What Are The Symptoms Of Bronchial Asthma

Different Types Of Bronchial Asthma

Bronchial asthma is separated into allergic and non-allergic asthma according to its respective triggers.

With allergic asthma, symptoms are triggered by an allergic reaction which means that the organism of the affected person reacts more intensely than necessary to an often harmless substance. Allergic asthma often initially presents in early childhood and adolescence, and is often explained by a hereditary predisposition.

Intrinsic asthma often initially presents at the age of thirty to forty years and is caused by very different factors. Triggers may include respiratory tract infections, a genetic incompatibility with certain medications or chemical or toxic substances from the environment .

As with special forms of bronchial asthma, asthma is also prevalent in severely overweight women. Specific characteristics also are associated with asthma in smokers.

What Causes Asthmatic Bronchitis

There are many triggers that may initiate the release of inflammatory substances. Common asthmatic bronchitis triggers include:

• Tobacco smoke

• Chest tightness
• Excess mucus production

You might wonder, is asthmatic bronchitis contagious? Bronchitis itself can be caused by a virus or bacteria, which are contagious. However, chronic asthmatic bronchitis typically is not contagious.

Does Asthma Cause Permanent Damage

The airway obstruction of asthma is generally completely reversible and usually does not cause permanent damage to the lungs, heart, or other organs. However, severe acute episodes of asthma can be associated with life threatening events and even fatalities. Survival of severe life threatening events can be associated with damage from lack of oxygen during the severe exacerbation, and lack of oxygen to the brain can cause loss of consciousness and brain damage.

Chronic asthma with ongoing airway inflammation may also be associated with what is called “remodeling” of the airways. This describes permanent changes occurring in the tissues surrounding the airways that results in permanent narrowing of airways. The potential for this emphasizes the importance of monitoring pulmonary function in patients with asthma at regular intervals, particularly those with a chronic pattern of asthma.

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Classification Of Bronchial Asthma In Etiology

Distinguish allergic and non-allergic forms of the disease. At children in 90-95% of cases there is an allergic / atopic bronchial asthma. Non-allergic forms of asthma are referred to as non-allergic. The search for specific causal environmental factors is important for the designation of elimination activities and in certain situations – allergen-specific immunotherapy.

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What Are Common Asthma Attack Triggers

An asthma attack happens when someone comes in contact with substances that irritate them. Healthcare providers call these substances triggers. Knowing what triggers your asthma makes it easier to avoid asthma attacks.

For some people, a trigger can bring on an attack right away. Sometimes, an attack may start hours or days later.

Triggers can be different for each person. But some common triggers include:

• Air pollution: Many things outside can cause an asthma attack. Air pollution includes factory emissions, car exhaust, wildfire smoke and more.
• Dust mites: You cant see these bugs, but they are in many homes. If you have a dust mite allergy, they can cause an asthma attack.
• Exercise: For some people, exercising can cause an attack.
• Mold: Damp places can spawn mold. It can cause problems for people with asthma. You dont even have to be allergic to mold to have an attack.
• Pests: Cockroaches, mice and other household pests can cause asthma attacks.
• Pets: Your pets can cause asthma attacks. If youre allergic to pet dander , breathing in the dander can irritate your airways.
• Tobacco smoke: If you or someone in your home smokes, you have a higher risk of developing asthma. The best solution is to quit smoking.
• Strong chemicals or smells.

With asthma, you may not have all of these symptoms. You may have different signs at different times. And symptoms can change between asthma attacks.

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When Its Asthma And Acute Bronchitis

It’s particularly concerning when people who already have asthma develop acute bronchitis, explains Richard Castriotta, MD, professor of medicine and associate director of the division of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine at McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas in Houston. “It makes their asthma much worse.”

In these cases, physicians may call the bronchitis asthmatic bronchitis, though thats not a clinical term, Shamiyeh adds and other physicians use asthmatic bronchitis when a case of acute bronchitis may cause asthma symptoms, like wheezing.

People with asthma who get bronchitis are often treated with inhalers that dilate the bronchial tubes , and over-the-counter painkillers and cold medication for other upper respiratory cold symptoms, similar to treatment for acute bronchitis in people who are nonasthmatic, Shamiyeh says. Patients with asthma who get bronchitis may also be prescribed inhaled or oral steroids on a case by case basis.

Asthma Symptoms In Children

• Coughing, especially at night
• A wheezing or whistling sound when breathing, especially when exhaling
• Trouble breathing or fast breathing that causes the skin around the ribs or neck to pull in tightly
• Frequent colds that settle in the chest

This page was reviewed for accuracy 4/17/2018.

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Past Present And Family History

• Atopic eczema, asthma and hay fever tend to run together in individuals and in families.
• Ask about medication – the patient may have been started on a beta-blocker recently or taken anti-inflammatory drugs. The association between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , including aspirin, and the precipitation of asthma is well documented but, in reality, it is not often seen.
• Ask about smoking, including passive smoking.

What Are The Signs Of An Asthma Flare

Asthma flare-ups can vary in strength and length. They can happen without warning, causing sudden coughing, shortness of breath, and wheezing.

