What is asthma?
Asthma is a lung condition that causes difficulty in breathing. It affects all ages, often starting in childhood, but can be developed in adults too.
Causes
The exact cause of asthma is unknown. People with asthma have inflammation in their breathing tubes that transport air in and out of the lungs. This temporarily narrows the tubes in response to some triggers as they become highly sensitive. It can happen randomly or it can be triggered.
Common triggers for asthma are:
-allergies (eg. Dust)
-smoke, pollution or cold air
-exercise
-infections
Symptoms
The main symptoms of asthma are:
-wheezing
-a tight chest
-coughing
-breathlesnesss
Sometimes, these symptoms can momentarily worsen. This is known as an asthma attack. Severe asthma attacks can occur when asthma is badly controlled, and can be life threatening.
Treatments
Currently, there is no cure for asthma, but there are simple treatments that can help control it to aid people with asthma in leading relatively normal lives. People with asthma usually use inhalers to treat it, which is a small device that allows you to breathe in medicine. The two main types are:
-reliever inhalers(used when asthma symptoms need to be quickly relieved for a short time)
-preventer inhalers(used daily to prevent asthma symptoms from happening)
Some people also may take tablets.
Resources:
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