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Asthma is a chronic obstructive respiratory disease characterized by difficulty in breathing. It is caused mainly due to tightening of the airways or bronchial tubes of the lungs. It is a common disease among children, teens and adults.

Asthma is mainly of two types:

Extrinsic Asthma
Intrinsic Asthma

Extrinsic asthma is caused by the allergens. It happens when we inhale or sometimes ingest some allergens, our body reciprocates it with allergies. Some of the allergens are dust mites, tree and grass pollens, mold, feather pillow, food additives containing sulfites, dander, house dust etc. Extrinsic asthma is more common among children and the people between the age group of 16-30. Intrinsic asthma is non allergic and mostly occur among the people above the age of 30. It is caused by respiratory infection, inhalation of chemical irritants like cleaning fluids or fresh paint, air pollution, and sometimes by exercise.

According to the occurrence, asthma can be classified as follows:

Nocturnal asthma - mainly occurs at night, and more often in the morning between 2-4 a.m. It affects people with both types (extrinsic/ intrinsic) of asthma.

Seasonal asthma - this type of asthma happens only at certain time of the year. It mainly affects people with extrinsic asthma. It is more prevalent during summer, and it is the reason why 15% more death of asthma occurs in summer than the rest of the year.

Exercise-induced asthma - it will affect the people with all types of asthma. During exercise, due to rapid inhalation of air that is cooler and drier than that of the air passages, the lungs lose water and heat, so the people experience shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness, wheezing, coughing or endurance problems.

'Prevention is better than cure,' so recognizing the early warning signs of asthma is very important, because you can begin the treatment earlier which seems to be very effective.

Early warning signs of asthma are listed below:

 Breathing changes
 Feeling tired
 Feeling weak
 Fever
 Headache
 Runny/stuffy nose
 Coughing
 Sneezing
 Dry mouth
 Moodiness
 Sleeping disorder
 Glassy/watery eyes

If prevention is not taken in time, these early warning signs will lead to mild to severe cases of asthma and the symptoms are as follows:

 Wheezing
 Coughing
 Shortness of breath (dyspnea)
 Tightness in the chest

In more severe cases, patient can feel severe coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath in walking, nasal flaring, hunched shoulder etc.

Asthma is not curable but it is a preventable disease. Its attack also ranges between mild and moderate to severe. Once you suffer asthma, your lungs will always react to the things that can cause asthma attack..

In mild attack, you may feel coughing, restlessness, or have trouble sleeping and may make wheezing or whistling sound when you breathe, and in severe attack you may become breathless, and have trouble in talking. As you breathe, your neck muscle may become tight and your lips and fingernails may turn to grayish or bluish colour.

Asthma treatment can be divided into long-term and quick relief medication. Long-term control medications are taken daily to control asthma by preventing airway inflammation, while quick-relief medication is followed in order to achieve control over acute asthma attack by relaxing bronchial smooth muscle.

Most of the asthma medication is administered orally or by inhalation, of which latter is mostly preferred, because inhaled medications works directly on the airway surface and airway muscles where the asthma problems initiate, and it also leaves fewer chances of side effects.

Apart from these, measures like cleaning house in regular basis, avoiding pets with fur and feather, washing the bedding regularly in hot water and staying away from allergens will certainly help in restricting the frequent episode of asthma. Theophylline improves breathing by opening air passages in the lungs. It is used in the treatment of asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema.