Asthma

What Is Asthma?

Asthma is a disease that makes it hard to breathe. It can be intermittent or chronic. Intermittent means you get an asthma attack from time to time. Chronic means that asthma is there all the time but sometimes it is quiet and you don’t have any symptoms.

Millions of people have asthma, including many children. It is not contagious; you cannot catch it from someone who has it. Many children will outgrow their asthma at the time of puberty. Yet for some, it becomes chronic and does not disappear. But today, asthma can be controlled with proper treatment and medication and by avoiding the things that trigger asthma attacks.

Normal Breathing

Normally when you breathe in, the air goes in through your nose and mouth, into your windpipe, through airway tubes called bronchial tubes and into the airsacs. When you breathe out, the stale air goes out the same way.

In Asthma

Breathing is difficult because asthma causes the airway tubes to be narrow from:

• inflammation
• thick mucus
• tightening of the muscles around the airways

In recent years there have been new approaches that have greatly improved the care of all people with asthma. Instead of thinking of asthma as something that happens only when an "asthma attack" occurs we now know that asthma may be a chronic condition and that there may always be some inflammation in the airways. The inflammation causes the airways to be hyper-irritated and they respond by producing more mucus and going into spasm. Spasm means that the muscles around the airway tubes tighten and it is harder for air to move in and out. Therefore this inflammation needs to be treated, in addition to acute asthma attacks.

Since children with chronic asthma have hyper-irritated, "twitchy" or very sensitivity airway tubes they react very easily to many irritants, or "triggers", such as dust, pollen, dogs, cats, respiratory infections and cold weather. When they come in contact with one of these "triggers" it causes their airway tubes to become more narrow and to produce more mucus. This narrowing and extra mucus makes it difficult for air to get in and out.

An Acute Asthma Attack Is Caused By Contact With A "Trigger" Such As:

• Irritants such as smoke, dust, perfumes, hairspray, strong smelling household solutions such as ammonia, paint, air pollution.
• Colds or respiratory infections
• Allergic triggers: animal dander from dogs, cats; cockroaches; molds; weeds and pollen from trees or grass; house dust; mites
• Exercise such as running especially without warm-up exercise
• Drugs such as aspirin or Motrin (NSAIDS)
• Food additives such as sulfites
• Changes in weather -- breathing in cold air
• Emotions -- such as laughing or crying

Chronic Asthma Has Three Parts:

1. Chronic airway inflammation: the airway passages are always somewhat inflamed. This is what makes them so overly sensitive.
2. Overly sensitive airways: easy reaction to irritants such as dust, pollen, respiratory infections, smoke, animals, etc.
3. Airway obstruction (narrowing) when exposed to one of the irritants: the walls of the airways swell which also makes the tubes more narrow. More mucus is produced which makes the tubes more narrow. The airway muscles around the airway tubes tighten up and squeeze shut.

Signs Of Asthma

• Coughing -- as a person tries to clear out extra mucus
• Wheezing -- whistling sound as air tries to get out through the narrowed airways
• Fast breathing or shortness of breath -- as a person tries to get air in and our through the narrowed and congested airways
• Chest tightness

Resources For More Information:

Asthma Center at Long Island College Hospital

James P. Mara Center for Lung Disease at St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital Center

The material contained in this document was prepared to provide basic information.
Questions concerning its application to your particular case should be directed to your physician.