Flare-ups should be treated right away. So it’s important to know their early warning signs, including:

• restless sleep or coughing that prevents sleep
• mild chest tightness or wheezing

If the flare-up is severe, a kid might:

• struggle to breathe or have fast breathing even when sitting still
• be unable to speak more than a few words at a time without pausing
• have retractions while breathing in

Because they can be life-threatening, flare-ups demand attention. Your child might need to take quick-relief medicine , visit the doctor, or even go to the hospital.

Following the instructions in your child’s asthma action plan can help you know what to do when a flare-up happens.

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Reducing Your Risk Of Asthmatic Bronchitis

You may be able to lower your risk of asthmatic bronchitis by:

• Getting pneumococcal or annual flu vaccines

• Practicing good hygiene by always washing your hands to prevent the spread of infection

• Refraining from smoking and avoiding secondhand smoke

• Taking all medicine as prescribed, even if you do not have symptoms

What Is Asthmatic Bronchitis

Asthmatic bronchitis refers to the incidence of acute bronchitis in a person with asthma. Acute bronchitis is a respiratory disease that causes inflammation in the bronchi, the passageways that move air into and out of the lungs. This inflammation results in respiratory congestion and shortness of breath. Asthma is a disorder that causes inflammation of the airways, leading to shortness of breath, chronic cough, chest tightness, and wheezing.

Acute bronchitis is a common respiratory disorder in the United States. Infants, young children, and elderly people have the highest risk of developing acute bronchitis. Acute bronchitis is commonly caused by upper respiratory viral infections. If you have asthma, your risk of acute bronchitis is increased because of an increased sensitivity to airway irritation and inflammation. Your risk of acute bronchitis is also increased if you smoke or are exposed to air pollution.

The signs and symptoms of asthmatic bronchitis vary among individuals, depending on the severity of the infection. Treatment for asthmatic bronchitis includes antibiotics, bronchodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs, and pulmonary hygiene techniques such as chest percussion and postural drainage .

Healthy lifestyle practices, including good hand washing, drinking plenty of fluids, following a well-balanced diet, getting plenty of rest, and avoid smoking, can help prevent or improve asthmatic bronchitis.

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How Is Each Condition Diagnosed

Doctors can use a spirometry test to diagnose asthma.

Doctors can diagnose asthma by taking a health history and asking about a persons symptoms, such as when they become worse or better.

Doctors can then conduct breathing tests to see if someone is likely to have asthma.

Several different tests exist, but a common one is known as spirometry.

Spirometry involves a person blowing into a sensor that measures how fast and hard they are exhaling their breath.

How forcefully a person can exhale is usually reduced if they have asthma.

A doctor may consider asthma over bronchitis if someone has had a cough that goes away but keeps returning.

An exception is when a person has chronic bronchitis, often because they smoke. Asthma is also often unresponsive to cough medications.

A doctor will diagnose bronchitis by:

• taking a medical history
• listening to the lungs
• considering symptoms

A doctor may also order a chest X-ray to ensure symptoms are not related to pneumonia. They may consider a further round of testing for asthma if the symptoms do not improve in 1 or 2 weeks.

Additional Medication For Severe Asthma

In addition to a reliever and preventer inhaler, severe asthmatics may be prescribed other treatments. You may need to try several options before your healthcare provider finds the right choice for your needs.

In addition to inhalers, treatment options include:

• Long-acting bronchodilators these can be added to a preventer inhaler and help keep the airways open for at least 12 hours.
• Leukotriene receptor antagonists a non-steroid tablet that helps to calm inflamed airways, block the effects of leukotrienes and help with allergies.
• Long-acting muscarinic receptor antagonists a form of long-acting bronchodilator that can work for 12-24 hours.
• Long-acting beta-agonists another form of long-acting bronchodilator that is used to relax the muscles in the airways.
• Slow-release theophylline a non-steroid tablet that helps to relax the smooth muscles in the airways, enabling air to more easily flow through.
• Short-acting beta 2-agonists a form of quick relief medication that can be used when asthma symptoms occur.
• Daily steroids these are prescribed in tablet or liquid form and are a type of anti-inflammatory medicine. They work by helping to reduce the sensitivity in the airways.
• Monoclonal antibodies a newer form of medication for severe uncontrolled asthma. They work by blocking the activity of immune system chemicals that trigger airway inflammation.

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How Is Asthma Prevented And Treated

There is no cure for asthma. Control symptoms by taking asthma medicines and avoiding your triggers. With proper treatment and an asthma management plan, you can reduce your symptoms and enjoy a better quality of life.

Talk to your health care provider about your asthma symptoms and be sure to discuss any changes in your asthma management or status.

Induced Asthma Is A Chronic Inflammatory Pulmonary Disease That Affects The Bronchiole

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory pulmonary disease that affects the bronchiole. The air penetrate with more difficulty in the lungs because the swelling of the bronchiole.

The symptoms of asthma occur in episodes of asthma attack. This disease alternates free period with those of attacks.

