What is Asthma
Asthma is a condition that affects the Respiratory System. People who have asthma sometimes have trouble breathing. When people who have asthma have this trouble breathing, we call it an asthma attack. Lots of people have asthma attacks. When most of us breathe, the muscles that are wrapped around the air tubes (airways) are very loose and relaxed, and the lining inside the airways is very thin. This lets the airways open up very wide so that it is easy to get air in and out of the small air sacs that make up your lungs. During an asthma attack, the muscles around the airways tighten, or "spasm" (like when you make a fist) and the lining inside the airways swell or thicken, and get clogged with lots of thick mucous. This makes the airways much thinner than usual so it is harder to move air in and out of the air sacs. This makes it hard to breathe!
The Airway During An Asthma Attack
What Causes An Asthma Attack?
Lots of different things can cause an asthma attack. Something that causes an asthma attack is called a trigger. Some common triggers of asthma attacks are:
allergies
infections like colds or bronchitis
exercise
changes in the weather (from mild to cold)
smoke
Genes - Asthma can be passed on from parents to their children.
Symptoms Of An Asthma Attack
Everybody doesn't feel the same things when they have an asthma attack.
sometimes during an asthma attack, people will cough for a long time.
sometimes during an asthma attack, people feel like they can't catch their breath.
sometimes during an asthma attack, people feel like air is trapped in their lungs and they can't get it out.
sometimes during an asthma attack, people have pain in their chest.
sometimes during an asthma attack, people have very noisy breathing.
Can Asthma Be Treated?
Unfortunately, Asthma has no known cure, but the good news is that it's controllable. There are many different medicines that doctors may use to help people with asthma. Some medicines are swallowed (pills or liquids), some medicines are inhaled (breathed in through your mouth or nose), and some medicines are injected (given as a shot in one of your muscles or veins).
Medicines can work in different ways to help people who have asthma. Here are a few examples:
Bronchodilators
Doctors usually prescribe bronchodilators first, as bronchodilators are usually inhaled using a metered dosed inhaler. Inhaled medicines are used first because they start working very fast (usually in less than five minutes!) and they don't have too many side effects. This is because inhaled medicines go right into the lungs and not into other parts of the body.
Examples of bronchodilators are:
albuterol
Alupent
Atrovent
Brethine
ipatroprium
metaproteronol
Metaprel
Proventil
salbutamol
terbutaline
theophylline
Theodur
Ventolin
Anti-Inflammatory Medications
Anti-inflammatory medicines reduce the swelling inside airways and decrease the amount of mucus in the lungs.
While there are many different types of anti-inflammatory medicines, the ones
that are used most often in people with asthma are corticosteroids (steroids).
Some common corticosteroids are:
Azmacort
betamethasone
Beclovent
prednisone
Prelone
methylprednisolone
SoluMedrol
