Characteristics and Treatments for Asthma

Characteristics and Treatments for Asthma

Asthma is very common, but it isn’t well understood. Current treatments for the disease are getting to be more effective. In the future, hopefully advances in medical research will lead to even better treatments then the ones we currently have. We use our lungs to breathe they work by taking oxygen from the air we breathe in and then disposing it as carbon dioxide; Carbon Dioxide is a deadly waste product made by the cells of the body. Once this exchange has taken place, Carbon dioxide is removed from the body by breathing it out, or exhaling.

Asthma is a disorder that interferes with the lungs and the airways to the lungs. It causes attacks of wheezing and difficult breathing. An asthma attack occurs when the airways respond to some kind of trigger, Some examples of triggers for Asthma attacks are dust, mold, pets, exercise, cold weather, and some attacks start for no known reason. The triggers may irritate the airways to the lungs, allowing disease-fighting cells to build up and causing the lungs to swell up. In addition, the airways could get blocked when the muscles surrounding the lungs tighten. This keeps air from circulating freely in the lungs. Or, mucus may clog and narrow the airways in the lungs, making breathing even more difficult.

During an asthma attack, the walls of the airways become irate, and the mucous membrane found on the walls of the lungs become swollen with fluid and mucus fills taking up the remaining space, making it difficult to breathe. *Because air cannot flow in and out of the lungs freely, a whistling or wheezing sound may be heard. During a severe attack, wheezing might stop because of the air moving in and out of the lungs are too weak to make a...

... middle of paper ...

...ility of emotions and stress to weaken the body's defenses.

Allergies and Asthma

Allergies are the one of the main leading causes of asthma. About 90% of children under the age of ten that are infected with asthma have allergies. Around 70% of people under the age of thirty have asthma and 50% of those over thirty. Allergies is likely to be a helping factor to asthma if:

· You have close relatives with allergy (that is, a mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, or child)

· Asthma begins at a young age

· Symptoms occur or worsen with different seasons (usually fall or spring)

· You have allergic symptoms like runny nose, hay fever, or a skin condition called eczema

· Tests show that your blood or saliva contains a higher than normal level of eosinophils, special cells that fight infection.

Bibliography:

http://fbhc.org/modules/asthma