What is asthma exactly?
Asthma is an umbrella term for a chronic respiratory disease with a group of symptoms that includes wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath caused by a constriction of the muscles surrounding the airway and inflammation of the lining of the airway. since experts aren?t exactly sure what causes asthma, treating it can be complex. many believe the disease has a variety of different roots?ranging from allergies to genetics.
?causes are probably a combination of genetics and environmental factors,? says Neil Minikes, MD, FAAAAI, an allergist/immunologist at the Allergy and Asthma Center of Northern new Jersey and assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. if someone has a genetic predisposition for developing asthma but is not exposed to environmental triggers such as allergens, viral infections, and smoke, they are less likely to develop the condition. ?For example, in a study of several thousand sets of twins, environmental influences such as hay fever, eczema, smoking, and exposure to secondhand smoke in childhood were risk factors for asthma.?
While childhood asthma is most common, women are more likely than men to get adult-onset asthma. in fact, only 50% of women with asthma are diagnosed by age 24 compared with 50% of boys who are diagnosed before they?re 15, says Dr. Minikes.
Does stress cause asthma or is it the other way around?
What?s the difference between allergies and asthma?
While both conditions can make it tough to breathe, allergies are when your immune system overreacts to typically harmless things, such as pollen or dust mites or cat dander. ?most of the time asthma attacks are triggered by allergies, but there are some people who have asthma without allergies,? says William Calhoun, MD, asthma expert and professor in the department of internal medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
What is the treatment for asthma?
?There?s no one-size-fits-all treatment because triggers and severity vary from person to person,? says James L. Sublett, MD, chair of the Indoor Environments Committee for the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI). for a diagnosis and treatment plan, you should see an allergist or pulmonologist (lung specialist).
One part of treating asthma calls for pinpointing your particular triggers and avoiding them. It?s best to have an allergist do skin testing to identify exactly what your allergic sensitivities are so that you can make lifestyle changes to help manage your symptoms.
There?s also research showing that adding certain nutrients to your diet, such as disease-fighting antioxidants found in produce or vitamin D, may offer some protection for your lungs against the inflammation that aggravates asthma symptoms, says Dr. Minikes.
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Your doctor will usually prescribe two types of meds to help keep symptoms under control. the first are called bronchodilators, or relievers, that act fast to relax the muscles around your airways when you?re having an attack so that you can breathe more easily. the second are anti-inflammatories, or controllers, that need to be taken regularly in order to reduce swelling and mucus in the lungs? lining to help prevent attacks from happening in the first place.
I?m 40 and never had asthma. can I get it as an adult?
Yes, you can get asthma at any age?and women in particular can develop it in midlife. Experts aren?t sure why you might start wheezing and coughing in your 40s when you didn?t have any symptoms as a kid. ?most likely, you had a genetic predisposition to asthma but didn?t know it and were later exposed to something that triggered it, such as a smoky environment or possibly a respiratory infection,? says Dr. Minikes. ?Genes are like codes for the body to do things and they remain hidden unless they are uncovered by a signal, like a password. we think that unless the password is entered by an environmental trigger, that gene sometimes remains hidden.? Researchers have started to identify certain genes that may be linked to asthma, but right now there?s no way to tell for sure if you are ?genetically programmed? to develop asthma. keep in mind that having one parent with asthma doubles your risk, while having two parents with asthma quadruples your risk.
Smoking is, of course, one of the biggest asthma triggers. Research shows that exposure to smoke causes changes to your body?s immune cells that make you react more strongly to allergens, which aggravate asthma symptoms.
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The numbers on the scale may also play a part. ?People who are obese have a higher risk of asthma, but the precise connection is not yet known. we don?t know whether it may be the result of carrying extra weight that puts more burden on their lungs or whether obesity contributes in some way to lung inflammation.? Polluted indoor air may be yet another factor. ?many people have high-efficiency heating systems that save fuel by recirculating air so you breathe in the same pollutants and allergens,? says Dr. Minikes.
So should I worry about the air in my home?
If you have a genetic predisposition toward asthma, indoor air pollution could trigger symptoms or make them worse if you?ve already been diagnosed. ?People spend more than 80% of their time inside, and some studies show that indoor air may be even more polluted than outdoor air,? says Dr. Sublett. up to 85% of asthma attacks may be triggered by irritants like dust mites, mold, household pests, and pets. if you think your pet may be a trigger, get an allergy skin test to determine your sensitivities, and always keep pets out of the bedroom since their dander can collect in bedding and carpets to irritate your lungs.
