With a new diagnosis of asthma for you or your child will come many questions and an urgent need to quickly get educated about the basics of the disease, its symptoms, and treatments.

What Is Asthma?

‘What is asthma?’ is one of the first questions patients unfamiliar with the airway disease seek an answer to. Asthma is a chronic disease which causes inflammation (swelling) of the airways in the lungs. Airway inflammation in turn causes increased sensitivity to allergens and asthma triggers, further swelling the airways until breathing is severely hindered; wheezing and coughing result. During such an asthma attack, it is harder - if not near impossible - to draw in a breath.

Who ‘Gets’ Asthma?

Almost anyone can get bronchial asthma. There is even canine and feline asthma. There is really no way to know who will or won’t be diagnosed at some point with asthma.. And although not a definitive indicator, there does appear to be a hereditary link, so children of asthma sufferers may be more likely to be diagnosed with the disease.

Asthma can be diagnosed in adulthood or during childhood. To many, there seems to be an increase in diagnoses of asthma in children, and to a certain extent this is true, but it is also true that some of the increase is due to a better understanding of asthma and in turn more effective diagnosis by medical professionals. Sometimes newly diagnosed adults were sufferers of undiagnosed childhood asthma because in the past certain asthma types and symptoms were taken for severe colds and Pneumonia.

Types Of Asthma

There are different types of asthma, and different presentations of asthma symptoms. Usually when a reference to asthma types is made, people are referring to the trigger of the asthma attack. This varies from person to person. Patients may hear people refer to their asthma as ‘exercise induced asthma’ or by a title which further indicates the trigger.

Cough-variant asthma is one type that is becoming more widely known, because it is just recently being recognized. Cough variant asthma is indeed airway constriction, but is often without the wheezing that is most well known as a symptom of asthma. Persistent and night-time coughing may indicate cough variant asthma.



Asthma Management

Only your doctor can help you determine the most appropriate asthma management protocol to treat your symptoms and severity of asthma. Asthma inhalers are one of the best known ways to deliver effective medications to the lungs of asthma sufferers. An asthma inhaler may contain a fast-acting ‘rescue’ asthma medication that provides fast airway dilation, or an asthma inhaler may contain a preventative medication to be taken once or twice daily and stave off asthma attacks.

New research is also being done into a sort of whole-life asthma management program. Such programs include changes to the home and daily routines to avoid asthma triggers. Others are looking into the usefulness of an asthma diet that utilizes natural food ingredients that can help reduce or alleviate asthma and eliminate dietary triggers and allergens if they exist.

There is no fast answer to many asthma patients’ questions; more research is needed to find information specific to any given patient’s disease. People with asthma should look specifically for information that speaks of their type of asthma, severity, and triggers. And as always, consult with a trusted Doctor, forming an effective partnership to combat incidences of asthma attacks and live well despite the presence of asthma.