Different Types of Asthma

The various types of asthma make it a complex illness that is not very easy to treat. Each type of asthma has different causes, symptoms, and treatments.

Occupational asthma is a variety of asthma that is either caused or exacerbated by irritants and conditions in the workplace. It’s fairly common, with about 20% of adult-onset asthma cases being due to occupational hazards. Unfortunately, very few people report it or even recognize it as an occupational hazard. This type of asthma tends to occur in factory settings, particularly in fabricators, manual laborers, and machine operators. Occupational asthma also is found in office settings, where irritants like dust, mold, and allergens tend to live.

Exercise-induced asthma is a type of asthma that is becoming more and more common. One common misconception is that exercise-induced asthma occurs only in those who aren’t very athletic or fit. However, exercise-induced asthma is most widespread in professional athletes. It is fairly common Olympic athletes have this type of asthma, possibly due to the intense training they undergo. Exercise-induced asthma is also frequently diagnosed in high school athletes, particularly those in endurance sports like cross-country running, bicycling, and skiing. This type of asthma often requires treatment as long as the exercise that brought it on continues.

Brittle asthma refers to two varieties of asthma. The first type is characterized by wide peak flow variability, which means that the airflow during asthma attacks varies. The second type of brittle asthma has occasional severe asthma attacks with well-controlled periods between attacks. In both types of asthma, asthma attacks aren’t completely eradicated; they can only be treated when they occur.

Getting diagnosed with the correct type of asthma is the first step to getting correct treatment. Seeing a respiratory specialist can be very helpful, as they can accurately diagnose asthma and establish an effective treatment plan.

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What is Cough-Induced Asthma?

An asthma attack, also known as an acute asthma exacerbation, can be a terrifying experience for anyone. The loss of control, inability to breathe, and intense physical discomfort is enough to put anyone into a panic. People who have had asthma for a long time can learn the triggers and warning signs of their asthma attacks, and in doing so, minimize their negative effects.

Allergens and environmental irritants are often asthma attack triggers. If you notice that pollen, animal hair, dust mites, or mold set off asthma attacks, try to minimize your exposure to them. This may involve cleaning your home frequently to stave off the development of mold, sweeping to minimize dust and animal hair, and staying indoors if pollen is in the air.

Although exercise does not always cause asthma, it can almost always create the perfect setup for an asthma attack. If you have been having trouble breathing, it may be best to avoid excessive exercise. Endurance exercises, including running, swimming, and cycling can be the worst triggers for asthma exercises. Instead of a long run, go for a brisk walk in mild weather or do some strength training.

Different weather conditions can be troublesome to asthma sufferers. Harsh, cold temperatures can irritate your throat and cause breathing problems. On those cold winter days that leave you red-nosed and shivering, stay inside if at all possible.
If you must go outside, try to get back indoors as quickly as possible. Being outside in cold, strong winds for too long can trigger an intense asthma attack.

Asthma attacks are part of life for asthmatics; however, you don’t have to let them control your life. Try to minimize your exposure to triggers to lessen your risk of an asthma attack. If you feel an asthma attack coming on, get your inhaler ready so you can be prepared for it.

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Causes and Treatment of Exercise-Induced Asthma

Exercise-induced asthma, one of the most commonly diagnosed asthma varieties, is still a mystery in many ways. As evidenced by its name, everyone knows that asthma attacks are caused by exercise. However, there is still some question as to what causes the illness to develop.

An exercise-induced asthma attack typically occurs when breathing through the mouth is required to continue getting enough air. When breathing through the nose, the air is typically warm and moist when it enters the airways. However, the same cannot be said for mouth breathing; the air is still cold and dry, and that change can be enough to cause obstruction and inflammation of the airways. After the asthma attack subsides, there tends to be few or no symptoms for about an hour, at which point the asthmatic is again prone to an attack.

This type of asthma is often responsible for mild to moderate asthma attacks marked by wheezing, coughing, and rapid breathing. However, people with allergies and exercise-induced asthma may suffer from very severe asthma attacks. This is particularly true when it is hot out, since there tends to be lots of allergens in the air.

There are several ways of treating and avoiding the effects of exercise-induced asthma. About twenty minutes before beginning exercise, doctors recommend that asthmatics take a beta agonist. Corticosteroids can also be helpful when taken in this manner. The most effective way to treat exercise-induced asthma is to prevent attacks. Training programs can be altered for asthmatic athletes to avoid triggering an asthma attack. Additionally, athletes should avoid exercising when allergens and extreme heat are prevalent.

Once it’s determined that someone has exercise-induced asthma, they can tackle it aggressively. Creating a treatment plan that allows for continued exercise helps keep asthma under control while letting athletes keep doing what they love most.

