Asthma - Symptoms, Types, Treatment

Asthma is defined to be a chronic and long term condition that affects the air pathway of the human body. It leads to the problem of wheezing. It makes it very hard for a person to breathe. The stimuli to this infection can be in the form of an exposure to an allergen or irritant. This can also be triggered by viruses, exercise, and emotional stress.

Asthma leads to the swelling of the inside walls of the airways. It also leads to the swelling of bronchial tubes

When a person gets an asthma attack, the airways swell. The muscles around the airways get tightened. In such a situation it leads to difficulty for air to move in and out of the lungs. When a survey was performed in the United states it led to find that 7.9% of the US population was infected by asthma.

In this article you will come to know the types, causes, and triggers of asthma.

What is Asthma?

Asthma is known to be a chronic condition that affects the airways of human beings. It leads to inflammation , swelling and narrowing inside the lungs. This condition leads to restriction of air supply.

Symptoms of Asthma :

A person who is suffering with asthma may possess some common problems:

• This condition leads to tightness in the chest

• It can cause wheezing

• Asthma can cause breathlessness

• coughing is major problem occuring during asthma

• There will be and increased mucus production

• An asthma attack can also take place when the above mentioned symptoms become severe. Attacks of asthma can occur suddenly. These attacks range from mild to life threatening.

• Sometimes during the case of asthma swelling in the airways takes place which prevents oxygen from entering the lungs. This simply means now that oxygen cannot prevail in the bloodstream and also it can not enter vital organs such as the heart . In such high symptom cases people need urgent medical attention.

Types of Asthma:

1. Childhood asthma :

When a baby is born before the gestation period of the pregnancy it can lead to childhood asthma. When a child is premature the lungs of the child are not fully developed and then the baby has to put on the ventilator for the major functioning of the lungs.

Stimuli of childhood asthma :

• When a baby catches a cold then it can lead to asthma.

• If a baby has asthma then the allergy caused by the pollen grains can be very much harmful for him.

• There may be allergy to many of the chemicals if a child has asthma.

• Childhood asthma can be triggered by coming in contact with perfume or spray.

2. Adult Onset Asthma:

If someone has not been exposed to asthma in childhood then it is not a condition that he or she will never have asthma. Asthma can develop later in life when a person attains adult age. When asthma occurs during the adult days then it is more dangerous and leads to the more severe symptoms. This type of asthma can sometimes lead to the death of the person. This asthma is triggered by some of the allergens such as chemicals, perfume and also the pollen grains.

3. Allergic asthma :

It is a connecting link between the allergies and asthma but till now

Nobody knows the connection between both of them. Not all allergies can lead to asthma.

Allergies such as allergy from the pollen grains and some of the chemicals can sometimes lead to asthma but sometimes these cannot lead to asthma and they are only the form of allergies.

4. Occupational asthma :

This is the most dangerous type of asthma in which the asthma occurred due to your occupation. When you work in some Fields such as in the bangle industry and also in the mining industry then the dust from Industries goes into your bronchioles and leads to bronchitis. It also leads to the inflammation of the lungs. This type of asthma can be more easily seen in the people with low employment and the poor areas.

Diagnosis of Asthma

There are many test for determination the asthma :

Spirometry:

It is usually a lung test that measures how much of the air can lungs be pulled out. It finds out the obstruction that comes in the pathway of the airway. It is done by a simple instrument that is termed as the spirometer.

Nitric oxide test :

In this case the air is artificially inhaled by a machine called a handheld device. Now air is allowed to be exhaled and if the exhaled air contains the nitrogen dioxide then it can be a confirmatory test for the customer. Nitrogen dioxide is usually formed due to the presence of inflammation in the lungs.