What Is Asthma?
Asthma is a chronic disease that affects your airways, and which makes your breathing difficult. When an asthma attack occurs, there is an inflammation of your air passages. This results in the temporary narrowing of your airways that carry oxygen to your lungs.
Asthma has three major features: airway obstruction, inflammation, and airway irritability.
- Airway Obstruction or Bronchospasm - causes your airways to narrow further, and chemical mediators and nerves in your bronchial tubes causes your muscles to constrict.
Inhaling cold or dry air can cause brochospasm, which normally occurs in all humans.
- Inflammation - causes the narrowing of your bronchial tubes, making them red, irritated and swollen. It also increases the thickness of your bronchial tube walls, resulting in a smaller passageway for air to flow through. Inflammation occurs as a response to an asthma trigger by your body's chemical mediator. The inflamed tissues then produce an excess amount of "sticky" mucus into your bronchial tubes. The mucus tends to clump together, forming "plugs" that can clog your smaller airways.
Specialized allergy and inflammation cells cause tissue damage, which accumulates in your bronchial tubes. These damaged cells then flow into your airways, contributing to the narrowing of your passageways.
- Airway Irritability - When you have asthma, your airways become extremely sensitive to triggers, such as allergens and irritants. Having your airways chronically inflamed and constricted causes this hypersensitivity. Moreover, constant exposure to these triggers may result in further inflammation and narrowing of your passageways.
The combination of these aspects causes the difficulty with breathing out, commonly associated with asthma. This difficulty results in the air needing to be exhaled forcefully to overcome the narrowing of your passageways. The result is a whistling sound known as "wheezing." As an asthma cure, you may also usually cough in an attempt to expel the thick mucus that plugs your airways.
What Are the Triggers of Asthma?
Unlike most illnesses, asthma has no known cause. What it has, however, are triggers. An asthma trigger is anything or any condition that causes inflammation in your airways, leading to asthma symptoms.
Your personal triggers may be different to other asthma sufferers. In any case, it is important that you learn to avoid your triggers. This can help keep your airway inflammations to a minimum and reduce your asthma symptoms.
Inflammatory triggers can include:
- Dust mites
- Moulds
- Pollens
- Viral infections
- Certain air pollutants
- Moulds
- Pollens
- Viral infections
- Certain air pollutants
Symptom triggers can include:
- Smoke
- Exercising
- Cold air
- Certain air pollutants
- Intense emotions
- Exercising
- Cold air
- Certain air pollutants
- Intense emotions
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