Inhaler for Asthmatics

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Asthma is a chronic lung problem that is characterized by difficulty in breathing. Persons with asthma have extra sensitive or hyper-responsive airways. During an asthma attack, the airways become irritated and react by narrowing and constricting, which cause increased resistance to airflow, and obstructing the flow of the air passages to and from the lungs.

The first step in keeping asthma under control is diagnosis.

Early warning signs of asthma include :

  • wheezing
  • fatigue
  • coughing, even when the person does not have a cold
  • breathing difficulty
  • tightness in the chest
  • itchy throat
  • runny nose

Anyone regularly exhibiting any of the signs should see a doctor or allergist as soon as possible. The earlier it is diagnosed, the earlier the condition can be managed, and the more successful the treatment can be.

At first consultation, your doctor will ask about:

  • Periods of wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath, or chest tightness that come on suddenly or occur often or seem to happen during certain season or times of year.
  • Colds that appear to “go to the chest” or take more than 10 days to get over.
  • Medicines you may have used to aid in your breathing.
  • Your family history of allergies and asthma.
  • What things (triggers) seem to cause asthma signs or even make them worse.

Your physician will listen to your breathing with a stethoscope and look for signs of asthma or allergies.

Also, your doctor will likely use a device called a spirometer to check your airways. This test measures how much air and how quick you can blow air out of your lungs after taking a deep breath. The results will be lower than normal if your airways are narrowed and inflamed, as in asthma, or if the muscles around your airways have tightened up. As part of the test, your doctor may give you some medication that helps open up narrowed airways to see if it modifies or improves your test results. Spirometry is also used to monitor your asthma over time to see how you are doing.

If your spirometry results are normal but you have asthma indications, your doctor will probably want you to have other tests to see what else could be causing your symptoms.

One test commonly used is termed the bronchial challenge test. For this test, a substance like methacholine, which causes narrowing of the airways in asthma, is inhaled. The effect is measured by spirometry.

Children under age 5 normally cannot use a spirometer successfully. If spirometry cannot be used, the physician may decide to try medication for a while to see if the child’s symptoms get better.

Besides spirometry, your doctor may also suggest that you have:

Read how this person cured his asthma the natural way
  • Allergy testing to determine if and what allergens affect you.
  • A test that uses a hand-held peak flow meter daily for 1-2 weeks to check your breathing (a peak flow meter is a device that shows how well you are breathing).
  • A test to see how your airways respond to exercise.
  • Tests to check if you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
  • Test to check if you have sinus disease.

Other tests, such as a chest x-ray or an electrocardiogram, may be required to find out if a foreign object, or other lung diseases or heart disease could be causing asthma symptoms.

A correct diagnosis is essential because asthma is treated differently from other diseases with similar symptoms.

Depending on the outcome of your physical exam, medical history, and lung function tests, your doctor can determine how severe your asthma is. This is important because your asthma severity will define how your asthma should be treated, and what the options are for treatment.

A general way to classify severity is to consider how often an individual has symptoms when that person is not taking any medicine or when their asthma is not well controlled.

Based on symptoms, the four levels of asthma severity classification are:

  • Mild Intermittent: occurs when your asthma is not well controlled, you have asthma symptoms twice a week or less, and you are bothered by symptoms at night twice a month or less.
  • Mild Persistent Asthma: occurs when your asthma is not well controlled, you have asthma symptoms more than twice a week, but no more than once in a single day. You are bothered by symptoms at night more than twice a month. You may have asthma attacks that affect your activity.
  • Moderate Persistent Asthma: when your asthma is not well controlled, you have asthma symptoms every day, and you are bothered by night=time symptoms more than once a week. Asthma attacks may affect your activity.
  • Severe Persistent Asthma: when your asthma is not well controlled, you have symptoms throughout the day on most days, and you are bothered by night-time symptoms often. In severe asthma, your physical activity is likely to be limited.

Anyone with asthma can have a severe attack – even those who have mild or intermittent persistent asthma.

Your doctor should give most of the following information to you (and if they don’t then ask them to provide it):

  • How to take your long-term daily medication properly
  • What things tend to make your asthma worse and methods to avoid them
  • Early indications to watch for that mean your asthma is starting to get worse (such as a drop in your peak flow number or an increase in symptoms)
  • When and how to use your peak flow meter
  • What medication and how much to take to stop an asthma attack and how to use it properly
  • When to call or visit your doctor
  • When you should get emergency medical treatment

This information will help you successfully control asthma, so that you can lead a normal life.

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