Asthma, also known as bronchial asthma, is a lung disease. With asthma, your airways narrow and swell and get blocked by excess mucus. You can use different medications to treat these symptoms.
Asthma is a disease that impacts your respiratory system. It is a chronic condition, which means you can’t get rid of it, but you can learn how to manage it.
Over 25 million people in the United States have asthma. The consequences of asthma can be life-threatening if you don’t have the proper medications to treat it.
Three different things happen when you have an asthma attack:
During an attack, your airways become tighter than normal, making breathing hard. This can result in you making a wheezing sound when you breathe out.
Anyone can develop asthma at any age. Females are also more likely to get asthma than males. Asthma impacts Black people more than other races.
People who have allergies or have been exposed to both first or secondhand tobacco smoke are also more likely to develop asthma.
There isn’t an exact scientific explanation for why some people get asthma and others don’t. However, certain risk factors increase one’s risk of getting asthma.
These are just risk factors that could increase your chance of getting asthma. They are not a guarantee that you will get asthma.
Different substances can irritate your airways and cause an asthma attack. These substances are called triggers. Knowing what substances trigger your asthma attacks can make it easier to control your asthma.
Triggers work differently for different people. For some people, exposure to a trigger can result in an immediate asthma attack. For other people, exposure to a trigger can result in attack hours or even days later.
Triggers are individual for each person. However, some common triggers impact a large number of people:
Asthma triggers vary from person to person, so we encourage you to write down what is happening when you have an attack to figure out your triggers.
Asthma symptoms are really obvious. They are also similar to respiratory infections. You may not have all of the symptoms below every time you have an attack, and the presence and severity of symptoms can also change.
There are various types of asthma. Asthma is categorized based on how often it occurs, the cause, and when it started.
One way to categorize asthma is by how often it occurs:
Different people are triggered by different things, resulting in the category of allergic and non-allergic asthma.
Another way to categorize asthma is based on when you started to experience attacks.
There are specific subtypes of asthma as well that one can experience:
Uncontrolled asthma is different than regular asthma. With typical asthma, you may experience symptoms for short periods, followed by long periods with no symptoms. You often experience difficulty breathing with uncontrolled asthma and may suffer from life-threatening asthma attacks.
With uncontrolled asthma, you may experience typical asthma symptoms. However, instead of being something you deal with rarely, it is something you deal with regularly. With uncontrolled asthma, you are likely to experience:
Allergy-induced asthma, also called allergic asthma, occurs when you experience asthma symptoms by breathing in an allergen. The most common allergens that induce asthma include mold spores, dander, and pollen. Symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, stuffy nose, itchy eyes, and a rash.
Allergies can impact your life in several ways, including what you eat, the type of products you use, and how you breathe. When your allergies combine with asthma, you have allergic asthma.
Allergic asthma occurs when you breathe in allergens, such as mold spores, dander, or pollen, and your airways tighten in response. When you have an allergy, your body’s immune system responds and tries to protect you by releasing immunoglobulin E (IgE), a natural defense chemical your body creates.
In general, IgE is great, as it helps your body protect itself and fight back against danger. However, if too much IgE is released, it can cause your airways to tighten, resulting in difficulty breathing.
The allergen can thus trigger your asthma. Your airway lining becomes inflamed, thick excess mucus is created in your airways, and the muscles around your airways tighten.
Exercise-induced asthma occurs when your airways become constricted while engaging in physical activity. Exercise-induced asthma can result in wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath. These symptoms can happen both during and after exercise. They may even come back after you have rested for a little bit.
Exercise-induced asthma, also known as exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB), is when your airways become smaller, specifically when you are exercising.
This can result in asthma symptoms, such as wheezing, shortness of breath, and coughing. These symptoms can be worse under specific conditions, such as when pollution levels are high, when pollen counts are high, or when the air is cold and dry.
It is vital to warm up before you start exercising if you have exercise-induced asthma. Different medications and devices, such as inhalers, can prevent an EIB episode from occurring and keep your airways open.
At West Hills Allergy & Asthma Associates, Dr. Anderson-Cowell has more than 23 years of experience diagnosing and treating patients with asthma.
Her training and expertise make Dr. Anderson-Cowell an expert in treating patients who are dealing with asthma.
If you’re looking for expert diagnostic experience and effective treatment history, Dr. Anderson-Cowell can help. For a consultation, please call (503) 297-4779 or request an appointment online.