Asthma (A Respiratory Disease) Essay, Research Paper

Asthma (A Respiratory Disease) The word asthma come from the Greek term meaning panting. Asthma is arespiratory disease usually caused by allergic reaction of dust, pollen, animal fur, feather,and mold. The disease usually causes spasm and constriction of the bronchial passagewhich results in making it harder for air to pass. Asthma caused from allergies and isalso called atopic or extrinsic. Non-allergenic asthma is called intrinsic. Asthma inadults is usually not allergenic and instead causes by respiratory infections and emotionalupsets. Children usually loose asthma when they reach adulthood. Most asthma attacks happen at night and start with coughing, wheezing andshortness of breath, although some people may only have a dry cough. Attacks almostalways will end after a few hours even without treatment. Depending on the person,attacks can occur every few days, to months, or even years. The most serious kind of asthma can be fatal, and requires for the person who isinfected to remain in a hospital. This case is called Status asthmaticus and is

unfortunately incurable. They are many drugs that can help relieve asthma such asinhaling bronchodilator drugs, like albuterol or terbutaline. These drugs are mostcommonly used and can relieve the person within a few minutes. People whose attacksare so extreme that drugs like albuterol or terbutaline don t relieve them, have to takemuch stronger drugs like corticosteroids. There are also drugs to help prevent symptomsof asthma. The most commonly used one are theophylline, which is usually taken intablets, and cromolyn sodium, which is inhaled. Doctors recommend people with asthmaor people who are trying to prevent from getting asthma to keep away from things theyare allergic from. Doctors can perform allergy tests to tell their patient what to try to stayaway from. Since it is hard for people to keep away from their allergies doctorsrecommend staying away from animals with fur and use non-feathered pillows. Asthmais overall a practically harmless disease, but difficult to prevent. The good sides of it ischildren usually loose it when they fully mature, and there is rarely extreme cases of it.