While it?s a health boost for anyone to breathe clean air inside their home, you can control asthma symptoms by taking steps to minimize other irritants. to find out whether your air is polluted, consider having an environmental services company test your home for irritants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and mold. Dr. Sublett recommends using either a cyclonic or central vacuum or a vacuum with a HEPA filter. Give dust 2 hours to settle back down before you sleep in your bedroom or hang out in your living room after vacuuming. Replace the filters on your furnace and AC with high-efficiency MERV 11 or 12 filters and change every 3 months, and leave on your air conditioner fan so pollutants such as pollen or diesel exhaust don?t get trapped indoors. It?s a good idea to turn on your bathroom and kitchen vent fans to remove moisture and help prevent mold.
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What about outdoor air pollution?
Dirty outdoor air is another irritant, and if you?re an urban dweller who breathes in traffic fumes, your lungs may be paying the price. ?the closer you live to an expressway, the more likely you are to have asthma,? says Dr. Sublett. Diesel exhaust particles from fuel used in many buses and trucks can irritate lung tissue and may induce asthma in some people. It?s best to avoid going for a jog during rush hour to protect your lungs.
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Are women more likely to have asthma?
?Women have more asthma than men by about a 60 to 40 ratio, and boys are more likely to have asthma than girls by the same ratio,? says Dr. Calhoun. Experts aren?t sure why this is. One thing that seems to determine your susceptibility to asthma is smaller lung size, which means airways are narrower so it takes less inflammation to restrict them. Dr. Calhoun says women typically have smaller lungs than men. Likewise, because boys develop slower than girls, boys typically have smaller lungs.
Is it my imagination, or are asthma rates rising?
You?re definitely hearing more coughing and wheezing. the reason the number of people with asthma has surged by more than 4 million in the past decade or so remains a mystery, but experts have their theories. ?It?s almost certainly environmental factors because genetics don?t change that quickly,? says Dr. Calhoun. ?many contaminants in our food, water, and air have estrogenic effects that appear to influence our immune systems to develop allergies that may in turn trigger asthma.?
Children who grow up on farms and in nonindustrialized countries are less apt to have asthma, and one explanation is a theory called the hygiene hypothesis. it basically says that lifestyles have changed in the past few decades?children grow up in cleaner environments, get immunized to a wide range of infections, and get frequent courses of antibiotics. these may affect the developing immune system, making it more likely to produce allergic reactions rather than infection-fighting responses.
Is there a link between depression and asthma?
Those struggling with depression may be more likely to have asthma, but that?s true across a variety of diseases if you?re hit with the blues. ?We don?t know if this is a cause or a consequence,? says Dr. Calhoun. ?It could be that depression weakens your immune system so you?re more susceptible to asthma, or it could be that coping with severe asthma symptoms contributes to depression.?
I?ve been diagnosed with asthma. is red wine a trigger?
For a small minority of people with asthma, sulfites used as a preservative in wines, dried fruits, and some seafood might aggravate asthma. ?Sulfites get converted into a gas called sulfur dioxide that may irritate your lungs and bring on an attack,? says Dr. Minikes.
Can PMS make it worse?
As if the mood swings aren?t bad enough, there?s evidence that some women may be harder hit with asthma symptoms when they have PMS. ?It?s not surprising that some women?s asthma is aggravated right before menstruation,? says Dr. Calhoun. ?changes in hormones such as estrogen and progesterone can affect smooth muscle tone in your airways, possibly making lungs more susceptible to inflammation.?
Can my asthma turn into something more serious?
Having asthma doesn?t up your odds of getting lung cancer, but if symptoms aren?t controlled, it may eventually develop into chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. COPD is basically an umbrella term used to describe treatable but irreversible lung conditions such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. ?Asthma is not only a restriction of muscles in the airway, but also an inflammatory disease,? says Norman Edelman, MD, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association and a professor of medicine at Stony Brook University. if left untreated, it forms scar tissue in the lungs. ?When this narrowing of the airways becomes irreversible, it may lead to COPD.?
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