An episode of asthma attack is determined by substances called triggers, substances presents in the external environment. For a healthy person these substances are harmless but for an asthmatic they cause severe symptoms like wheezing, difficulty breathing, coughing, dyspnoea, chest tightness.

The triggers are different for different persons. For example mole can cause an asthma attack to a person and be harmless for another asthmatic.

Exercise is another trigger that can induce asthma. It is usually a trigger for persons with a high sensitivity of the tracheobronchial tree. The mechanism trough exercise can induce asthma is not entirely known.

It is believed that the reaction of the tracheobronchial tree is a response to the differences of temperature and humidity between the air existing in the lungs and the air inhaled.

In a normal breath the air that arrives to the lungs is warmed and with a high humidity, because it is modified in the nasal mucous.

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Can You Have Asthma And Bronchitis At The Same Time

People with asthma can also have acute bronchitis. They may notice their asthma symptoms become worse as a consequence. They may experience:

• shortness of breath
• wheezing
• pain and discomfort when breathing

Sometimes, people with severe bronchitis and asthma may have to go to the hospital because mucus has clogged the airways into their lungs so much.

What Causes Bronchial Asthma

The cause of bronchial asthma is not entirely known. There is also currently no way to prevent the condition. But researchers think a combination of genetic factors and environmental triggers may lead to bronchial asthma. For instance, if you have a parent who has bronchial asthma, you are more likely to develop the condition.

Having allergies or a family history of allergies also increases your risk. Additional risk factors include having frequent respiratory infections as a baby or young child, and smoking or being around secondhand smoke.

People who are obese or who were born prematurely also have an increased risk of developing bronchial asthma.

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What Happens During An Asthma Episode

During normal breathing, the airways to the lungs are fully open. This allows air to move in and out of the lungs freely. Asthma causes the airways to change in the following ways:

These changes narrow the airways. Breathing becomes difficult and stressful, like trying to breathe through a straw stuffed with cotton.

Why Does Someone Get It

Over 10% of people have some history of asthma. It often runs in families. The heritable nature of asthma is not well understood, however, and geneticists cannot define the precise manner in which it is passed from parents to children. All we can say is that families with asthma are more likely to have children with asthma. Although there appears to be an inherited predisposition to develop asthma, severity varies considerably among asthmatics, even among members in the same family. If asthma is present in both parents, the likelihood of a child having asthma is even greater, but even then not all of the children will have asthma. Even among identical twins, both do not necessarily have asthma, although this is more likely than if they were just siblings or nonidentical twins. This suggests that there is some additional factor that we do not yet fully understand, other than inheritance, that influences the development of asthma.

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How Long Asthma Lasts For

Asthma is a long-term condition for many people, particularly if it first develops when you’re an adult.

In children, it sometimes goes away or improves during the teenage years, but can come back later in life.

The symptoms can usually be controlled with treatment. Most people will have normal, active lives, although some people with more severe asthma may have ongoing problems.

How To Live Well With Asthma

Asthma is a widespread disease. Currently, the number of patients continues to increase, despite an earlier diagnosis and modern approaches to treatment. In the world, there are more than 150 million people suffering from bronchial asthma life.

Bronchial asthma life in the airways is chronic inflammation, which causes an exacerbation of asthma life attack. Attack can be short or long term. Often in the early stages of the disease attacks are in themselves, and the person is unaware of the disease. With the passage of time without treatment and prevention of asthma life episodes occur more frequently and more severe.

Typically, at this stage, a man turns to the doctor. Bronchial asthma life is a family affair, and hence a predisposition to it is inherited. Asthma is one of the parents doubles the risk of disease in a child, both parents it increases to about double. Children and elderly people become ill more severe.

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How To Prevent Bronchitis Whether You Have Asthma Or Not

Here are some steps you can take to prevent bronchitis for people who have asthma, as well as those who dont:

• Don’t smoke, and avoid being around cigarette smoke.
• Get an annual flu shot.
• Get a pneumonia shot if you are older than 65, or if you’re younger than 65 with any condition that puts you at risk, like emphysema or other breathing problems, diabetes, or heart disease.

If you do come down with acute bronchitis, remember that most cases will clear up on their own that goes for people with and without asthma. That means most people dont need treatment for acute bronchitis, but to relieve symptoms, OTC medication, such as Tylenol , can help ease pain and discomfort, and a humidifier can assist with breathing. More serious cases of bronchitis may require additional medication, such as the types of inhalers often used in asthma attacks , steroid drugs, and sometimes even oxygen.

Specifically, you should see a doctor about acute bronchitis if:

• You can’t sleep
• Your cough lasts more than a couple of weeks
• Your fever lasts more than three days or is over 101 degrees F
• The mucus you cough up is green or bloody
• You took your prescribed asthma medication but did not get any relief
• You are having difficulty breathing
• You have a heart or lung condition and suspect you have bronchitis

Although bronchitis and asthma are two different lung conditions, they’re they are closely related. Knowing the difference can help ensure you get the best treatment for the condition affecting you.