One way to define asthma is to describe what it does to the lungs. Asthma causes the airways to narrow and swell. Breathing becomes difficult due to extra mucous that builds up in the airways. In addition to trouble breathing, a person with asthma can experience coughing and wheezing. When an individual wheezes, it sounds a little like faint whistling.
Some people with asthma may attribute their symptoms to allergies or a cold because the symptoms may mimic these illnesses. However, for others, asthma can be debilitating and can interfere with routine activities. A severe asthma attack can be frightening and life-threatening.
How Does Asthma Feel?
The symptoms of asthma vary with the severity of the condition. In addition to coughing, difficulty breathing, and wheezing, individuals with asthma can experience tightening in the chest. A person with asthma can feel like he or she cannot breathe at all. Feeling multiple symptoms at one time can be scary.
Is Asthma a Chronic Illness?
Some people think they will outgrow asthma and wonder, “Is asthma a chronic illness?” Individuals may rarely experience asthma symptoms because they have made extra efforts to avoid triggers, but asthma is a chronic condition, and triggers can cause symptoms.
Common Asthma Triggers
Asthma has no cure, but some people with asthma go for long periods without experiencing significant symptoms. However, for these individuals, environmental triggers that can cause symptoms include air pollution, dust mites, secondhand smoke, mold, aerosol sprays, household cleaners, pesticides, and perfumes. New furniture and carpet can also give off gases that can cause asthma flare-ups.
Ozone in the air is a known asthma trigger and can irritate the lungs. Smog or haze that you can see is a sign that the ozone level is high. When the ozone level increases, people with asthma can have a difficult time breathing.
There are also occupational or workplace asthma triggers that can cause a person who has never had asthma to develop it. For example, employees who work in plants with wood dust, smoke, and chemicals are more susceptible. These substances can irritate the airways and promote the development of asthma.
Exercise-Induced Asthma
Being physically active is a good thing; however, some individuals experience asthma symptoms when they engage in strenuous workouts. Exercise-induced asthma causes coughing, fatigue, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, wheezing, and other asthma symptoms during or after exercise. People already diagnosed with asthma and athletes who engage in high-performance activities may experience broncho-constriction or exercise-induced asthma. Air pollution, cold air, dry air, chlorine in pools, and physical activities that require deep breathing may trigger exercise-induced asthma.
Aspirin-Induced Asthma
Asthma symptoms can affect some individuals after they take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs. Medicines in this group include aspirin, naproxen, and ibuprofen. Aspirin-induced asthma can develop in persons between ages 20 and 50 and can emerge suddenly.
Nocturnal Asthma
People with nocturnal asthma experience symptoms at night. This type of asthma, triggered by the airways’ narrowing, happens when a person is sleeping. Sinus drainage and allergies, heartburn, and esophageal reflux are also issues associated with nocturnal asthma. Sleeping in a cold room or while an air conditioner is running can also aggravate the condition. Individuals who experience nocturnal asthma symptoms may not get enough sleep, leaving them feeling tired and irritable the next day.
How Do Doctors Diagnose Asthma?
A health care provider will look at several factors when diagnosing asthma. The first step is getting a patient’s health history. Genetics can play a role, so it is essential to know if other family members have the condition. The patient also undergoes a physical exam where the doctor listens to breathing and may administer allergen tests since allergens tend to increase asthma risk.
Finally, the doctor uses a spirometry test or another pulmonary function test to check airflow speed. Since it is challenging to get an accurate reading, doctors do not usually perform breathing tests on young children.
What Is an Asthma Chronic Care Management Plan?
Patients and their health care providers can work together to develop a chronic care management plan for asthma. The plan helps individuals self-manage their asthma between doctor visits by being aware of changes and severity of symptoms. The chronic care management questionnaire assesses a patient’s health history, asthma status, and current living situation. The information gathered from the chronic care management questionnaire helps the health care provider develop an individualized plan that includes guidelines for symptom management, such as how to take medications and when to seek immediate medical help.
