Research Paper On Asthma

Asthma is a disease that affects an individual’s respiratory system. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (2014), “it is a chronic lung disease that inflames and narrows the airways, causing reoccurring periods of wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing”. It can happen to anyone, but it mostly affects children starting from a very young age. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 2009, one in twelve people are diagnosed with asthma in the United States, that is equivalent to about 25 million people. This number still continues to grow over the years. More than half of this number has had an asthma attack, although it has happened more to children than to adults.

I

learned that in order to know whether you have asthma or not, a doctor usually asks questions related to whether you have coughing problems especially at night, allergies, if anyone in your family has asthma, and also if you have any frequent major breathing problems during physical activity. I also learned that doctors perform breathing tests on patients, called spirometry, in which they use a computer and a mouth piece to look at how much air comes out after taking a deep breath.
Many people who have asthma often experience asthma attacks.

The CDC (2017) states that an asthma attack, “ may include coughing, chest tightness, wheezing and trouble breathing… the attack happens in your body’s airways…”. In order to control your asthma and avoid an attack I learned that there are certain triggers that need to be avoided. These are called “asthma triggers” and can vary in every individual who suffers with asthma. The most common are tobacco smoke, dust mites, and air pollution. It’s highly important for people with asthma to learn how to avoid those triggers. People with asthma are more likely to have problems sleeping, miss school or work, have problems during physical activity, and go to the hospital. There are many ways it can be controlled and

treated.
As said before asthma can different for everyone who has it. It has no cure, but there are different types of medicine for treatment depending on the severity of asthma. One comes in the form of a pill and the other type requires a person has to breathe it in. I learned that some are called “quick-relief” and others are “long-term control”. Both work differently because a quick relief does exactly that, it relieves any symptoms and long term control reduces inflammation and prevents the symptoms from happening. People with asthma need to stay well informed by their doctors with which medicine they need to keep taking, the side effects that may come along with it, and how to use an inhaler. With the help of a doctor or any healthcare provider people with asthma can create an action plan. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, an asthma action plan, “ gives guidance on taking your medicines properly, avoiding asthma triggers, tracking your level of asthma control, responding to worsening symptoms, and seeking emergency care”.
There are psychosocial factors that are affected by asthma. People with asthma may experience confusion, anxiety, embarrassment, fear, or loss of control. While each individual may a different experience, it all also depends on what type of support system they have, coping skills, the severity of their asthma, and age as well as many other factors. Asthma can create everyday emotional stress.
I decided to interview one of my closest friends who has had asthma ever since she was a child.

She was diagnosed at a young age in elementary school. We both went to the same elementary school together and we had physical education every week. Some days we would run the perimeter of the school and other days we played soccer against other classes. I do remember our teachers keeping us very active almost every day. That’s when my friend says she started noticing something wasn’t right. After any physical activity, she had breathing problems that did not seem normal. She explained to me that it felt as if she was “drowning in a pool”. I asked her what were her first reactions after finding out she actually had asthma. She responded by saying she didn’t think too much of it at first, she didn’t really understand what it was, obviously she only knew that she felt horrible when she felt she couldn’t breathe. I think that because she was diagnosed at a young age that is the reason in which why she did not have such a big reaction.

She told me that overtime she did start learning more about her illness and that also helped her cope with it. Growing up she started to understand why she had breathing problems compared to all the other kids at school. She asked a lot of questions, researched in the computer, and gained a lot of knowledge about asthma. As she learned more about her illness, she mentioned how it actually helped her create her asthma action plan. She uses an inhaler for

emergencies, but lucky overtime she has been able to control her asthma level.
My friend talked to me about her worst asthma episode. It happened during our first year of middle school. She had her physical education class as her 8th period, the last class of the day. After finishing physical education, she had about five to eight minutes to get dressed and rush to the bus stop and catch the bus on the other side of school every school day. Some days were really hectic and she would always be in a hurry. Exercise used to be one of her biggest triggers and there was one day where she felt worse. It happened on the bus right after school. She told me she remembers that day clearly and it felt horrible. She felt like “a fish out of the water” and her lungs felt tight. Luckily, one of our friends was there with her and was able to calm her down. She was able to grab her inhaler and within a few minutes she felt like she could breathe again.
Up to this day, her asthma has gotten a lot better. She currently goes to the gym and stays active. Even though high amounts of exercise used to be one of her worst asthma triggers, overtime she learned to cope with it and she realized that it is actually healthy for her to be doing exercise if she’s careful about it. Smoke was another one of her biggest triggers, but she also learned to control her environment as much as she could. The hardest part for her was simply knowing asthma has no cure and she will always have it. On the brighter side, my friend told me it helped her and made her learn to live a healthier lifestyle overall.
I asked my friend what piece of advice she would give to someone who has been recently diagnosed with asthma. She responded by saying it is “a big challenge depending on your asthma is, but it does get better if you learn to manage it”. The advice she would give someone is to work with their doctor and find the best way to control their asthma. She says it helps to not only educate yourself but also the people around you like family and friends because that way you’ll be able to get more support. Its also always important to take your medications correctly and be prepared at all times. It’s easy to get discouraged with asthma but controlling negative emotions would be key to managing asthma. Setting goals for yourself and not looking at it as impossible, keeping a positive mindset, and focusing on what you can control is so important.
One last thing my friend opened up to me about was the impact on her self-image. At the start of middle school she felt hopeless because she wasn’t able to join as many sports as we wanted to and get more involved. This affected the way she saw herself because she really wanted to work on her body image. Overtime once she learned to manage her asthma, high school came around and luckily she became more involved in soccer, cheerleading, swim, and even a dance team. This proved she was able to reach her goals and helped her stay motivated.
I learned that asthma can be different for everyone. I think it deserves more attention just like any other chronic health condition. It’s important to stay educated about them in order to help yourself or those around you who might have a health condition. As I was doing research about asthma I was able to tie it back to the biopsychosocial model we learned about in class. So asthma can’t only be treated biologically. It’s important to note that the impact can be physical, psychological, and social. People with chronic conditions may experience depression or anxiety and they’ll need a lot of social support. Psychological issues also include affecting the aspects of “the self” as we discussed in class along with “the quality of life”. “The selfs” include physical self, achieving self, social self, and private self.
I also learned that asthma’s health care costs are about fifty billion in the United States. I’ve read that the number of people suffering from asthma has increased over the last few years. Most of this number includes children who are usually diagnosed at around age five. This causes children to miss days of school every year. Another important fact is that there are adults that may develop it overtime as a result of air pollution. It’s important to raise awareness and stay educated about what can affect our health and think of ways we can prevent people from getting a chronic health disease. Health officials should improve indoor and outdoor air quality. For example, workplaces and school classrooms. Asthma can happen to anyone especially children and there needs to be better asthma education in order to control or prevent people from getting asthma attacks. Overall, I gained a lot of new insight from this research and interview paper.