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Asthma

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Asthma
By Luis M. Cotto

Asthma is considered a chronic (long-term) lung disease that causes inflammation and narrows the airways. Asthma is also known to cause recurring periods of wheezing (a whistling sound when you breathe), tightness of the chest, shortness of breath, and coughing. The coughing usually occurs at night or early in the morning. Asthma has been known to affect people of all ages, but it mostly starts during childhood. More than 25 million people are known to have asthma. About 7 million of these people are children. In order to have a complete understanding on how asthma affects the human body, you must first have a complete understanding of how the airways work. The airways are tubes that carry air into and out of the lungs. People who have asthma have inflammation of the airways which causes them to swell and become very sensitive. The airways have a tendency to react very strongly to certain substances that are inhaled. When the airways react to these foreign bodies, the muscles will tighten up. This causes the airways to narrow, causing less air to get to the lungs. The swelling can even get worse, making the airways even narrower. When that happens, the cells in the airway might make more mucus than usual, which can further narrow the airways. Sometimes your symptoms are mild and will go away on their own or after treatment with asthma medicine. When the symptoms get worse or more symptoms occur, you’re having an asthma attack. Asthma attacks are also known as flare ups or exacerbations. Asthma triggers vary from person to person based on whether you have allergic or non-allergic asthma. Treatment of acute symptoms is usually with an inhaled short-acting beta-2 agonist (such as salbutamol) and oral corticosteroids. In

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