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Last posts on private forums:  sare  2008-06-16 09:56:33 matthew 2008-04-12 21:25:59 pieniadz 2008-04-12 20:52:26
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Last posts on private blogs: matthew 2008-04-12 21:25:17 mary 2008-04-12 19:27:47 |
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Lastly added medical terms:
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You are in: Main Page / Medical articles / Respiratory Diseases / Asthma Classification
Asthma classification and treatment is a topic of a special interest for people who suffer from bronchial asthma and many other types of asthma. Although its severity depends on each individual the classification remains the same. Diagnosing a person with asthma means the whole life course of treatment, taking medications, prevention and symptoms observation. That is why education about asthma is crucial for its full understanding.
Have you recently noticed that your breathing isn't as easy as it used to be? Do you face frequent coughing spells which occur when you laugh or at night? Maybe you are suffering from asthma which has just started to attack your organism. Other symptoms typical to asthma are: reduced energy, weakness and tiredness, frequent loss of breath and this strange wheezing sound when you breath out. You may also notice rapid breathing, your chest may feel "tight" and you may notice retractions. All of these suggest you suffer from a common respiratory diseases which affects lots of people.
Asthma information
An appropriate treatment makes comfortable living possible nevertheless one must remember that is a serious, dangerous disease which can have influence on work or home chores as well as your active life or even cause death. Asthma is a chronic disease that causes difficulty with breathing. The inflammation of airways leads to their narrowing which results in reduction of the amount of oxygen that gets to the lungs.
The muscles surrounding the airways tighten due to allergy or environmental triggers which makes the airflow obstructed. That is why a person easily becomes short of breath and produces a whistling sound while breathing.
The common inflammation of bronchial tubes in people with makes them swollen and red and damages the lungs in the long run.
People with asthma overreact and become tight even after being exposed to the slightest triggers e.g. fumes. Reactions to different triggers depend on a person, they vary and may look totally differently in different people. What is harmless for certain people may cause severe inconvenience for others.
Although the disease affects people below 40 most often there are also frequent occurrences of adult-onset . So if you have any family record of you can be sure that you have increased risk of getting the disease.
Asthma classification according to the triggers.
It is very important to understand what causes your and evokes attacks. The reduction of number of attacks and taking control over the disease is possible if you identify the conditions which trigger the asthma attacks.
If you notice what causes your asthma attacks try to avoid them, this way you will reduce the frequency and soothe the attacks.
Causes of asthma:
Allergies
A combination of the two is very popular, almost 80 percent of asthma patients have also some allergy to certain substances such as: dust mites, pollen, grass, mold, animal dander.
Food allergy is also a common reason for the development of the disease. Such foods as e.g. eggs, milk, soy, peanuts, wheat, shrimp and shellfish cause severe attacks. Food preservatives what cause asthma are found in: dried fruits or vegetables, potatoes, wine and beer, bottled lime or lemon juice. Apart from the ordinary symptoms which include hives, nausea, vomiting people with will also face wheezing, swelling of the throat and difficulty breathing.
To avoid worsening your condition and to prevent from facing asthma attacks try to reduce the exposure to allergens to the minimum.
Exercise-induced asthma
is a chronic problem with the breathing, it is triggered by external factors or situations. One of its causes is exercising. It can even induce an attack in a person who hasn't had any previous asthma symptoms. Such people with this type of asthma are very sensitive to temperature and humidity changes.
The thing that causes the attack is the contrast between the warm air in the lungs and the cold inhaled air - so in other words, mouth breathing. When you are at rest, breathing through your nose has similar temperature as the air in the lungs. That is why you don't have to cope with attacks. Once the attack begins, your airways produce large amounts of mucus which obstruct and block the air passage. Sports you should avoid: long-distance running, basketball, soccer, hockey, cross-country skiing. Exercise-induced has several symptoms which usually start 5-20 minutes after beginning of the exercise, they're gone within an hour but they may last longer. You need to contact your health care provider if any of these attacks occur irrelevant of exercises.
There are activities which should have no negative effect on your health:
- Yoga - breathing exercises are very effective in treatment, they help to control stress and breathing problems thank to regular yoga activities
- walking - avoid walking in cold or windy weather
- bike riding - but a slow, recreational one
- hiking- observe your breath and stop every time you notice oncoming attack
- swimming
- golf
- gymnastics
- volleyball
- skiing
GERD
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease may also trigger asthma attacks. As the disease activates mostly at night stomach acid backs up into the esophagus and the moment the acid reaches the throat its inflammation triggers asthma attack. Of course, the possibility getting asthma is influenced by family history or the adult-onset .
Causes of asthma - smoking
Smoking is very harmful for people with asthma because irritating substances place in the moist lining of the airways when it is inhaled. Apart from that, the tobacco smoke damages tiny hairs called cilia so they are unable to remove dust from the airways. As a result, dust accumulates in bronchial tubes. These substances can cause an attack in a person with .
Smoking parents should be aware that second-hand smoking may be even more dangerous than smoking itself as the smoke that burns off the cigar has got plenty of harmful substances that the smoke which is inhaled. So if your children are exposed to second-hand smoke you should know that children's respiratory system gets affected faster. Not only will they develop asthma but they have higher risk of getting lung or sinus infections.
Children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are at higher risk of getting lung disease in their future life.
Sinusitis
Sinusitis causes inflammation of the mucous membranes which produce more mucus, the symptom which is similar to . So if the sinuses get inflamed the airways react in a similar way as in asthma.
Other causes
Weather
Especially cold weather and rapid changes of temperature.
Strong emotions
Stress should be avoided as it triggers asthma attacks so try to reduce such emotions as anxiety, anger or lots of laughing, they may make the situation worse.
Added by:
mary
not connected with health care system
Added on:
2008-04-22 15:35:15 ,
Updated:
2008-05-15 15:13:45
Bibliography:
Visalli, G.Guide to Medical Cures and Treatments, 1998
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