Bronchial asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that causes coughing, shortness of breath, and asthma attacks. Asthma can develop at any age; in about half of all patients, it begins in childhood.
Instructions
Step 1
There are many factors that can trigger the onset of bronchial asthma. These risk factors include, first of all, heredity - it has been proven that in a third of patients the disease was inherited. If one parent is sick with asthma, the risk of developing the disease in a child will be about 30%, and if both parents are sick, the probability will be already 75%.
Step 2
Another risk factor is a variety of professional factors - contact with dust, harmful vapors, gases increases the risk of getting sick several times. The increase in morbidity in the past two decades is associated with environmental pollution with exhaust gases, smoke, and harmful vapors. Frequent use of aerosols, household chemicals and various detergents is of great importance in the growth of morbidity.
Step 3
Most often, the disease is exogenous, that is, it occurs under the influence of various external allergens. They can be pollen of plants, house dust, hair of pets, etc. In some patients, allergens can be non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Aspirin), as well as cold, strong odors, exposure to chemicals. Choking can begin after exercise, especially if it is accompanied by inhalation of dry or cold air (exercise asthma).
Step 4
Under the influence of allergens, swelling and spasm of the bronchi occurs, a large amount of mucus begins to be produced, which prevents air from passing through the respiratory tract. The most common signs of bronchial asthma are coughing, shortness of breath with attacks of suffocation, wheezing, and chest congestion. The cough is usually excruciating, worse at night, after inhalation of cold air and after physical exertion. Asthma with a predominance of cough is common in children.
Step 5
Asthma is characterized by shortness of breath with difficult exhalation, accompanied by wheezing, and inhalation is normal. During an attack, the patient takes a forced sitting position, the attack is often accompanied by a cough followed by the release of vitreous sputum. Outside of an attack, there are often no signs of illness.
Step 6
Treatment of bronchial asthma should be prescribed only by a doctor, preferably a pulmonologist. For treatment, basic (supporting) drugs are used that affect the mechanisms of asthma formation, as well as symptomatic agents that are used to relieve an attack. The dosage and combination of drugs are selected by the doctor individually and depend on the severity of the disease.
Step 7
If asthma is allergic in nature, in addition to the main treatment, specific immunotherapy is performed. Its purpose is to create the body's immunity to those allergens that cause seizures in the patient. For this, allergens are introduced in gradually increasing dosages, the effect of treatment will be the higher, the earlier it is started.
Step 8
Also, patients are recommended physical education and breathing exercises, it is of great importance to create an environment in which there is no place for allergens. Currently, in almost all large cities there are schools for patients with bronchial asthma, where they are taught all activities related to the disease.
