Page 5 - Asthma

Bronchial Asthma: What Is It?   

Bronchial asthma is one of the oldest companions of human beings. It effects the population in general irrespective of age, sex, caste, religion, country etc and gradually found with an increasing trend and is characterized by the sudden onset of acute distress arising from difficulty to inhale air. This disease generally affects human beings and cats.
Bronchial asthma is a condition which makes it difficult to breathe and the sufferer also feels that their airways are tight and enflamed. Someone who has bronchial asthma will often suffer from painful wheezing, and long bouts of coughing which brings up mucus.
What Causes Bronchial Asthma?
Bronchial asthma can be triggered by a host of factors such as dust, allergies, some foods, clothes, hair, or it could be passed down genetically. An asthmatic patient has bouts of bronchial asthma when the trigger factors are in proximity.
In addition, factors like weak immune system, hyperactivity of the respiratory tract, and severe childhood respiratory conditions facilitate the development of this type of asthma.
Increased urbanization may have helped increase the traditionally low incidence of bronchial asthma in the Third World. Diets becoming more westernized, improvement in standard of living, decrease in exercise rates, more dust mites, and more pollution has been blamed.
How Is Bronchial Asthma Treated?
Medications can reduce the symptoms of asthma a great deal, but may not be able to eliminate coughing fully. Bronchodilators are used in a mild to moderate attack. Frequent attacks require long-term treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs such as cromolyn sodium, nedocromil sodium, or a corticosteroid. Bronchodilators, especially the theophylline derivatives and B2 adrenergic drugs, are the mainstay of treatment in asthma. But to best care for your condition, use all of your medications as directed by your doctor.
How Common Is Bronchial Asthma?
Bronchial Asthma is a major socioeconomic burden, that is, 17 million US Americans, with approximately one third of those being children, were affected by bronchial asthma in 1996. Also, the economic burden of the disease is increasing in parallel, from US$6.2 billion in 1990 to an estimated US$12.7 billion in 1998.
Although exact worldwide data is lacking on this condition, its prevalence is estimated to be approximately 5.5% of the general population.
Conclusion
Although they are medicines to treat bronchial asthma there are more people turning to more natural methods to treat it. Breathing techniques such as prana yam, buteyko and yoga practices are helpful to bronchial asthma sufferers as they naturally help the breathing and the general well-being of patients. Also if you are trying to treat your bronchial asthma naturally you should also try improving your diet as a good nutritional diet will help boost the immune system and thus improve the sensitivity of your airways.