What You Should Know About
Asthma
Asthma is a common chronic lung disease that is estimated to affect over 17 million Americans of all ages. Although the highest incidence of new cases occurs in children, both young and older adults also develop the disease.
Asthma is a disease of inflammation of the bronchial airways. As a result of this inflammation, the airways are more responsive to stimuli or triggers than normal. Even minor stresses such as exposure to cold air, common odors, and allergens may cause them to constrict and narrow. When the airways narrow, more effort is required to move air through the bronchial tubes. Wheezing and shortness of breath result.
In mild asthma, breathing may be normal when the triggers are not present. With more severe disease, some decrease in lung function is present on a regular basis. Among the most important asthma triggers are the substances that are found in every day life: house dust mites, molds, animal dander, and seasonal allergens from the air. In many asthma patients, wheezing is triggered by exercise. |
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In addition to the environmental conditions that may precipitate asthma, there is a significant hereditary component. Asthma is more common in children of parents who also have asthma. At the present time, there is no cure for asthma. However, current therapy is very effective in controlling the disease and eliminating the vast majority of symptoms that it produces. Typical symptoms of asthma include coughing, shortness of breath, wheezing, and tightening in the chest, often on an intermittent basis.
Treatment and Tips
Avoiding Triggers:
One important way to reduce asthma symptoms is to reduce exposure to triggers. For example,
- Remove pets from the asthmatic person's bedroom and preferably from the whole house. Cats and birds seem to be the worst pet triggers.
- Don't let anyone smoke in the house or the car. Cigarette smoke settles into furniture and upholstery and can stay there for several weeks after someone smoked nearby.
- Change air conditioner filters each month and swamp cooler filters each season.
- If you have a humidifier, clean it weekly.
- Use bleach solution to remove all mold from the house.
- Take steps to reduce allergens in the bedroom. For example, remove carpets, heavy drapes, stuffed animals, and large books to get rid of dust mites. Also, consider washing the mattress, pillows, and bedsprings with an allergy-proof barrier.
Taking Medications
A major barrier to the successful treatment of asthma is the fact that many patients do not use their medications on a regular basis. In part, this is because many of the medications are delivered from inhalers, or puffers as they are often called by patients. These are inconvenient and cumbersome to use. In general, asthma medications can be divided into two types: those that reduce the inflammation in the airways, called controller medicines, and those that produce a rapid relief of symptoms when they are present, called reliever medicines.
How much of each type of medicine that is used in an individual case depends on the frequency of symptoms and the severity of the symptoms when they are present. Each year, new medications become available that are both more effective and convenient. As a result, most patients with asthma can live normal, active lives that include strenuous physical exercise.
If you continue to have symptoms despite using a quick-relief medication, your doctor may switch you to a daily anti-inflammatory medication instead. This transition may happen if:
- You or your child has asthma symptoms more than twice a week.
- You or your child uses the quick-relief medication often enough to need two or more refills in one year.
- Asthma awakens you or your child from sleep more than twice a month*.
Keep close track of how often you need to refill the quick-relief medication. If you need to do so every 6 months or less for asthma symptoms (except exercise pre-treatment), you'll probably get better control of asthma symptoms from a daily medication intended for long-term use. Talk with your doctor about the right choice for you.
If you have moderate to severe asthma, you may benefit from using a device called a peak flow meter to detect changes in your breathing pattern before asthma symptoms become pronounced. That way, you can use your medications to help prevent an oncoming asthma attack.
Uncontrolled asthma can cause serious, even life-threatening breathing problems. In fact, roughly 5,000 people die annually in the United States from the effects of asthma. The majority of these are avoidable deaths. For most asthmatics, if you avoid triggers, regularly take effective asthma medications, and coordinate closely with your doctor, you'll be able to pursue many or all of the activities that interest you, even strenuous ones. After all, more than one Olympic gold medal has been won by an asthmatic.
*Adopted from "Rules of Two" a trademark of Baylor Health Care Systems.
Asthma Research at the Arizona Respiratory Center
Several research studies related to asthma are taking place at the Arizona Respiratory Center. You can learn more about them by visiting these sections of the Center's Web site.
Where to Get More Information
For more information, try these online resources.
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