Asthma

Asthma is a chronic lung disease and causes breathing problems which are called attacks or episodes.

Whilst it can occur at any time, day or night, and any person can have the condition; adults, adolescents, children, infants, male or female, it is with you each and every day, and it can also be life threatening.

It is most common in children but statistics are showing a growing population having the condition, especially in pre-school aged children and people living in urban inner cities.

Whilst there is no cure for the condition, life for an individual with Asthma can be fulfilled, with the correct prevention and if it is controlled with proper care and medication.

How do you know if you have Asthma?

Some of the sypmtoms are as follows:

• wheezing and/or coughing, especially at night time
• tightness of the chest
• difficulty breathing

With brief and severe episodes, severe inflamation of the thorax will produce decreased breath sounds, and a higher pitched wheezing sound.

Symptoms can be worse in the presence of exercise, irritants, changes in weather, viral infections, stress, and menstrual cycles.

When one or more of these symptoms are present, these things will happen to your lungs if you have Asthma

1. The air tubes in your lungs will become clogged from a very thick and sticky mucus. This has been caused by the cells in your air tubes making more mucus than normal,
2. The air tubes swell up, and the muscles in your air tubes tighten,
3. This causes the air tubes to become narrow and makes your breath shorten and hard to breathe

There are many ways in which an attack can trigger, so identifying which is your trigger is the starting point to effectively manage your condition. Ways in which triggers can be caused from include gases and particles in the air, dust, feathers, moulds, viruses (colds,flus,etc), allergies, and cigarette smoke exposure.

Smoking cigarettes can bring on an attack very easily as well as secondhand smoke(smoke that someone has exhaled from their own cigarette). Children of cigarette smokers are more likely to inherit the condition from their parents, and also as a consequence of being exposed to a parents second-hand smoke. To protect your childs health, and your own, you need to quit the cigarettes.

To live, work and play in a smoke free environment is one of the healthiest and wisest choices you can make for yourself and your children.

We have provided further information here to assist with your Asthma Diagnosis

Asthma or none, the choice is yours.