Asthma???????

Question

ive just been the doctors and been diagnosed with asthma, he explained it all to me but i didnt catch it all (hes foreign) can anybody explain to me what astma is? and what causes it?

Answer 1

Hi - sorry to hear of your diagnosis. You don't say how old you are or how bad your asthma is. Basically it's a breathing difficult where your "air pipes" may be swollen or irritated due to allergens and you tend not to get as much air/oxygen into you as someone without asthma. Many things can cause it and it tends to go hand in hand with allergies, eczema and hayfever. It also tends to affect people whose parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles or siblings also have one or all of these. My 4yr old was diagnosed asthmatic at age 3 and we've really controlled it well although his case is reasonably mild....he's only had 4/5 bad attacks since he was born. His is controlled by a low dose steroid inhaler and a reliever inhaler (used only when he gets a bad cough -as the name suggests, to relieve him slightly).

My advice would be to contact your surgery again as often they run an asthma "clinic" which is basically a nurse discussing it all with you. It would also be good if you joined asthma groups or forums online for advice and support. You can easily search online for asthma forums and advice.

Unless it's a really really severe case, it shouldn't really affect the way you live your life. Just heed your doctor's advice and carry a spare inhaler with you everywhere if necessary. You may want to be careful around smokers though and perhaps make a note of any food or allergens that affect you so you know to avoid them.

Some may suggest visiting a homeopath for a more natural remedy but I would not recommend this because we took our son to one before it was medically diagnosed as asthma and the homeopath did a kind of new worldy test on him and proclaimed he was allergic to lactose and to several ingredients in his baby vaccine. He's NOT allergic to lactose as later proper medical blood tests proved AND he hadn't had any baby jabs prior to going to the homeopath. We beat it out of there pretty quick and went straight to the GP (but made sure we asked for one who specialised in respiratory problems.
Good luck with it.

Answer 2

My brother is an asthmatic and after ten years his asthma has proven no signal of improving. He has been to a few medical professionals but they did not aid so much. If you want a tested, all-ordinary method to therapy your asthma, while not having to pay for useless medicinal drugs with damaging side-effects, then this is the fundamental web page you'll ever learn.

Answer 3

Asthma is a condition that affects the airways – the small tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs.
When a person with asthma comes into contact with something that irritates their airways (an asthma trigger), the muscles around the walls of the airways tighten so that the airways become narrower and the lining of the airways becomes inflamed and starts to swell. Sometimes sticky mucus or phlegm builds up which can further narrow the airways. The illustration on the right shows a cross section of the airways, with and without inflammation.

All these reactions cause the airways to become narrower and irritated - making it difficult to breath and leading to symptoms of asthma.

5.2m people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma.
1.1m children in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma.
There is a person with asthma in one in five households in the UK.

Answer 4

My 6 year old son has real bad asthma. It is a condition that affects your breathing. They way my son's doctor said it is pretty much chronic wheezing. As far as what causes it... it could be a number of things. You can either have allergery induced asthma like my son has or activity induced asthma.. If it is allergy induced you need to find out what the triggers are. For example my son in allergic to dust mites. We have had to get rid of all his stuffed animals, make him where a dust mask when I vacum, Wash his sheets is hot water 2 times a week and cover his pillow and mattrass with a special cover to keep dust mites out. When ever he gets a cold his asthma flares up. Find out what triggers yours and if possible stay away from it. Do some research and find out all the signs and symptoms.. Good luck

Answer 5

Virtually everyone I know who has a cough or is short of breath gets a diagnosis of Asthma if they go to a doctor. They never seem to look further than the end of their pen as before you know it, you have a couple of asthma pumps to carry around! Asthma is essentially a difficulty in breathing OUT but even an accurate diagnosis doens't mean that you will have it for life.

Answer 6

I've had asthma since I was 5 years old. It's a disease that long story short makes it difficult for you to breathe depending on how badly you have it. When I was younger for instance I had asthma very badly and the slightest of activities could send me to the hospital. Now my asthma is hardly there and I can do many activities. Sometimes i can an asthma attack (when i feel like i can't breathe) and take my medicine and it immediately subsides. goood luckkk :)

Answer 7

The British Medical Association do a brilliant book called understanding asthma. You can pick it up in any local chemist for £3.50. My friend got diagnosed and the information was better than anything on the web or anything that a Doctor told her.

Answer 8

Narrowing of the bronchial tubes,can lead to COPD.If you ring up NHS DIRECT they will tell you more about it.
Sometimes asthma is stress related other times it can be brought on my allergens such as cats plants etc.