Asthma is a disease that affects your airways which includes bronchial tubes and air sacs. Airways are tubes that carry breath in and out of the lungs. In disease like asthma, the inner walls of airways become inflamed (sore and swollen).
This inflammation makes them highly sensitive and reactive, to a number of allergic like smoke, fragrance, animal fur, dust etc. In reaction to allergic, airways get narrower and your lungs get lesser amount of air then required. This causes wheezing, coughing, chest congestion and suphocation, particularly early in the morning or at night.
As asthma symptoms get worse than normal, an asthma attack occurs. In a severe asthma attack, the air tubes can narrow so much that internal vital organs (viscera) become oxygen deficient and sometime, this sever attack results in death of the patient.
Although asthma is a controllable disease, but it can flare up any time even you feeling fine.
But in this advanced era of scientific technology, most asthmatic patients’ are know able to manage the disease. They can live healthy lives and sound sleep throughout the night without disturbance from asthma.
Signs and Symptoms
General symptoms of asthma include:
- Coughing at night or early in the morning.
- Wheezing occur while breathing
- Chest tightness
- Breathlessness
It is not necessary that, if you have any of these symptoms you are asthmatic. For the confirmation, a lung function test is performed with the physical examination.
Severe symptoms of asthma can put your life on stake. It’s vital to treat primary symptoms when you first detect them so avoid them to get worse.
Asthma management
Asthma is a chronic, incurable disease. The key purpose of asthma treatment is to keep the disease in control situation. Good asthma control will:
- Avoid chronic and irritating symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath
- Minimize the need of quick-relief medicines
- Try to maintain good lung function
- Prevent sever symptoms that can turned into asthma attacks and admitted you to hospital for emergency treatment