So many people in the world today suffer from asthma and this makes finding the right treatments very important. Sufferers of asthma may live in constant worry about when they will experience their next asthma attack. This makes living life hard at times, especially when you have a severe case of asthma.
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes the breathing passages to and from lungs to become inflamed. This means that the airways are swollen and therefore it is hard to pass the air in and out normally. When a person suffers from an asthma attack it means that the airways reacted to something that was breathed in through the air. This can affect anyone, but typically starts during childhood and lasts for the remainder of a person’s lifetime.
Symptoms of asthma include tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, coughing (especially at night or early morning), and having wheezing sounds while breathing. Asthma is not a curable disease but it is manageable. A person may feel fine up until the asthma is triggered by an allergen. However, the best course of action is to treat asthma before it has the chance to attack.
There are different ways of treating asthma. For those people who have asthma attacks due to certain allergens in the air it may help you to try avoiding the triggers at all cost. Some of these triggers may be smoke from tobacco products, pet dander, dust mites, cockroaches, or other airborne allergens. It will be important to figure out what causes your asthma to flare up. Pay close attention to what you are around at the time. If it is smoke then obviously you should stay away from people who smoke, smoky conditions and definitely do not smoke yourself. If you think dust mites may be the cause then it will be important to air out your house often, keep the house dusted frequently and wash bedding and curtains to avoid too much dust exposure. For children, it may be important to remove stuffed animals from the child’s bedroom or wash regularly as well.
Once you have taken the first step by eliminating the source of the allergens, the second step will be finding a treatment that works for you in the event you have an asthma attack. People have different levels of severity of asthma so different treatments are available. Your doctor will be able to determine the best treatment plan for your situation. The most important thing is to always follow the instructions well since having a severe asthma attack can prevent you from breathing and can get really bad really fast.
Medicines that are used frequently in patients with asthma are corticosteroids. Corticosteroids can be taken orally or in an inhalant version. The inhalant version is the best option since the medicines are inhaled directly into the lungs and can get to work quickly. This medicine reduces the inflammation and swelling of the airways, preventing them to tighten and respond to triggers as severely or as often.
There are also inhaled short acting beta 2-agonists that are used in the event a person does have an asthma attack. These are fast acting medicines that work very quickly to relax the muscles that are tight in the airways. By keeping this inhaler of medicine with you at all times, you will be able to treat your asthma quickly and efficiently before it has the chance to progress too far.
Although having asthma can be challenging at times, you can still treat and manage it successfully. By eliminating the allergens that can cause your attacks and by taking your medicines regularly, you will be able to lessen your symptoms and live comfortably.
Comments are closed