Asthma: What Is It And How Can You Get A Handle On The Symptoms?

Many children are suffering with Asthma and this disease which is inflammatory in nature actually constricts the airways of those affected with it and cause them to cough, wheeze, and have chest tightness.  The cough of an asthmatic may or may not produce phlegm and the shortness of breath typically gets worse with exercise or activity and usually comes in episodes many times without warning.

An asthma attack usually begins without warning and can tend to be worse in the early morning or at night.  It might go away on its own and usually will get better when a bronchodilator is used to help open the airways.  Asthma can be made worse by breathing in cold air, exercise, and even heartburn.  Once a person starts to discover what triggers their asthma they may be able to adapt their activities to lessen the number of asthma attacks they have.

Naturally, having difficulty breathing is potentially life threatening so it's important to keep watch for some signs that a person may be in crisis such as a blue tinting of the face and/or lips, decreased alertness, confusion, drowsiness, difficulty breathing, anxiety, rapid heart rate, and sweating.  A person who's experiencing any of these symptoms should have medical attention right away.

Asthma can be a sign of an allergy and therefore it is also imperative to investigate what you may possibly be allergic to since allergic reactions can become more severe over time and some can even become life threatening.  To ignore this warning sign could lead to a more serious reaction down the road.

Once a person becomes used to having asthma attacks then tend to be less horrifying.  Knowing that they can utilize their rescue inhaler at any point that they are fighting to breathe can truly help and there are other medications that asthmatics can take as well.  These medications need to be prescribed and monitored by a physician.

Asthma has many causes and most of the children who are diagnosed with asthma, honestly don’t know why they have it.  For some individuals it's due to allergies while for others the main trigger is exercise.  Fortunately quite a few children out grow their asthma and asthma related symptoms and go on to be asthma free adults.  Although, the medications don’t actually cure the asthma they do go a long way in alleviating the symptoms of asthma to allow the person to live a more active and productive life.