Some Things You Should Know About Asthma
What is Asthma?
Asthma is an inflammatory condition of the very small airways of the lungs that is sometimes difficult to diagnose and difficult to treat. During an asthma attack, the small airways become narrower due to muscle contraction around the airway wall, which thickened due to inflammation. When breathing is labored, asthma is stressful for the child and the parents.
What's Happening During An Asthma Attack?
Asthma attacks are often characterized by wheezing which is a noisy sound heard primarily during exhaling or breathing out, (also called expiration). Here's what happens: in a normal state, we breath oxygen into our lungs (or inspiration). When we breath out (expiration), we expel waste gases such as carbon dioxide. During an asthma attack the narrowed airways make it difficult to breath out, and exhaling takes much longer, thus giving you less time to breathe in the needed fresh oxygen. This causes your breathing rate to increase because you body is asking for more fresh oxygen. The problem is you have to get rid of your used up oxygen before you can take in more fresh oxygen. Aside from the wheezing sound during exhales, another thing you'll notice is that the child has little interest in eating or speaking because merely breathing has become their most important function.
Treatment
There are two primary types of medications used to treat an asthma attack: bronchodilators and anti-infammatories. The most common broncholdilator is Albuterol and is considereed a "rescue" medication because it offers immediate relief during an attack by narrowing the airways. Anti-inflammatory medications are considered a "preventative" medication because they must be used 1 - 2 weeks before they become effective. In some cases after an asthma attack, oral anti-inflammatories such as Prednisone tablets or Prednisolone, (the liquid form of Prednisone) are used to speed up the anti-inflammatory process. What we do here at our office is give the child a treatment of Albuterol, which opens the airway and returns the child to normal breathing.
Caution
Despite the benefit provided by the rescue medication Albuterol, some caution still needs to be taken. Albuterol overuse, especially by self-medicating teenagers can be dangerous. Parents of younger children should also avoid using Albuterol more frequently than recommended, even though it provides temporary relief, since the underlying problem, inflammation, is not treated with rescue medications.
Reactive / Reversible
The term "asthma" does little to explain the condition. The phrases "reactive airway disease" or "reversible airway disease" provide a better way to describe what causes asthma symptoms. "Reactive" refers to the airways' response to an offending agent, like pollen, cigarette smoke, dust, even cold air. "Reversible" tells us that by using certain medications we can reverse the breathing difficulty.