Luke McCaffrey Asthma Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways that makes breathing difficult.

With asthma, there is a temporary narrowing of the airways that bring oxygen to the lungs due to inflammation. Asthma affects more than 22 million Americans per year and causes about 2 million emergency room visits each year. With proper treatment this disease can be very well controlled, but if inadequate treatment is performed it limits a persons ability to be active and exercise. Asthma can greatly affect your entire life if poorly treated by affecting your performance at home and work. There are three major features of asthma, airway obstruction, inflammation, and airway irritability. The first feature of asthma is airway obstruction. In normal people, the band of muscle that surround airways are relaxed allowing air to move freely, but in people with asthma triggers make the bands of muscle tighten rendering the air unable to move freely. This lack of air causes one to feel short of breath and the air that is moving through the tightened airways makes a whistling noise called wheezing. The second feature of asthma is inflammation. This causes asthmatics to have swollen and red bronchial tubes, and is thought of to greatly contribute to the long-term damage to the lungs asthma can cause. The third feature of asthma is airway irritability. People with asthma have very sensitive airways that tend to overreact and narrow when in contact with the slightest triggers such as pollen, dust, or animal dander. There are a few symptoms and early signs for asthma. Symptoms of asthma vary from person to person but the main ones include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and pain or pressure in the chest. Also, asthma has many early warning signs that if

noticed can prevent an asthma attack. These warning signs consist of frequent cough, easy loss of breath, feeling of tired or weakness when doing activities, being tired, moody, or easily upset, trouble sleeping, and lastly having signs of a cold or allergies. When an asthmatics symptoms suddenly worsen this could be an asthma attack. Some of the symptoms shown during an asthma attack are severe wheezing, non-stop coughing, rapid breathing, tightened neck and chest muscles, difficulty talking, feeling of panic, pale face, and blue lips of fingernails. There are many ways to treat asthma including short-term treatment and longterm treatment and there are two types of medications used. For people with asthma antiinflammatory drugs (inhaled steroids) are the most important treatment. They prevent asthma attacked and work by decreasing mucus production and swelling. In turn, this causes the airways to be less sensitive; therefore they are less likely to react to the things that trigger asthma symptoms. The other types of drugs used in treating asthma are called bronchodilators. These drugs relax the muscles surrounding the airways that are normally tightened. These come in the form of short-acting or long-acting. Short-acting bronchodilators are inhalers that are used to quickly relieve symptoms like wheezing cough and shortness of breath by widening the bronchial tube. These should not be used daily as a treatment for asthma, but should be taken as needed. The most common form of this type of drug is called albuterol and lasts for a few hours. If this has to be taken more than twice a week then the persons should contact the doctor about improving the asthma controller medication. The other form of bronchodilator is a long-acting bronchodilator that is normally combined with inhaled steroids in order to achieve longterm control of ones asthma symptoms. Also, these long-lasting bronchodilators should

never be used alone for long-term therapy. When treating asthma the most effective and common way to get drugs to the lungs is through the use of inhalers. There are many combination inhalers that contain both an inhaled steroid and a long-lasting bronchodilator. These are very popular among patients because of there convenience. Another way to deliver asthma medication to the lungs is by the use of a nebulizer, or a breathing machine. This changes the asthma medicine in liquid form to a mist so the drug can easily be inhaled. The only downside is that this takes a while longer compared to inhalers. One can reduce asthma symptoms by avoiding known triggers that irritate the airways. Some ways to do this include covering bedding with allergy proof casings, remove carpets from bedrooms, and vacuum regularly. Also, use unscented detergents and cleaning materials, keep humidity levels low to reduce build up of mold, and put filters over air vents. Lastly, eliminate intake of tobacco smoke, avoid air pollution, industrial dusts, and other forms of irritating substances and fumes. In conclusion, even though asthma cannot be cured most people are able to manage the disease. With the right treatment, people are able to live normal, active lives and sleep through the night without interruption. Lastly, even if somebody has asthma, as long as it is treated correctly nothing should hold them back and they can play as many sports as they want and have an extremely involved life with no negative interference from asthma.

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