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How to Prevent an Asthma Attack

When you get a strange, persistent cough, you don’t often think of asthma. However, cough-induced or cough-variant asthma is fairly common among childhood asthma sufferers. The first step in figuring out whether a cough is indicative of cough-variant asthma is examining the cough. Coughs that produce or expel mucus are not indicative of cough-variant asthma; typically, they occur because of a cold or flu.

However, a dry and non-productive cough may be due to cough-variant asthma.
Typically, the cough also continues until it leaves you wheezing and out of breath.
If you notice that you’ve had a dry cough for longer than a week, you should make an appointment with your general physician or respiratory specialist to get tested for cough-induced asthma. Since it often leads to full-blown regular asthma, it’s important to get on a treatment regimen right away. Those who suffer or suffered from childhood asthma are the most at risk for cough-variant asthma.

Treatment with beta-blockers often precedes the onset of cough-variant asthma. These drugs treat heart disease, migraines, and high blood pressure. However, eye drops for glaucoma also have beta-blockers. If you are on beta blockers and notice a non-productive cough developing, keep an eye on it to see if you need to be treated for cough-variant asthma.

Upon receiving a cough-variant asthma diagnosis, the main treatment is the same as the treatment for most other asthma types. Patients tend to use an inhaler with anti-inflammatory medication, perhaps albuterol or steroids. If cough-variant asthma does turn into another type of asthma, other types of treatment that can prevent attacks may be used.

Although cough-variant asthma often progresses to a typical asthma diagnosis, it doesn’t have to be an inhibitor to everyday life. Regular use of an inhaler and avoidance of asthma triggers can help asthmatics live healthy, full lives.

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Symptoms of an Asthma Attack

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Usually, it takes several asthma attacks for an asthmatic to receive a medical diagnosis. However, it can occur as quickly as the first asthma attack if a sufferer knows to seek medical attention right away. If you are concerned about either yourself or family member developing asthma, you need to watch for the signs of an asthma attack.

Typically, the first sign of an asthma attack is the inability to breathe or inability to breathe enough. The victim may feel like they are working hard to breathe but not actually getting any air into their lungs. As a result, they breathe quicker and heavier without any relief.

This may progress to wheezing. At this point, the person having the asthma attack may begin to panic as they realize that they are no longer breathing properly. The wheezing can lead to a slowdown in breathing, since it’s very physically taxing on the body.

By the time wheezing starts, the asthma attack will either subside or progress to a very serious point. If you are the one having the asthma attack, hopefully you will notice that you are able to breathe. As air returns to the lungs, breathing should return to normal. However, you may feel like your heart is racing or feel like your chest hurts. This is normal; an asthma attack is quite physically demanding.

If breathing doesn’t get easier, the asthma attack may be getting more severe. If it gets to the severity where you cannot breathe and it isn’t subsiding, it is incredibly important to call for medical help. An asthma attack can land you in the hospital and if it is that serious of an attack, you need medical help sooner rather than later. By watching for these symptoms, you will know sooner rather than later if you are having an asthma attack and if it requires medical help.

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Quick Relief for Asthma Attacks

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Long term asthma control medications are a good way to minimize symptoms and prevent asthma attacks, but they won’t help you at all when you are in the midst of an asthma attack. Rescue medications and inhalers are a necessary component of asthma care and treatment.

Short acting beta agonists are a great prompt treatment for asthma attacks. They treat the symptoms of asthma attacks, such as wheezing, coughing, and fast breathing. They are also the treatment of choice for exercise induced asthma. Asthmatics tend to keep their short acting asthma inhalers with them at all times.

When short acting beta agonists don’t work, oral steroids are a more aggressive method of treating asthma attacks. They are not used for mild asthma attacks, but they are great for moderate or severe attacks. Like short acting beta agonists, they work to minimize symptoms. Additionally, they stop the late phase of the asthma attack. They aren’t the first thing to try; only after other treatments fail are oral steroids the optimal choice.

On occasion, an asthma attack becomes serious enough that it requires a trip to the hospital. This occurs after short acting beta agonists or inhaled steroids fail to stop an asthma attack. Hospitals often use anticholinergics along with strong short acting beta agonists to save asthmatics’ lives. These are strong medications, so they aren’t typically available to the general public; only asthmatics with severe asthma attacks can get them. Anticholinergics are bronchodilators, medications that dilate the bronchioles. This type of medication should be used infrequently; frequent use may indicate the need for better asthma control. Asthmatics that use these medications more than once a week should talk to their doctor.

Asthma sufferers are lucky to have a host of fast acting treatments at their disposal. These medications can be used to control asthma, stop asthma attacks, and give asthmatics a higher quality of life.

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How to Treat Asthma in An Emergency Situation

People that have asthma and their loved ones will want to know as much as they can about asthma emergency treatment. There are a number of things that family members will need to do if someone close to them is suffering from an asthma attack.