Typically, how an individual is managing asthma depends on whether he or she falls into the green, yellow, or red zone of the asthma management plan. Using a peak flow meter, a patient can measure their ability to blow air out of their lungs. Being in the green zone indicates that peak flow is at least 80% and that there are no significant issues; the person has few to no symptoms and can engage in regular activities.
Being in the yellow zone indicates that the individual’s condition is worse, with a peak flow at 50-75% of the best peak flow. The person may be experiencing symptoms and waking up at night, and the asthma may interfere with activities.
The red zone is where an individual is experiencing severe symptoms, and medications may not help much. The patient may not feel like doing much, and the peak flow is 50% or less than the best peak flow.
Asthma Treatment
The treatment for asthma includes breathing exercises and medications. A respiratory therapist might teach an individual how to practice diaphragmatic breathing or slow nasal breathing since mouth breathing can worsen asthma. Yoga can also be helpful for individuals with asthma.
Medications prescribed for asthma include short-acting bronchodilators, long-acting bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs, combination medications, anticholinergics, intravenous medications, antibiotics, and antivirals.
Bronchodilators
When most people think about asthma treatment, bronchodilators come to mind. Sometimes called “inhalers” because of the device used to deliver the medicine, bronchodilators work by relaxing the muscles surrounding the breathing tubes or airways. Opening the airways makes it easier to breathe. Short-term bronchodilators work quickly with the user feeling relief immediately. Doctors often prescribe long-acting bronchodilators with anti-inflammatory medications.
Antibiotics and Antivirals
When a patient has a history of asthma flare-ups because of bacterial or viral infections, a health care provider may prescribe an antibiotic or antiviral drug to prevent an infection. Patients can get the prescriptions filled in advance, and when they feel infection symptoms, they begin taking medicines. It is vital to finish the regimen when taking antibiotics because a partially treated infection can return and be more difficult to treat.
Anticholinergics
Anticholinergic treatments keep the muscles around the airways from tightening. Some people use inhalers that provide anticholinergics in metered doses whereas others take treatments through a nebulizer that transforms liquid into a mist inhaled through a mouthpiece. You can combine anticholinergics with inhaled corticosteroids, and this works as a solution when long-term control of coughing, chest tightness, mucous, and wheezing is necessary.
Anti-Inflammatories
Anti-inflammatory medications work by reducing swelling and curbing mucous production in the airways, both of which make it easier to breathe. Anti-inflammatory drugs may include corticosteroids or steroids. They are usually inhaled and can cause a yeast infection or thrush in the throat. Individuals who use inhaled anti-inflammatory meds should rinse their mouths to prevent throat yeast infections.
Combination Medicines
Some doctors may prescribe a combination medication that contains an inhaled bronchodilator and an inhaled corticosteroid.
Treatment for Severe Asthma
For individuals with severe asthma and who have tried standard treatments without success, there are other options. For example, people with allergic asthma and eosinophilic asthma may get medications intravenously. Patients get a monthly shot or IV monthly to control their symptoms.
Preventing Environmental Asthma Triggers
There are some steps that people with asthma and their families can take to lessen the impact of environmental asthma triggers. Removing carpet and replacing it with hard-surface flooring can eliminate dust, mold, smoke, and other substances that become trapped in the carpet. Using a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filter removes irritating particles from the air.
Wash bedding and curtains and vacuum fabric surfaces regularly to reduce dust mites. Use high-quality heating and cooling system air filters and change them often to improve air quality. When purchasing new furniture, opening windows to allow it to off-gas can reduce irritating gas in the air. Opening windows to provide ventilation when using household cleaners and chemicals and not smoking inside the home are additional steps to eliminating asthma triggers.
If you or a loved one has experienced asthma symptoms, it is essential to get a correct diagnosis and treatment. Did you find this article helpful? Call our office to get more information or to schedule a consultation today.
