One of the main reasons why we should know more about asthma – and therefore one of the purposes of this Guide Asthma – is to help us make good decisions during an asthma attack. If you feel short of breath or wheezing with breathing, the worst thing you can do is panic. The panic becomes harder to breathe and take appropriate decisions. It is best to act calmly to restore normal breathing.

For starters, think in advance what would you do during an asthma attack. Later in this guide will have a chance to practice making decisions using some imaginary examples. Should discuss the plan with your doctor and write its Plan of Action for Asthma. Keep your Plan of Action on hand.

If you use what you learned about asthma in the previous sections of this guide and their own experiences, you can develop strategies that allow you to manage asthma attacks. Remember that friends and family can help you manage your care. You can also call your doctor or a partner for advice. If nothing seems to work, you may request emergency assistance by dialing “911.”

The first step to relieve an asthma attack is to use your fast-acting bronchodilator (eg albuterol). The usual dose is two slow deep breaths. In a sudden and severe crisis of breath, can use up to 4 aspirations for a time without problems. Under normal conditions, it is recommended not to use your quick-relief bronchodilator more than 4 times a day. To treat an asthma attack, however, use the bronchodilator, safely, every 20 minutes during a period of two hours, if necessary. If you have a compressor nebulizer at your fingertips, you can use the same way, every 20 minutes for several doses. The main side effects you can expect are tremor and palpitation. Read the full story

The word asthma originates from an ancient Greek word meaning panting. Essentially, asthma is an inability to breathe properly. When a person inhales, air passes through the lungs through progressively smaller airways called bronchioles. The lungs contain millions of bronquiosolos, all lead to the alveoli – microscopic sacs where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged.

Euna asthma chronic condition in which these airways undergo changes when stimulated by allergens or other environmental triggers that cause patients to cough, wheezing and shortness of breath (dyspnea).

Asthma appears to have two main stages.

First, the airways of people with asthma have an exaggerated or hyperreactive response to inhaled allergens or other irritants that cause them turmoil. The smooth muscles in the airways constrict, reducing excess. It should be noted that the airways in the lungs of everyone respond by narrowing when exposed to allergens or irritants, however, people without asthma can breathe deeply relaxing the airway, and releasing the lungs of the irritant. When people with asthma try to take those same deep breaths, the airway is not relax and the patients pant for breath. The smooth muscles in the airways of people with asthma may have a defect, perhaps the lack of a critical chemical that prevents the muscles relax.

This first stage is followed by a second inflammatory response in which the immune system responds to allergens or other environmental triggers downloading factors white blood cells and other immune factors to the airways, causing the airways to swell, fill with fluid and produce a thick sticky mucus. This combination of events leads to coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, inability to breathe properly and a cough that produces phlegm. Pulmonary inflammation appears to be present in all patients with asthma, even in mild cases, and plays a key role in all forms of the disease.

Asthma symptoms vary in intensity and frequency from person to person. Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames and constricts the respiratory tract, whose causes are varied . It causes difficulty breathing periods (with a characteristic whistling sound), chest tightness, shortness of breath, and coughing. The cough is most common during the night and morning. Asthma affects people of all ages but occurs most frequently in childhood. About 30% of all asthma sufferers are children.

The airways are tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs. People who have asthma also have inflamed airways. This causes them to become irritated and very sensitive. For this reason they tend to react severely to certain substances that are breathed.

When the airways react, the muscles contract around. This causes the airflow to the lungs is reduced. Inflammation can worsen, making the airways become even closer. The cells of these pathways could produce more mucus than normal . This mucus is thick and sticky liquid that could be very heavy even worsen the problem by plugging the airways and contracted by asthma. Read the full story

Asthma is the name which is referred to a chronic disease of the respiratory system characterized mainly because the affected person has difficulty breathing. It is important to note that this is an extremely common disorder, as in the U.S. for example, there are approximately seven million children and adolescents with this problem.

Asthma is a disease that affects the bronchi. People with asthma are likely to have infections in their airways, they are inflamed and produce lots of mucus. On the other hand, note that individuals who suffer from asthma are really sensitive to certain situations (physical exercise, dust, cigarette smoke, etc.), which causes the muscles lining the airways to contract and tighten up.

This condition coupled with the infection of the airways causes them to narrow so that the proper airflow through the body is hampered.
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The peak flow meter is a small device that helps a patient regularly monitor their own condition by measuring lung function such as peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR).

PEFR provides a numerical value of how well the airways in the lung are open, and thus, provides physicians with an idea of how effective the medication is and corollary the severity of the disease.

How important is it to use a peak flow meter? The answer-very. The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) recommends that people with moderate to severe persistent asthma have a peak flow meter at home and know how to use it.

Before we move on to the “how’s,” please allow me to briefly summarize when a patient should use their peak flow meter. It should be used to:

- regularly monitor lung function and response-to-therapy

- determine the severity of an asthma attack

- assess response to treatment during an attack Read the full story