Asthma Symptoms And Causes

Coping With Asthma

Coping with asthma symptoms can be challenging, especially if your symptoms are severe. Asthma symptoms vary from person to person but many common symptoms of asthma include:

Coughing
Wheezing
Chest tightness
Shortness of breath
Difficulty breathing

Asthma triggers are those conditions or situations which cause an asthma attack to occur. These can include:

Exercise
Pollen and mold
Smoking
Infection
House dust mites
Certain medications

Are there different types of asthma? Yes, there are different types of asthma and symptoms may vary somewhat among these different types. Asthma symptoms may also be mild, moderate or severe depending on the type of asthma you have and the intensity of the asthma attack or "flare up."

For example, a mild asthma attack may occur during exercise or it can be caused by something specific such as a lung infection. The rest of the time, you will experience no symptoms and live basically a normal life.

With moderate asthma, you may still experience symptoms from time to time. They could be worse in the early morning and late at night, when you have a cold, flu or other illness or in times of stress or other medical problems.

Some individuals find themselves coping with severe asthma symptoms every day. These symptoms may be so severe the individual has trouble speaking and it's impossible to participate in any type of physical activities. They may be frequently hospitalized for their condition.

Even if you're not coping with asthma, you probably know someone who is. It's discussed frequently in the media so most of us have heard of it even if we don't fully understand asthma symptoms and causes.

Asthma is a respiratory condition in which the smaller airways of the lungs constrict, making it difficult for the person to breathe. The duration of an asthma attack and the tightness of the airway depend on the seriousness of the condition and the episode at hand.

Asthma can occur in people of all ages, young and old alike. But it most often starts in early childhood. Some people "outgrow" their condition, meaning it gets better or even disappears altogether once they are adults. But other people will live with it all of their lives.

There is also a type called adult-onset asthma, although this is less common.

Is asthma hereditary? Asthma isn't always hereditary. People with no family history of it can suddenly develop it. There are still many things which are misunderstood about asthma and heredity that we do know.

Again, there are different types of asthma, but all of them occur because of inflammation of the lower, smaller airways in the lungs. It is not known exactly why this inflammation occurs but we do know what types of conditions can contribute to it. This inflammation makes it difficult for air to get in and out of the lungs, leading to symptoms such as wheezing, tightening in the chest, etc.

If you have asthma, your doctor will talk with you about your triggers and how you can avoid them to help prevent asthma flare-ups.

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