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Key Points
- Asthma is a chronic disease that affects your
airways, the tubes that carry air in and out of your lungs.
- In asthma, the inside walls of your airways are
inflamed, or swollen. The inflammation makes them very sensitive, and they tend
to react strongly to things that you are allergic to or find irritating. When
they react, they get narrower and less air flows through to your lungs. This
causes symptoms like wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and trouble
breathing, especially at night and in the early morning.
- Asthma cannot be cured, but most people with
asthma can control it so that they have few and infrequent symptoms and can
live normal, active lives.
- When your asthma symptoms become worse than
usual, it is called an asthma episode or attack. In a severe asthma attack, the
airways can close so much that not enough oxygen can get to your vital organs.
People can die from severe asthma attacks.
- Taking care of your asthma is an important part
of your life. Controlling it means working closely with your doctor to learn
how to manage your condition, staying away from things that bother your airways
and bring on asthma symptoms, taking medicines as directed by your doctor, and
monitoring your asthma so you can respond quickly to signs of an attack. Ask
your doctor for a written daily asthma self-management plan and an emergency
action plan for asthma attacks, and make sure you understand and know how to
use them.
- Researchers still do not know what causes asthma,
although they do know that if other people in your family have asthma, you are
more likely to develop it. Being exposed early in your life to things like
tobacco smoke, infections, and some allergens may also increase your chances of
developing asthma.
- Some of the more common things that bring on
asthma symptoms include exercise, allergens, irritants, and viral infections.
- Common asthma symptoms include coughing,
wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and faster or noisy breathing.
- Doctors find out whether you have asthma by
looking at your family history of asthma and allergies, exploring the things
that seem to cause your symptoms or make them worse, and giving you a test,
called spirometry, that measures how much air you can blow out of your lungs
after taking a deep breath and how quickly you can do it. They may also perform
tests to find out if you have allergies, to see how your airways react to
exercise, to find out whether you have gastroesophageal reflux disease or sinus
disease, and to rule out heart disease and other lung diseases.
- Asthma is treated with two kinds of medicines:
quick-relief medicines to stop asthma symptoms and long-term control medicines
to prevent symptoms.
- Short-acting inhaled beta-agonists are the
preferred quick-relief medicine. The most effective, long-term control medicine
is an inhaled corticosteroid, which reduces inflammation in your lungs. Most
long-term control medicines must be taken daily, even when you do not have
symptoms.
- Other long-term control medicines include inhaled
long-acting beta-agonists, leukotriene modifiers, cromolyn, and theophylline.
- Most asthma medicines are inhaled. As a result,
they go straight to your lungs where they are needed. It is important to learn
how to use your inhalers correctly.
- Many people with asthma need to monitor their
condition with a peak flow meter. This is a hand-held device that measures how
well your lungs are working. A peak flow meter can help you detect early
changes in your condition, especially if you change your medicines, and warn
you of a possible attack even before you feel symptoms.
- Parents of children with asthma need to help them
manage their asthma, including making sure the child uses his or her medicines
properly and watching for any signs of an attack.
- Older people with asthma may need to adjust their
treatment because of other diseases or conditions that they have. Some
medicines that many older people take can interfere with asthma medicines or
even cause asthma attacks.
- It is especially important for pregnant women
with asthma to control their asthma. Uncontrolled asthma can limit the supply
of oxygen to the fetus. Doctors recommend that it is safer to take asthma
medicines during pregnancy than to take the chance that you will have an
attack.
- Regular physical activity is just as important
for people with asthma as for the rest of the population. If exercise brings on
your asthma symptoms, talk to your doctor about the best ways to control your
asthma when you are active.
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