What family members must take into account is that someone who has asthma will not be able to speak during an attack. Because if this it important to keep a pen and paper nearby. By doing this one can ensure that the person suffering from the attack can communicate.

It is also important that one does not assume that a person has asthma. If they have not yet been diagnosed with this condition there is a possibility it could be something else. For example they may be suffering from a severe allergic reaction to something like a bee sting. There are other illnesses that can cause people to have difficultly breathing.

Once it has been determined that the person does in fact have asthma it will be time to take action. It is important to understand that there is only a short time span that people can work with during an attack. It takes about four minutes of being unable to breathe before a person becomes unconscious due to lack of oxygen.

If the person that is with the asthmatic at the time of the attack does not have first aid training the best thing that they can do is to call 911. The emergency line will be able to send out an ambulance. They will also be able to tell the person what actions they need to take if the need arises. However in an ideal situation the people that are close to an asthmatic will get first aid training. This will teach them to administer CPR which could be very useful in the future.

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The Importance of Continuing Asthma Treatment

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Anyone who has suffered from any type of asthmatic symptoms knows just how life-restricting they can be. The tight feeling in the chest, the coughing and wheezing and the inability to breathe are never symptoms that anyone wants to experience. Luckily, through modern medicine, asthma symptoms can be controlled.

The problem arises when a person who has suffered from asthma in the past believes that they no longer need medication. Asthma medicines downgrade a number of asthma symptoms and sometimes completely eliminate them. However, even if the symptoms do not appear for a number of years because of the medications, it does not mean that the asthma is cured. Asthma cannot be cured — only controlled. Many people who have been on asthma medications for a long time believe that because they are not experiencing any symptoms at the moment they are cured and do not need to take any medicine. Once the medication is stopped, people begin to experience symptoms again and the whole cycle starts over again.

To prevent this type of cycle happening with asthma sufferers many health care professionals and doctors have gotten together to devise a course of action. The most important course of action is asthma education. Asthma educational classes can be held anywhere from libraries to assisted living facilities and allow health care professionals to speak out about issues regarding asthma. The classes allow for a designated time for people to be able to speak out about the importance of taking asthma medications even when you believe that the asthma has gone away. It is believed that by getting the word out there about the importance of staying on asthma medications that people will be less likely to try to ween themselves off of it and more likely to stay on their medications.

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Understanding Lithium Side Effects

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For many people, bipolar disorder and manic depression have become placed diseases in their lives. The  dreadful, uncontrollable mood swings govern how they see the world, feel about themselves, even how they treat others. Within the last century, psychologists have been making great improvements on how those suffering from bipolar disorder and manic depression are being treated. For many suffering from these conditions, talk therapy can be a highly effective means have controlling bipolar  disorder and manic depression. Unfortunately, talk therapy alone cannot help everyone. Some still need another form of psychological therapy. This means that these bipolar disorder and manic depression sufferers need medication to help control their illnesses.

Emerging research concerning the treatment of bipolar disorder and manic depression shows that combining the drug lithium with traditional therapy has excellent results. The lithium found in prescription depression medicines has be found to alter the moods of those suffering from bipolar disorder and manic depression. Once the moods have been stabilized, the sufferer can discuss options and work through these mental diseases. For the person suffering, the lithium can drastically improve his or her way of life, relationships with friends and loved ones, and help him or her keep stable employment.

Even with all of these benefits, lithium side effects can be annoying , but could be potentially serious. Lithium side effects change the way the body processes sodium so a person taking lithium may feel thirsty all the time. Another side effect is body tremors when first beginning the lithium regiment. While lithium side effects can be just mere annoyances, some are serious like heart problems and respiratory issues. However, these lithium side effects are rare which means the benefits of taking lithium far outweigh the risks. Lithium side effects cannot replace the feeling of worth and happiness when patients can lead healthy lives.

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Signs of Asthma

Do you find it hard to breath during a workout? Are you short of breath after you’ve climbed some stairs? Do you often find yourself gasping for a good, deep breath? If so, you may have asthma. Let’s look at the top signs of asthma to see if you are suffering. As always, be sure to consult a doctor if you think you might have asthma.

1. Coughing, especially at night.
2. Shortness of breath.
3. Tightness in the chest.
4. Feeling tired or weak, especially during exercise.
5. Signs of cold or allergy, like sneezing and runny nose.

These are common symptoms, but just because you are experiencing these exact symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean you are suffering from asthma. Only a medical professional can actually diagnose you with asthma, so be sure to check with your physician if you suspect a problem.

Treatment for Asthma

If you have seen your doctor and you have been diagnosed with asthma, there are several options many doctors prescribe to help you control your asthma.

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