroids, a doctor’s prescription is needed.
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Allergy: Not A Problem To Be Sneezed At
March 15th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed
Allergies, listed as the 6th leading cause of chronic disease in the US affecting more than 50 million people, is not a problem to be sneezed at. Although allergies are a wide-spread problem, the reasons why some people have a reaction to certain substances while others do not, are still not entirely certain.
While allergies can be bothersome and sometimes even life-threatening, not only with the reactions one can get, but finding the cause can be tiresome as well.
Common allergies and their symptoms can be broadly categorized into outdoor and indoor allergy triggers. Both outdoor and indoor trigger allergies can make your life really miserable so be aware of the things that could trigger your allergic reactions.
One of the most common outdoor trigger allergies is hay fever, caused by allergy to pollen. Pollen, which may come from trees, weeds, grasses and shrubs, are technically a harmless powdery substance. But when inhaled by people who are allergic to the different types of pollen, they may develop allergic rhinitis and asthma. Symptoms may include sneezing, runny nose, blocked nose, nasal congestion and nasal inflammation.
Pollen, being small and light, tends to cling to the moisture in the air in humid climate and stays suspended longer and cause more sufferings. Windy days make condition worse.
Indoor trigger allergies tend to occur in windowless, polluted apartments with poor ventilation. Allergens like dust, mold and mites are usual culprits, although pet hair can be another major cause of allergic reactions. This brings on similar symptoms to outdoor trigger allergies.
Causes
2 main factors of allergies can be categorized into host and environmental factors. Host factors include sex, age, race and hereditary; with hereditary being the most crucial factor. Environmental factors can be exposure to infectious diseases during childhood, dietary and environmental pollution.
Allergies are commonly believed to be caused by immune problems when foreign bodies or allergens enter the body and are detected and perceived to be a threat. The perceived intruder (allergens) triggers the body’s defense system to combat this threat.
On first exposure to the allergens, white blood cells produces antibodies called immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies and attach themselves to Mast cells found in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract and skin. This first exposure produces no outward symptoms. On subsequent exposures, the allergens will combine with the IgE antibodies and produces chemicals like histamines. It is these chemicals that cause inflammation and the typical allergic symptoms like sneezing, runny nose, itching, watery eyes, skin rashes and even swelling of certain parts of the body.
Other common types of allergies are asthma, food, skin and drug allergy. These types of allergies produce different symptoms to different parts of the body. To know what you’re allergic to, a diagnosis has to be made.
Diagnosis
There are a few tests that help determine if a person’s symptoms are caused by allergies but the most reliable is the skin prick test, conducted under the watchful eye of an allergy specialist. Allergens known to cause allergies, such as pollen, peanut extract, mite proteins and grass, are injected into the skin through a series of needles and the reaction to the individual allergens are monitored to verify the reaction. Once a cause is determined, the person can take steps to avoid exposure to that item.
Allergy skin testing is preferred over blood allergy tests because it is more sensitive and specific, simpler to use, and less expensive.
Treatment
The best treatment obviously is to avoid the allergens that will trigger the allergic reactions or to reduce exposure. For instance, people who are allergic to pet hairs should do well to avoid having pets. However, there are some allergens which are difficult if not impossible to avoid, such as pollen, dust and dust mites.
Failing the avoidance treatment, medication is the next option.
Basically there are 2 approaches to the medication treatment:
1. Pharmacotherapy – This uses medication to suppress or reduce the severity of the allergic reactions. This treatment alleviates the symptoms but do not cure the core problem.
2. Immunotherapy – This involves injections of allergen extracts in increasing dosage to “desensitize” the person to allergens. This may cure the allergy but it could take as long as a few years and the treatment is not pleasant.
