Protruding number of asthma patients is making noise to be more aware of asthma. Many people out there aspire to help and spread awareness about asthma to prevent this worsening condition.
Hence, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) declares May to be “National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month”. This would be the perfect time to educate people around you about this chronic disease. This write-up is also for the same cause.
What is Asthma?
It is an incurable disease you can only control its symptoms and prevent further worsening condition or deaths with proper treatment and care. Asthma is most often allergens prone disease. Allergens can be pollen, dust mites, molds, pet dander, exhaust fumes, chemicals, perfumes, tobacco smoke, etc.
When these allergens trigger the symptoms of asthma it impacts the airways of the lungs. They get inflamed and swollen which further create difficulty in breathing, chest tightness, wheezing, coughing, like problems. In some cases, it may lead to life-threatening asthma attacks.
Asthma attack
An asthma attack occurs when symptoms are worse than usual. During this worst condition, muscles around the airways tighten up, narrow the airway and disrupt breathing. Inflammation increases and so the narrowing. More phlegm produces and weakens the flow of air even more.
In some cases, airways get blocked such that oxygen fails to enter the lungs. It’s just not blocking the oxygen to enter but does not even let carbon dioxide leave the lungs at enough rate, which worsen the condition even more.
Since oxygen is the vital element to be alive, lack of it turns into a fatal condition, which needs immediate hospitalization.
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How can one aid?
While there is no way to prevent asthma but there is a way to prevent it by helping yourself and others.
Aid yourself:
- Follow your asthmatic action plan designed by your immunologist for you.
- Staying vaccinated can prevent flu and pneumonia from triggering asthma flare-ups.
- Identify and stay off from triggers.
- If you are mild asthmatic and breathing is good, take your long-term control medicines daily.
- If your symptoms are quite worse take your planned medicine in such cases as prescribed.
- Any medicine is not helping, call the doctor immediately or go to the hospital.
- Emotional anxiety and stress may also increase its symptoms. Proper rest, diet and exercise can help in managing it.
- Carry your quick-heal inhaler everywhere if you are chronic asthmatic.
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Aid others:
- Tobacco smoke is an irritant that often aggravates asthma. So, if you smoke tobacco stop it immediately. It will not only help you but other people taking a secondhand smoke.
- Climate change will make asthma and allergies worse. So, try to stop pollute air. This would be the long-term aid for all human being.
- Help your friends, family members, relatives, and workmates to find their asthma triggers which are unique to each person.
- If anybody around you gets an asthma attack to help him find his inhaler if he is not equipped with and still not get relief help him get the doctor.
These are all the very small things to do but can make a huge difference in someone’s life. It can help save his life at the peak point of his worsening condition.
You will never know just how much you value your breath
until you can’t breathe
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