Asthma: Its Causes and Treatments
October 16, 2009
Asthma is a disease of the respiratory system characterized by the constriction of the muscles of bronchioles that result in insufficient air supply and breathing difficulty.
The air gets into the lungs through the trachea and the trachea are divided into divisions called bronchioles. The bronchioles are responsible for supplying air to the alveoli, where oxygen and carbon-dioxide exchange takes place through the blood. The alveoli are considered as the smallest units of the lungs.
Asthma occurs to three to five percent of the world’s population. Seventy percent of people under the age of thirty suffer from asthma because of hypersensitivity to allergy-causing particles. In older people, asthma is caused due to non-allergic irritants like the ones in smog.
The allergic type has an excessive number of antibodies that are against a given substance in the body. When the substance known as allergen gets in the body, the antibodies will react and trigger the release of different other substances that cause the allergic reaction.
The substances include anaphylaxis that constricts the bronchi, which also reduces their diameter. Further, histamine and bradykinin are substances that increase the diameter of the blood vessels and increase the permeability, causing edema in alveoli and the secretion of mucus in your bronchioles. These factors are responsible for the reduction of the exchange of air between the environment and the body.
There are medicines that offer short-term and long-term relief of asthma. For immediate treatment of the condition, short-term medical relief is used. These are normally bronchodilators and aid in increasing the diameter of bronchi.
This results in an adequate supply of air to the lungs. On the other hand, long-term medicines consist of steroids like corticosteroid which are inhaled to reduce swelling of the airways. Also, they reduce the mucus that hinders the normal breathing. Long-term medicines are available in tablet and liquid forms.
These are the causes and treatments of asthma that you should be aware of. With this knowledge, it will be easier for you to decide which kind of treatment will be appropriate for your case and when you use it, you can expect normal breathing and hence, have a worry-free life. This, anyway, is your ultimate goal to enjoy a life that does not hinder you from breathing well.
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