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What is Asthma
What is asthma? When you get a diagnosis of asthma for yourself or your
child, you may be wondering information about asthma. Or may be you haven't
been diagnosed yet and you're wondering if your symptoms might be asthma. So
let discuss the asthma facts and information you need to understand what
asthma is all about.
There are hundreds of small and big tubes in the
lungs which carry the breath inside along with the inhaled air. Oxygen
enters the body through these tubes and carbon dioxide comes out of the body
through them. The bigger tubes are bronchi and the smaller ones are
bronchioles. These bronchioles and bronchi are surrounded by thin muscles
which make them open and close during the process of respiration. At the
ends of these bronchioles, there are millions of alveoli which are tiny
balloon like sacs spreading out in the periphery of the lungs. These alveoli
have very thin walls and they allow oxygen from the freshly inhaled air to
pass into the blood. Similarly, at the same time the waste product of the
body, namely carbon dioxide, comes out of the blood stream through these
sacs which are breathed out.
During an attack of asthma, there is a contraction of these tubes when
the patient wants to breathe out the polluted air from the body. Because of
this contraction or spasm, the patient finds it very difficult to breath. A
sleeping position makes the condition worse and the patient spends night
after sitting up in bed. When the air passes out through these contracted or
spasmed tubes, there is a characteristic wheezing sound. This condition
becomes worse when large amounts of mucus, produced in the tubes, obstruct
the passage of air.
Like all other muscles in the body, the opening
and closing of the muscles surrounding these tubes are controlled by two
groups of nerves called sympathetic and para-sympathetic. It is the
sympathetic nerve which helps in the opening of the bronchi and bronchioles
and the para-sympathetic nerve that causes their contraction. The action of
the para-sympathetic nerve gets support from another chemical substance
called histamine. This histamine causes inflammation of the internal lining
membrane of the bronchial tubes thereby causing obstruction in the passage
of air. The activities of the para-sympathetic nerve and histamine get
additional support from infections, smoke, dust, air pollution, dampness and
cold weather.
Along with the changes in the lungs, the patient may
also suffer from congestion and inflammation of the mucous membrane of the
nose, sinusitis, tonsillitis and pharyngitis. In fact, in classical cases of
asthma, the ailment starts from the nose. The patients suffer from cold, a
few bouts of sneezing, watering from the nose and eyes and heaviness of the
head. They may get headaches, sore throat and even tonsillitis. This
reaction in the mucus membrane of the respiratory tract spread gradually
after a few days to the bronchioles. To start with, there may be bouts of
cough with or without expectoration. Because of the treatment or even
otherwise, the ailment from the nose and throat may disappear, but will
continue to affect the tubes of the air passage. A few bouts of this attack
may be ignored by the patients as ordinary bronchitis. But subsequently,
this causes breathing problems thereby manifesting clear signs and symptoms
of asthma.
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