Asthma A lung disease characterized by: 1. variable and reversible airway obstruction; 2. airway inflammation; and 3. bronchial hyper-responsiveness. Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease that makes airways (bronchial tubes) particularly sensitive to irritants, and this is characterized by difficulty in breathing. Asthma is a highly ranked chronic health condition in adults in most western countries, and it is the leading chronic illness of children. Asthma cannot be cured, but for most patients it can be controlled so that they have only minimal and infrequent symptoms and they can live an active life. If you have asthma, managing it is an important part of your life. Controlling your asthma means staying away from those influences that bother your airways and taking your medicines as directed by your doctor. By controlling your asthma every day, you can prevent serious symptoms and take part in all normal activities. If your asthma is not controlled, you're likely to have symptoms that can make you miss school or work and keep you from doing the things in life you most enjoy. When a person experiences a worsening of their asthma symptoms, it's called an asthma episode, or in severe cases, an asthma attack. During an asthma attack, smooth muscles around the bronchial tubes contract, making the airway openings narrower so less air can flow through. Inflammation increases and the airways become more swollen and narrow. Cells in the airways also make more mucus than usual, which narrows the airways further. It's the changes to the airways that cause the symptoms of asthma. This narrowing of the air passages is due to different combinations of:
Asthma is becoming increasingly common in the developed world and is now the most common chronic condition in the west. About one in 13 adults and one in eight children have asthma in the western world, and rates are on the increase. It can affect anyone, at any age, anywhere. Aspects of our modern environment such as air pollution, processed foods, and centrally heated, double-glazed houses (an ideal breeding grounds for house dust mites) are thought to be major contributing factors. An asthma "attack" describes the symptoms of tightness in the chest, a wheezing or whistling noise in the chest, coughing, breathlessness, and difficulty breathing that occur when the airways become narrowed, inflamed, and blocked by mucus. Asthma attacks are not all the same. Some are worse than others. In a severe asthma attack, the airways can constrict to the point that not enough oxygen gets to vital organs. This condition is a medical emergency. People can die from severe asthma attacks. An asthma attack can also occur suddenly. However, many asthmatics eventually learn to recognize the warning signs, which can include an itchy nose or itchy skin, dizziness or light-headedness, or an irritating cough, and take early measures to prevent an attack. Learning the warning signs can often alert a sufferer in time to take preventive action, such as medication. Asthma is a chronic condition, which means attacks occur over extended periods of time. Although acute episodes occasionally strike, most asthma sufferers report long periods during which they suffer few, if any, symptoms. In addition, asthma can undergo changes during the lifetime of the sufferer. For example, a child may grow out of his or her asthma and then see its return again later in life. Drugs, such as those resembling two of our hormones -- adrenaline (epinephrine in the USA) and hydrocortisone (a steroid) -- can help control your asthma. While these can remove your symptoms if you have mild asthma, people with more severe or long-standing asthma generally will not see the same level of success. In those cases, alternate medications are required. In people who have lifelong asthma, the effectiveness of drugs in removing the obstruction of the airways decreases. For this reason, one of the aims of current treatment is to minimize the inflammation in the lung airways which causes this long-term decline.
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