Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of airways. Asthma is associated with airway hyper responsiveness that leads to recurrent episodes of breathlessness, chest tightness and wheezing, particularly at night and in the early morning. These episodes in Asthma are usually associated with widespread and variable airflow obstruction within the lung that is often reversible sometimes spontaneously and most of the time with the treatment. Asthma affects all the age groups and it is one of the most common long-term respiratory conditions affecting the age groups. The main factors contributing to Asthma are the role of indoor and outdoor allergens, exposure to microbes, diet, vitamins, breastfeeding, tobacco smoke, air pollution and obesity.

Features

The clinical features of Asthma include recurrent episodes of wheeze, chest tightness, breathlessness and of most of the times it is commonly mistaken for cold or persistent chest infection. The main precipitating factors of asthma include exercise, exposure to cold air and other precipitating factors. Patients with asthma are usually asymptomatic for most of the day and it affects the patient intermittently. The symptoms usually are following the pattern and worse in the early morning. The dominant symptoms in some patients is lack of breathlessness Sometimes it may lead to delays in diagnosis.

It has to be investigated in the case of asthma whether it is recurrent sinusitis, sinus headache, bronchitis or other conditions which needs proper care of the physician.

An attempt should be made to identify the agents contributing to asthma. Particular enquiry should be made about potential allergens such as exposure to dust , pest infestation, exposure to mould following water damage to home rebuilding and any potential occupational agents. Some medications may also cause and also betel nuts also may also be a trigger and also the causative agent

The diagnosis of asthma is predominantly clinical and based on a combination of history, lung infection and other tests which indicate high, intermediate or low probability of asthma too much. Some tests shall be done using spectrometers which identify obstructive defects and also define its severity. In some cases skin prick tests to find out the allergy may also help to be done. In the exercise induced asthma exercise tests may also be done.

Asthma is a chronic condition but can be controlled with appropriate treatment in majority of the cases the mainstay of the treatment would always be avoidance of the aggravating factors which can be identified with the help of the physician

Treatment

The treatment with medication of asthma is by Metered dose inhaler which deliver certain quantities of medicines directly to the lung to treat it, this treatment of asthma with metered dose inhaler to deliver medicines which dilate the airways will help in recovery from the attacks. Further regular prevention therapy of asthma should also be done using inhaled glucocorticoids and inhaled beta 2 agonists.. In some cases the case of asthma presents acute severe asthma which is a dangerous condition which needs treatment after admission to the hospital.