Asthma treatment

In some individuals asthma is characterized by chronic respiratory failure. In others, it is an intermittent illness marked by episodes of symptoms that can result from a series of triggering events, including the upper respiratory tract infection, stress, air allergens, air pollutants (such as smoke or fumes traffic), or exercise. Some or all of the following symptoms may be present in people with asthma: shortness of breath, wheezing, stridor, coughing, tightness and itchiness in the chest or an inability to physical effort. Some asthmatics who have severe shortness of breath and tightening of the lungs wheeze or have stridor and its symptoms can be confused with a kind of disease COPD.

An acute exacerbation of asthma is commonly referred to as an asthma attack. The clinical identification of an attack are shortness of breath (dyspnea) and wheezing, whether or stridor. While the former is “often regarded as the sine qua non of asthma, some patients have mainly cough, and in the final stages of an attack, the movement of air can be affected by what can not be heard whistling . When this cough may sometimes produce clear sputum. The onset can be sudden, with a feeling of constriction in the chest, breathing becomes difficult, and wheezing occurs (particularly after the due date, but it can be in both respiratory phases).

Signs of an episode of asthma include wheezing, prolonged expiration, a rapid heart rate (tachycardia), rhonchous lung sounds (audible through a stethoscope), the presence of a paradoxical pulse (the pulse is weaker than during inhalation and stronger during exhalation), and more than inflation in the chest. During a severe asthma attack, the accessory muscles of respiration (sternocleidomastoid and scalene muscles of the neck) can be used, as shown in the drawing of tissues between the ribs and above the sternum and clavicles.

During severe attacks, suffering from asthma may turn blue from lack of oxygen (called blue bloaters), and may experience chest pain or even loss of consciousness. Just before loss of consciousness, the possibility exists that the patient will feel numbness in the limbs and palms may start to sweat. The person may become ice-cold feet. Severe asthma attacks, which may not be sensitive to standard treatments (status asthmaticus), are a threat to life and can lead to respiratory arrest and death. Despite the severity of symptoms during an asthma episode, between attacks an asthmatic may show few or no signs of disease.

 
 
 

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